Iraq's Fig Leaf Constitution

Robert Scheer exposes the sad truth behind Bush's increasingly foolish assertions that we are making progress in Iraq.

Who lost Iraq? Someday, as a fragmented Iraq spirals further into religious madness, terrorism and civil war, there will be a bipartisan inquiry into this blundering intrusion into another people's history.

The crucial question will be why a 'pre-emptive' American invasion -- which has led to the deaths of nearly 2,000 Americans and roughly 10 times as many Iraqis, the expenditure of about $200 billion, and incalculable damage to the United States' global reputation -- has had exactly the opposite effect predicted by its neoconservative sponsors. No amount of crowing over a fig leaf Iraqi constitution by President Bush can hide the fact that the hand of the region's autocrats, theocrats and terrorists is stronger than ever.

'The U.S. now has to recognize that (it) overthrew Saddam Hussein to replace him with a pro-Iranian state,' said regional expert Peter W. Galbraith, the former U.S. ambassador to Croatia and an advisor to the Iraqi Kurds. And, he could have added, a pro-Iranian state that will be repressive and unstable.