Why Iraq is failing...

This is really the must read of the day, on how loyalty to Bush trumped competency and experience in "the so-called plan" to rebuild Iraq. Rajiv Chandrasekaran gives an inside view on how greed, ineptitude and plain old crony corruption built the foundation of the ongoing failure to bring stability and security to the country.
A couple of choice quotes to tempt to you to read the whole thing.

...Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation that sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people, according to many people who participated in the reconstruction effort.

The CPA had the power to enact laws, print currency, collect taxes, deploy police and spend Iraq's oil revenue. It had more than 1,500 employees in Baghdad at its height, working under America's viceroy in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, but never released a public roster of its entire staff.

"I'm not here for the Iraqis," one staffer noted to a reporter over lunch. "I'm here for George Bush."

And that pretty much sums up the whole failure. Iraq was never about WMDs or regime change, freedom or democracy. It was all about about Bush and his "legacy." It was supposed to be the shining momument to neo-cons. Take over a backwards little country and turn it into a playground for crony capitalism in six weeks or less. Now almost six years into this administration it stands as a stark reminder of what happens when the electorate gives up and stops paying attention to what their politicians are doing in their name.

Here's hoping the continuing fiasco has finally grabbed the voter's notice and the people will notice that the shining dove of peace Bush claims to be holding in his hand is really an albatross around all our necks.