SCATHING!

We've just gotten done giving the Iraq Study Group Report a good thorough skim. Complete readind tonight. The 79 recommendations are a little hard to take in in their entirety, but what's really rather remarkable is the tone. It is simply scathing!

"The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating"

"The Iraq government needs to show its citizens - and the citizens of the United States...- that it derserves continued support."

"Sectarian violence has becom the principal threat to security." [Not Al Qeda, Mr. President].

"The Iraqi government is not effectively providing its people with basic services...the government sometimes provides services on a sectarian basis...security is lacking...corruption is rampant....capacity is inadequate."

"The public interest in not well served by the government's preparation, presentation and review of the budge for the war in Iraq."

And on and on. What's striking throughout the report is a prevelant pragmatic tone that seems self-consciously emphasized by the commissioners in startling contrast to the Rumsfeldian non-sense we've been subjected to for the past several years.