Obama, Iraq and the economy.

Mikey Kaus wonders:

One of McCain's problems is that voters aren't paying much attention to Iraq--because it looks from our distant vantage point like the war is finally on a glide path to an honorable U.S. drawdown of troops. How much damage could Obama do?

To answer his question, in Iraq, very little. In the American economy, a tremendous amount, unfortunately.

General Petraeus on Iraq

A speech by General Petraeus on Iraq.

Democratic Iraq

Peter Galbraith's Article on Iraq is really not worth reading, but I just want to respond the following comment in the article:

We hear again and again from Washington that we have turned a corner in Iraq and are on the path to victory. If so, it is a strange victory. Shiite religious parties that are Iran's closest allies in the Middle East control Iraq's central government and the country's oil-rich south.

First, the statement is untrue. Iran's closest allies in the Middle East are Hezbollah and Syria. Second, while the statement has a hint of truth to it (i.e., some members of the Iraqi government are aligned with Iran), it ignores that many members of the Iraqi government view Iran as a existential threat to the Iraqi state. Third and finally, even if it were completely true, so what. Iraq is a democracy, and democratic nations are free to choose who they want to align with. America can handle Iran regardless of whether Iraq aligns with it or not.