Open Thread (7/21/2008)

So, now we have the Iraq prime minister saying over the weekend in an interview with Der Spiegel that the Obama plan for a withdrawal of the majority of U.S. troops within 16 months is doable, with some adjustments; then we have a sort of retraction by the Iraqi government issued through the U.S. military command, CENTCOM (a strange way for a sovereign government to communicate, don't you think?) saying the prime minister's remarks were misinterpreted but not saying how they were misinterpreted, and now, this morning, we have another statement by the Iraqi government saying there should be a deadline for U.S. troops withdrawal of 2010, which is roughly what the prime minister said yesterday.  I see the National Review on-line dismisses the prime minister's statements as coming from someone whose political party is aligned with Iran.  But, of course, the U.S. has been using Iran supporters since before we invaded Iraq, from Chalabi on down; remember Saddam Hussein and Iran were bitter enemies, and the first thing Paul Bremer did when he took over was bar all the Hussein supporters, the Baathist party members, from participating in the Iraqi government, so it is no big surprise, in fact it is inevitable that the people now in power in Iraq are friends with Iran.  Of course, McCain is saying the only thing he can say, i.e. if it weren't for the success of the surge, we couldn't be talking about deadlines now; of course, if we had stopped to consider the consequences before we invaded Iraq in the first place, we wouldn't be have needed a surge and we wouldn't be needing to find a way out.

But don't the events of the last 48 hours kind of take the wind out of the Republican talking points that Obama is hopelessly naive on foreign affairs?  It looks to me, of course I'm an Obama supporter, that Obama's better judgment has been confirmed twice -- the wisdom of invading Iraq, and the way forward to get out.

88 West is an apartment complex in Champaign????

Why are tougher questions not being asked of Paulson and Bernanke?  Congress agrees in bipartisan fashion to hand the Fed and Treasury ever more power and taxpayer dollars.  Paulson staffing up the Treasury in anticipation of... what?  Home prices keep falling, and at accellerating rate--"bottom" keeps getting pushed out, first set in H2 '08, now pushed back to '09, maybe later.  Credit fast drying up on most over-levered consumer in history and most folk's main assest (2/3 American's carry a mortgage) depreciating in accellerating fashion.  Defaults now spreading into prime and commercial paper.  Where is all the credit going to come from to prop up the numbers?  In fact the available credit is disappearing fast.  Is USA, while distracted by staring at gas price and food inflation, not doing the math and about to get hit square in the back of the head with the deflationary sledge hammer?