• “One can only wonder, now that the United States has ‘liberated’ Iraq from Saddam Hussein, just who will liberate Iraq from the United States.”
  — Raed Jarrar, Iraq consultant at the Public Policy Office of the American Friends Service Committee in Washington, an independent peace group.

Jarrar also told Inter Press Service (IPS) the contract forged last month by Decider George and US-installed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will make matters even worse in Iraq. Despite polls showing most ordinary Iraqis want the US presence to completely end, or at minimum, become less conspicuous, and despite a mandate from the Iraqi parliament last April that “demand a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our beloved Iraq,” the US troops continue as if there were no conditions.

• “Bypassing the Iraqi parliament and continuing to undermine the Iraqi political process will push more Iraqis to choose armed resistance instead of political nonviolent resistance.
  The US role in supporting the unpopular and unelected Iraqi cabinet will increase violence and undermine Iraqis’ plans to achieve national reconciliation. The best way to support reconciliation in Iraq is to stop supporting a minority of Iraqi separatists against the majority of Iraqi nationalists.”
  — Jarrar to IPS (1/3/08)

Most Americans want the boys and girls in Iraq to come home. In a Knowledge Networks poll released by the Associated Press this past weekend, 68 percent voiced opposition to the war while 54 percent believe Decider George’s “surge” has not really stabilized Iraq.
And according to all the bullshit coming from candidates working themselves into a furor as the race for the White House officially starts today with the Iowa caucus, the Iraqi war seems to have dropped behind the economy as the leading hot-button issue.
One source to blame is the mainstream media, now a business experience:

• An analysis of news coverage by the three broadcast news networks and the three primary cable news networks show Iraq war coverage now comprises less than five percent of nightly newscasts, compared to 16 percent just one year ago. On New Years Day, the war was not even mentioned on two of the three primetime evening newscasts.
  — capitolhillblue.com (1/2/08)

And on top of that, there’s not been much chatter on John Edwards’ statement that he would bring US troops home from Iraq within 10 months after taking office — if he’s elected, of course.

In Iraq, though, those GI boots on the ground are singing in their minds:

• “Homeward bound,
  I wish I was,
  Homeward bound,
  Home where my thought’s escaping,
  Home where my music’s playing,
  Home where my love lies waiting
  Silently for me.”
  — Paul Simon, Homeward Bound