Iraq, not in civil war - Cheney

Dick Cheney, the US vice president, yesterday said Iraq had not fallen into a civil war that insurgents were trying to incite, and predicted success despite the constant violence three years after the US invasion.

Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister, had earlier said on BBC television that Iraq was nearing the "point of no return" and had already plunged into sectarian civil war.

Cheney said "terrorists" like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and others were trying to stop the formation of a democratically elected government in Iraq by violence such as the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on February 22, one of the holiest Shi'ite sites.

"What we've seen is a serious effort by them to foment civil war, but I don't think they've been successful," Cheney said on CBS television's "Face the Nation."

Proof, were any further proof needed, that the Bush administration live in an alternate reality. A place where facts are driven by faith rather than reality.

It reminds me of an article I read a while back (I'll post a link in related articles) where Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush shortly after the invasion of Baghdad.

''I was in the Oval Office a few months after we swept into Baghdad,'' Biden began, ''and I was telling the president of my many concerns'' -- concerns about growing problems winning the peace, the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army and problems securing the oil fields. Bush, Biden recalled, just looked at him, unflappably sure that the United States was on the right course and that all was well. '''Mr. President,' I finally said, 'How can you be so sure when you know you don't know the facts?'''

Biden said that Bush stood up and put his hand on the senator's shoulder. ''My instincts,'' he said. ''My instincts.''

Now, with his instincts revealed as faulty, with his admission that this mess must be cleaned up by his successor, Bush (and Cheney) ask that we rely on the one thing that gives them both hope. Their faith.

Bin Laden has a similar mindset. It makes me despair.

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Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W Bush