Iraq a 'work of art in progress' says US general after 49 die

As attempts at spin go, it was considerable.

Major General William Caldwell, the chief military spokesman, said - on a day that 49 people were killed in Iraq - that Iraq was like a work of art.

"Every great work of art goes through messy phases while it is in transition. A lump of clay can become a sculpture. Blobs of paint become paintings which inspire," Maj Gen Caldwell told journalists in Baghdad's fortified green zone.

"The final test of our efforts will not be the isolated incidents that you report daily, but the country that the Iraqis build." Perceptions of how the war is going have become a central factor in next Tuesday's congressional elections, which could determine President George Bush's freedom of manoeuvre in his last two years in office.

Maj Gen Caldwell was speaking after a series of public disagreements between Washington and the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, over proposed benchmarks for his government's performance, and over a recent US raid on a Shia district of Baghdad.

A quiet word in the General's ear: The current situation in Iraq can only be viewed as art if you believe the Toxteth riots were street theatre. Or if you believe bank robbery is merely a form of self expression.

Murder and looting on a grand scale can never be considered "a work of art".

As attempts to spin this debacle go, that's the worst I've ever heard.

Click title for full article.

tag: Iraq, terrorists, terrorism, "Staying the course", "Stay the course", disintegration, collapse, work of art,