You assume that the press will report all this; Rove and co. have already made it clear that the White House will retaliate against any network that is excessively critical of the GOP during the election. So all people may see on the news is "Iraqi Elections Under Way," nicely coinciding with Saddam's trial. As for hostile Iraq leaders, the White House could simply overthrow the gov! ernment afterwards. Again, any notion of accurate press reporting is quaint.
I'm surprised that more leftists haven't grasped that this country is no longer a democracy.
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But if Iraq slides into a big anti-American mess, it will alarm the foreign-policy establishment. The media can ignore Paul Krugman but they can't ignore Brent Scowcroft.
Seth