That’s the beauty of the type of democracy we planted over there. We don’t force “our guy” down the people’s throats.

Doc- we’ll see how things work out. Whether Iraq becomes a real democracy is in the Iraqis’ hands. The elections were a good thing, though the accusations of widespread fraud will do little to inspire the Sunnis’ confidence in the new government.

The bottom line is, nation building is an extremely long and difficult process, one that the administration was criminally unprepared for after the invasion.

Human beings naturally tend to botch things up, Brad. Thank God for divine intervention.

Doc? Are you saying that God has a hand in the Iraq war? I really hope you’re not.

I’m not saying God started it, Brad. All we are saying is: Give war a chance! No, I’m kidding. That’s a Christmas classic (even bigger than Black Santa), and, besides I wouldn’t want to rain on John Lennon’s hit parade.

All I’m saying, is that God may have had a hand in the burgeoning outcome.

And BTW, just so I won’t be accused of offering it to Power Line first, here’s:

My Six-string Weapon of Mass Construction:
words/music by Dr. BLT (c)2005
http://www.drblt.com/music/sixstringweapon.mp3

Remember folks: You heard it first, right here at Sadly, No! where you are now free to persecute the song blogger.

All I’m saying, is that God may have had a hand in the burgeoning outcome.

So…ah…God really does hate America?

-The Rev. Schmitt.

not to get all theological, but given the assumed nature of a christian god (all knowing, all powerful, etc.) one would conclude that he knew everything that would happen in iraq before it occured and could change anything about it at any time.. if i believed in god, i’d be super-bummed about his performance in this one.

The thing about the omniscient, omnipotent God is that he doesn’t intervene. Apparently, at least in certain forms of Christian theology, he just hangs around waiting until you’re dead to tell you how badly you fucked up. Which seems like an unusual modus operandi for a loving and caring deity, but hey, mysterious ways and all that. I agree with Jed Bartlet — that kind of God is a “feckless thug.”

Chalabi didn’t really want to spend that much time in Baghdad anyway.

Baghdad is too close to Amaan where there’s a jail cell waiting for him.

Of course, I bet he’d show up when the next $9 Billion in $100 bills was delivered.

After all, he’s in the same business that the Bush family is in. Bank Robbery!

“…at least in certain forms of Christian theology,…”

Dan, by including such a qualifying phrase, you’ve proven yourself to be intellectually advanced in comparison to some bloggers here who paint Christianity with one, broad stroke. I must give you props for that.

And BTW, I wish you and yours a Happy NewYear!

Condi needs to announce Diebold has been contracted to review the recent election in Iraq. Chalabi would probably gain about 5 million votes on a recount.

Diabold? That name reflects the bold, yet diabolical result that the prospect of such a recount portends. Maybe Chalabi should consult with Al Gore, so he can learn how to cherry-pick the regions that will bring him the most votes.

I know, it’s Diebold, not Diabold, so the pair of puns pretty much fall apart (not that they were very great puns to begin with). Has one of you put a curse on me? This has been an utterly embarrassing day for me and my mind. Either I’ve had too much eggnog, or I haven’t had enough. Either way, my noggin hasn’t been performing very well lately.

I saw a photo of Chalabi walking in the rose garden with Bush.

A picture like that is SURE to get you elected, right?

Well, it should still work here though, right?

How many American-R politicians are doing that tainted calculus?

What I want to know is why, if he and his party have no seats in the Iraqi Parliament, they are making him the frigging oil minister:

Meanwhile, Iraqi oil officials quoted by Dow Jones said yesterday that the deputy prime minister Ahmed Chalabi would take over the oil ministry, replacing Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, who has taken a month?s leave.

It’s okay, Mr Chalabi. We can still install you as the leader of Iran or Syria after the invasion.

With all due respect, I don’t know about classifying this as “good news”.
Chalabi may be a stooge, but with the probable alternative being an Islamist theocracy or, at the least, a Islamist Republic… Well, good may be reaching, outside of the context that “it’s good the Iraqi people seem to actually be controlling their destiny”.

As for the Oil thing, as I understand it, he is qualified for the job (hell, that’s why we wanted him in in the first place!).

I agree with guinessguy, this isn’t very good news at all. Likely we’ll find out how ungood this news is in the coming months.

So here’s the next bold move: keep having ’em vote till it comes out “right.” Have Jeb! and Katherine Harris fly over at night (all incognito-like, pretending like they’re married, tee-hee) and tell all the purple fingerers they can have some turkee if they vote for Chalabi next time.

An’ if that don’t get it done, well, I guess we’ll just have to rain down the white phosphorous till they reconsider.

“Let freedom reign.”

Think I’m makin’ it up?

Yeah freq flag, Jeb and Katherine may know how to play the game, but nobody knows how to find hanging chads and then cherry pick those regions sure to bring in the most votes on a recount than Al Gore, King of the Hanging Chad and Self-appointed hero of the Disenfranchised.