Say What You Will About George Bush...

...You can't really argue his comedic timing:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. strategists are exploring how to implement a peace accord to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War and hope to start discussions with North Korea as soon as year end, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Presumably, this is an attempt to salvage some kind of historical legacy that will deflect some of the criticism of the Iraq invasion, but in point of fact, history will probably look at this as an indication of the cynical acknowledgement by the Bush administration that Iraq was a debacle and that by ending the Korean War, Bush is setting the stage to make Iraq the longest-running conflict in American history.

In other words, by calling attention to the long-standing "failure" of past administrations to essentially put pen to paper and make de facto that which has been considered de jure for roughly twenty years, Bush throws into harsh relief the fact that, well, he'll never be considered seriously for a Nobel Peace Prize, to be charitable. Too, it highlights the officious and arrongant manner in which Bush has run his foreign policy, and takes essential brainpower (something already in short supply at the White House) off the more pressing and immediate problem of Iraq to formalize that which basically exists, but for our interference. Or should I say, Bush's interference.

This comes on the same day as Iraqi leaders warned that civil war is imminent if the US pulls its troops out anytime soon:

BAGHDAD, July 9 (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders warned on Monday that an early U.S. troop withdrawal could tip Iraq into all-out civil war after the New York Times said debate was growing in the White House over a gradual scaling-down of forces.

The stark comments followed a wave of bombings and shootings in Iraq at the weekend that killed 250 people.

"This could produce a civil war, partition of the country and a regional war. We might see the country collapse," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, told a news conference when asked about the New York Times report.

Citing administration officials and consultants, the Times said these officials feared the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq strategy were "collapsing around them".

In other words, the Iraqi leaders are in danger of losing their cushy jobs, and will be forced back into the streets along with the people they so callowly abandoned for their vacation.

Right now, American troops are like crack cocaine in Iraq: cheap to get, and plentiful. And highly tempting. Shoot one up, and move on to the next fix. But they also imply a stronger drug is at work, and that drug is the civil war that is already raging in Iraq, all over Iraq, and with a few exceptions, throughout Iraqi provinces. And like crack addicts, the Iraqi leadership is in deep denial over the extent of this addiction as well as their role in facilitating it.