Two very interesting stories on the BBC this morning point to further bad news for the Iraq Coverup campaign, and continuing disintegration of Operation Change the Name.
One of them could spell the end of the road for lame poodle Tony Blair, and the other could mean another formerly tame pet, namely Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is going feral. Together, these stories constitute a new chapter, which could be called (hat tip to Frank Zappa)
"The Poodle Bites, the Poodle Chews It"
More after this word from Halliburton and the Republican Party.... BOOO!!
First,
The Poodle Bites.
This came into the BBC just a few hours ago. As you may remember, our Iraqi poodle prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was a bit displeased at the treatment his government was receiving last week at the hands of the spinmeisters in the Bush administration over timetables, benchmarks, or any outwardly measurable signs of progress in this 3 1/2 year old conflict, and took a few days to come around to properly licking his master's hands. The MSM played down his dismissal of the importance of retaining a Republican majority and played up his reversal in typical fashion. Nothing to see here, right?
Well, he's acting up again. Somebody better tell Dick Cheney. Maliki doesn't like the fact that the US military has virtually all of Baghdad, but especially the Shiite slum Sadr City, under 24 hour lockdown. In fact, he dislikes it so much he has ordered the blockade lifted, in direct contradiction to US policy.
Nouri Maliki, the prime minister, said he was lifting the measures to allow traffic to flow around the city in his "capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces".
A US military spokesman said that he was not aware of the order but told the AFP news agency that any concerns of the prime minister would be addressed "at the highest command levels".
But the BBC's correspondent in Baghdad, Hugh Sykes, says that the US has not said whether or not it will obey the Iraqi prime minister's order.
This puts the US soldiers smack in the middle of a conflicting set of orders; their commanders say "lock it down" and the Iraqi government, in what sure looks like a case of Standing Up(tm), are saying "open the gate".
This cannot be good for our guys.
UPDATE: Associated Press is reporting that the US commanders will indeed comply with Maliki's order to lift the blockade. Thank God. Like it's not open season on our guys already - this would've been even worse.
Now for The Poodle Chews It.
Let's start with a juicy soundbyte;
Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond, who is leading the Commons debate, has declared a defeat for Mr Blair would mean his tenure would be measured in hours and days rather than weeks and months.
Oh, my.
The British Parliament is getting set to vote today to
support demands for a full inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding the conflict.
.
A large bloc of Labor MPs are joining the Tories and other parties in this demand, and according to the BBC;
it would be a big blow to Mr Blair's authority in his last months as premier and as he continues to face pressure from many on his own side to quit Downing Street long before the May deadline he appears to have in mind.
See also this accompanying story.
Both of these stories have polls asking if the readers support this inquiry. As of now they are at 85% YES.
Tony's fellow poodles, much like Mr Bush's domestic pets, are reduced to the pathetic assertion that any inquiry before the end of time would undermine the brave soldiers blahblahblah (you know it by heart by now).
Though the article goes on to say that the poodle may siphon off enough votes with promises to "look back" someday (AD 3046 again), it does not call this a certainty.
And the wingnuts say we don't report any good news...
Happy Halloween, everyone.
Now where do I get a poodle costume this late?