Watching the press conference on now with Powell and Adnan Pachachi from the Iraqi Governing Council (who will be seated in the Gallery during the speech tonight and pointed out by Bush), I couldn't help but notice that this just might end up hurting the situation in Iraq in a ploy for domestic political gain (and no, I'm not naive enough to be shocked at that, but its still worth pointing out for its idiocy). Sure, its a great image and symbol to have someone from Iraq there to acknowledge, both politically and substantively...but back in the Arab world methinks that this just might play into the image that the Governing Council is just a bunch of props for the U.S. right now, with the obvious spin that Pachcachi is here being a mere tool for Bush's re-election campaign's unofficial kickoff.
Its especially disappointing because from what I have heard, Pachachi is one of the more solid guys on the Governing Council-- he was never a Pentagon stooge like Chalabi, actually is a career diplomat and public servant, and I haven't heard a bad word about him corruption-wise. At the least, they could have recognized how this might play and picked one of the lesser-known, non-Chalabi-affiliated council members instead of risking damage to this one...+