Meanwhile, In Iraq...

More good news from our super-successful war of freedom in Iraq...

It appears it's definitely vacation time for overstretched U.S. forces the Iraqi government-

Iraq's parliament went into summer recess for a month on Monday despite failing to enact a series of laws that Washington sees as crucial to stabilizing the country and reconciling warring Iraqis...

....The parliament is due to reconvene on September 4, just two weeks before the top U.S. general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, are due to report to Congress on the success of U.S. President George W. Bush's new Iraq strategy and make recommendations.

The recess leaves Bush with little to show Americans after sending nearly 30,000 more troops to Iraq to give Iraqi leaders breathing space to reach a political accommodation...

...Petraeus said commanders felt they would need a substantial force in Iraq at least until mid-2009...

And if the blessed St. Petraeus says we need to stay indefinitely, then it's sacred law. Amen.

Meanwhile, there was also big news this week on the first big meeting between President Bush and the new U.K. Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. They will discuss the war in Iraq, among other pressing matters (Darfur, world trade, etc).

But while Brown is expected to continue the friendly U.S.-U.K. relationship, he is not going to allow his country to prop up Bush's failed war any further. From The Independent newspaper across the pond-

Gordon Brown has paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by telling George Bush he would not delay their exit in order to show unity with the United States...

...Mr Brown made clear - and President Bush accepted - that Britain would go its own way, even if that gave the impression the two countries were diverging...

For the U.S., however, the summer of stalling continues unabated. Is it 2009 yet?