The Republican Guard

As the war's stalwart defenders tell us for the 10,903th time that we've finally turned that corner in Iraq (and anything that goes wrong is your fault for stabbing them in the back), two disturbing events intersect behind the scenes.

Anyone still questioning the partisan politicization of the U.S. military under the Bush era (which culminated in September's Petraeus masturbation theatre) should look no further than a series of emails sent by Col. Steven A. Boylan-- the Public Affairs Officer and personal spokesman for Gen. Petraeus-- to muckraking lawyer/journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Greenwald, who had been denied a Petraeus interview request this summer even as the General spoke to right-wing bloggers and spent the latter half of the summer giving guided tours of Baghdad to members of Congress, has been doing a serious of pieces for Salon on how top military officials are doing partisan dirty work for GOP outlets (ie. leaking documents to the likes of Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin that had been denied to credible journalistic outlets). In response, Col. Boylan sent an unsolicited response to Greenwald, which seems to serve no other purpose than to belittle or intimidate him (in a followup response, Boylan is defensive and angry that the email was published, while giving an unbelievable denial of it). Though Boylan states that "I am not sending this as anyone's spokesperson," he cannot pretend his actions do not reflect back on his position.

Here are some choice excerpts-

"I do enjoy reading your diatribes as they provide comic relief here in Iraq. The amount of pure fiction is incredible...

...As for working in secret with only certain media is laughable... You may recall that a 30-minute interview was conducted with the program that you claim to be a contributor. So instead of doing the interview with you, we went with the real talent, Alan Colmes...

I invite you to come see for yourself and go anywhere in Iraq you want, go see what our forces are doing, go see what the other coalition forces are doing, go hang out with the reporters outside the International Zone since that is where they live and work and see for yourself what ground truth is so that you can be better informed. But that would take something you probably don't have."

Translation: 'You are a pussy and I hate you.' Such professionalism!

And, as Greenwald details in his post, the Colonel in his response does not deny the central points of his post(s). The military, long a prop in Bush administration photo-ops, is now being outright abused as a PR branch of the Republican party message.

And if that doesn't inspire confidence, then this definitely shouldn't-

Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq .

His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those services without great success.

Ahmad Chalabi, for those not familiar with the name, is the infamous con-man and neocon ally whose lies were instrumental in the administration's case for war (funneling phony stories of weapons labs and WMDs to willing ears). Eventually he fell out of favor with the Bushies... but that was years after the war had started, after he'd served (corruptly) in the Iraqi government, attended the 2004 State of the Union address as Laura Bush's guest, and leaked U.S. state secrets to Iran. Good times!

(For a Chalabi overview, see this excerpt from Bill Moyers' "Buying the War" documentary.)

The fact that they are turning to him to help put Humpty Dumpty back together is a frightening thought. The devil you know, I guess. But not everyone is concerned about the reemergence of Chalabi in Iraq-

Chalabi "is an important part of the process," said Col. Steven Boylan , Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."

Ahhh, nice to see you again so soon, Colonel. We're full-circle now.

I'd love to be optimistic about Iraq. But that would require massive memory damage. Fortunately, I'm fine. Unfortunately, this war is not. It's still considered treasonous to say it.

At this point, simply calling this spade a spade may be enough to get my vote.