Politics as Usual

Micheal Yon comments and follows-up:

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Almost everyone (by now) must have heard about the “lazy” Iraqi parliament members who, like so many Neros fiddling while Rome burns around them, are taking a month off. ...

False advertising is afoot. I write these words from Indonesia, soaking wet, having just returned from photographing rice paddies in a pouring rain, wearing a Florida Gators shirt. That means there is a green alligator on my chest. While supporting my team, my shirt perpetuates the myth that alligators are green, when in fact they are black when wet, gray when dry.The mantra that “there is no political progress in Iraq” is rapidly becoming the “surge” equivalent of a green alligator: when enough people repeat something that sounds plausible, but also happens to be false, it becomes accepted as fact. The more often it is repeated—and the larger the number of people repeating it—the harder it is to convince anyone of the truth: alligators are not green, and Iraqis are making plenty of political progress.
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I have never really understood the "Iraq has not agreed on oil sharing.. Iraqis need to undo de-baathification laws..." imposed America milestones. Who are we to set their milestones? Our job is to make it safe for sustained, organized government. Once it's sustainable, we can leave and let them take 5, 10, 100 years to optimize their society. As long as they don't send death to our families, our goal has been achieved.