Bremer Slips Out the Back Door

Like a thief in the night, U.S. Iraq administrator Paul Bremer secretly handed over power to the new Iraqi interim government early in the morning and hightailed it out of there. George W. Bush will no doubt (Bush on the rectitude of the war - "No doubt! No doubt!") declare this a victory. Not so fast - we still have thousands of soldiers in Iraq to keep the peace, we don't know how to maintain a steady troop presence or how or when to get out, and the violence continues. Let's hope things go smoothly - or, at least, as smoothly as possible.

If Iraq does go unexpectedly smoothly from here on, don't expect Bush to eke out an election victory in November so quickly - there are other issues he has to answer for, as Michael Moore has been demonstrating.