Iraq fantasyland

In a letter accompanying the Iraq Study group's report, James Baker and Lee Hamilton offer this bit of wishful thinking:

Our country deserves a debate that prizes substance over rhetoric, and a policy that is adequately funded and sustainable… Our leaders must be candid and forthright with the American people in order to win their support.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Major General William Caldwell (the fourth), the Pentagon's chief press flack in Iraq, explains "Why We Perservere" -- an homage to the classic WWII propganda film "Why We Fight" -- that is anything but candid and forthright …

I don't see a civil war in Iraq. I don't see a constituency for civil war. The vast majority of the people want hope for their families, not to massacre their neighbors or divide their country. A poll conducted in June by the International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan group that promotes democracy, found 89 percent of Iraqis supporting a unity government representing all sects and ethnic communities.

That's some cherry-picking. Download the study (PowerPoint) and you'll see that while "most Iraqis" wanted a unity government, many -- especially Arabs in the North and in Sunni areas -- didn't think that's what they got. Iraqis also said that things were getting worse in just about every area -- and this was back in June before things got noticeably worse still.