FORGET THE THREE STOOGES-- IT'S THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE IN IRAQ

Praying that no one was listening to Hillary's sensible proposals this morning?

Yesterday we talked a little about McCain's latest photo-op in Iraq, "The Three Stooges Play Baghdad." Today's NY Times says Iraqi politicians were all aware that the trip is all about his campaign back home and that they were being used as a backdrop for his political ambitions. McCain's goal, of course, is just getting elected and whether it's a $1,000 a head fundraiser at Spencer House hosted by Lord Rothschild or an opportunity to exploit the misery and devastation his policies have caused in Iraq, the golden ring is always in front of his eyes.

Last month, trying to push the false premise that his agenda of escalation has been a success, he said “Anybody who believes the surge has not succeeded, militarily, politically and in most other ways, frankly, does not know the facts on the ground.” I wonder if anyone has pointed out the real truth on the ground outside the 4 square mile Green Zone to him. I have no doubt if someone did, he wouldn't give it a second thought. That's the way he is and the way he's always been.

And look who also snuck into town! It's Mr. Reconciliation, Dick Cheney. Not quite the triumphal welcome that Iranian President Ahmadinejad got a couple weeks ago. But, of course, his visit was announced in advance and well promoted and in the open. Cheney is sneaking around, hidden from view, fearful-- and rightfully so-- of riots and revolutions.

It's like old home week for 4 Neocon authors of the Iraqi disaster: Cheney, McCain, Lieberman and, when he's not off shopping for rugs, Lindsey Graham. And they're all trying, desperately, to convince anyone who will listen, that their policy of escalation (the endless "surge") is somehow working. Cheney, apparently unaware that his agenda will be tossed onto history's garbage heap the moment the White House is fumigated next January and American democracy is restored, is in Baghdad to "discuss a long-term security agreement intended to outlive the Bush presidency"... and oil.

The Washington Post points out that the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse are in Iraq "just as the war is about to hit its five-year mark, already roughly a year longer than the Civil War or U.S. involvement in World War II." No one is greeting them with flowers and candy and American occupation officials are afraid to announce any of their schedules since it would certainly provoke even more violent protests than the rocket attack and explosions that have been reported so far. Cheney's main objective, of course-- as it has always been-- is to steal Iraq's oil. "Cheney will push Iraqi leaders to pass an oil law governing the management of the country's enormous energy reserves, which he hopes will draw in international firms eager to invest in production, the senior official said."


UPDATE: WILL McCAIN GET INTO A MUDWRESTLING MATCH WITH THE POPE?

One of McCain's most prominent surrogates, anti-Catholic psychopath John Hagee, has been calling Catholicism the "great whore" and a false religion and a cult and all kinds of bigoted nonsense. I'm sure Pope Benedict XVI's powerful denunciation of McCain's defining issue-- endless war in Iraq-- will send Hagee and the rest of the Double Talk Express spiralling out of control. He " denounced the five-year-long war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life."

''Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!" Benedict said to applause at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.