Well ... GWB is finally seeing the light!

Maybe we will still be able to protect the Red, White and Blue Zone (formerly called, the Green Zone) with continuous helicopter coverage

It seems as though the "light" didn't come about until the entire world was against him, but the bulb in GWB's brain is slowly brightening.

Yes, the Bush administration is taking another look at its efforts to unite Iraq's sectarian and political factions. In fact, its "new look" seems to be permitting thought of ... gasp ... horrors ... dividing Iraq into three equal (not really equal, of course) pieces. In a belated attempt to manage at least minimal options in Iraq no matter what happens, it appears that the United States will try a "not-so-United States" as regards Iraq (or whatever the three states will call themselves) for the future.

For simplicity, we'll call them Kurdistan, Suntannistan and Shittystan and hope that the Shits don't exterminates the Suntans in the process of division. Meanwhile, the sectarian violence continues with any hope of the Shits letting the Suntans into the light of partial "control" of the melee becoming dimmer than the bulb (until possibly now) in Bush's brain.

And as for Iran and Iraq -- well, the State Department seems to be "leaking" word that it will continue to oppose their involvement despite their obvious involvement. Hmmm ... did that make sense?

Thus we have the leaders of the internal White House review presenting their incomplete conclusions to Bush two weeks early and before the Iraq Study Group presents theirs. The "White House" analysts represent the views of senior officials at the State Department, White House National Security Council, Pentagon and other agencies under GWB's thumb.

The White House group's work is somewhat along the lines of a congressionally chartered bipartisan commission whose recommendations are due next week. That commission, known as the Iraq Study Group, will recommend engaging Iran and Syria as part of a larger group and perhaps one-on-one, which will allow for a tug-a-war over the next few weeks.

The Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., will also recommend phasing the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq from combat to training and supporting Iraqi units. However, the report due Wednesday sets no timetable, according to officials familiar with the group's deliberations.

Watch for our troops to begin to leave as early as 90 days from now independent of what the two "study" groups come up with and watch for Rumsfeld to spend more time hunting pheasants with Dick Cheney as Iraq devolves into threee Iraqs and the saudis and Kuwaitis shake in their boots ... seeing the Shittystan-Iranian-Syrian-Lebanese (Shiite) crescent forming to the north of them.

One of my colleagues in Saudi Arabia predicted in 1996 that Bill Clinton would try to be a hero and take down Saddam Hussein and cause exactlty what is happening. He was right and wrong ... right about our taking out Saddam, but wrong about who (which president) would be the "hero."