Relying on its known integrity to counteract the United Nations' just-released civilian casualty figures for 2006, the Iraq government has dismissed as "inaccurate and exaggerated" the number 71,137 -- 34,452 killed and 36,685 wounded. Iraqi officials say the true number of civilians killed was only 12,357.
Well that's a relief. Nearly 35,000 murdered innocents would indicate trouble ahead for Iraq's stability, wrapped in a desert democracy, whereas just a few more than 12,000 is one of those "Whew, we-dodged-that-bullet" moments (but either way is literally untrue, since most dead civilians got that way as a result of gunshot wounds.)
But wait. Did I say democracy? Heaven forfend. That's so yesterday.
For the Bush administration has now quietly dropped its Middle East goo-goo rhetoric and, through the actions of its eternally befuddled mouthpiece Condi Rice, has chosen to rewarm to the older, friendlier, more familiar brands of dictatorship overseas, similar to what it's trying to build at home.
From this morning's New York Times:
"In the days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with officials in Egypt, the news media here were filled with stories detailing charges of corruption, cronyism, torture and political repression....
"Ms. Rice, who once lectured Egyptians on the need to respect the rule of law, did not address those domestic concerns. Instead, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit by her side, she talked about her appreciation for Egypt’s support in the region.
"It was clear that the United States -- facing chaos in Iraq, rising Iranian influence and the destabilizing Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- had decided that stability, not democracy, was its priority."
It was clear from the beginning of Mr. Bush's escapade in Iraq that democracy had nothing to do with his misadventurous designs. He only used that desired ideal as Reason Number Three to justify invasion after the pursuits of WMD (One) and then noble humanitarianism (Two) fell flat on their faces.
I forget what occupying Reason we're up to now, but whatever the count, at least we have one -- stability -- although it could go the way of Reasons One, Two, Three, Four ... at any moment, suffering the same quiet death as its predecessors.
The Bush administration jumps the war-justification tracks with a political finesse that rankles, yet what rankles (me, anyway) even more is that it never, never ever, admits that the previously traveled track was boneheaded.
Within the pantheon of great presidents in which Mr. Bush so desperately wants to rest, we see a deep-seated leadership quality altogether foreign to our current president: a sincere penchant for consistent values and straightforwardness. For example when Mr. Lincoln decided that slavery's abolition might be a nice addition to the Union's war aims, he didn't dump the Union's preservation as the principal casus belli. It was merely enhanced.
When FDR squared off with the economic monster of the Great Depression, he announced up front that he would try new fixes -- and if they proved boneheaded he'd say so and then try something else. Simple as that. And when JFK (whose true greatness only seemed destined) launched the utterly ill-fated Bay of Pigs, he afterward went on the air and publicly slapped himself in the face. That one admission of stupidity probably strengthened Kennedy more than any success.
Such consistency and honesty endeared the likes of Lincoln, FDR and JFK to the populace, and in no small part because it seemed obvious those qualities were not strained. Those men were naturals -- in short, naturally good men.
Need I say more about Mr. Bush's most fundamental problem -- The Reason why his bad always goes to worse?