55% in Gallup poll think Iraq war is a"mistake". Via E&P:

More Americans than nearly ever before now say the war in Iraq is a "mistake" for the United States, according to a new Gallup poll. That figure now stands at 55%, up 4% point since late January. Only once before was the figure higher, at 59%, and that was during the period of overall pessimism right after Hurricane Katrina hit.

Gallup noted that it had asked this question about other wars involving the United States, "and only the Vietnam War engendered more public opposition than the current Iraq War. " The peak opposition to the Vietnam conflict was 61%. That figure for the generally unpopular Korean War was 51%.

If my calculations are correct, 55% is more than a majority. Yet, somehow, Bush denigrates anyone who questions his Iraq policy. He is dissing over half the country. No wonder his approval ratings are so low. By noemail@noemail.org (Joe in DC). [AMERICAblog]

Not as bad as Vietnam but worse than Korea.  10:43:17 PM    

Rush Limbaugh Bombshell.

You folks are going to love this.¬[sgl dagger] I wonder how long it[base ']Äôll be before he[base ']Äôs campaigning with Howard Dean.

[Calling All Wingnuts]

Wow. Rush, Kerry and Dean all agreeing about the Ira War.  10:33:42 PM    

I think that it’s likely that today will be remembered as the day that an extremely well-organized band of troublemakers blew up the Shiite Askariyah shrine in Samarra.

What happened? A well-trained demo squad broke into the shrine in the early morning, apparently with the help of the Iraqi police security detail, set their charges and left before the charges went. The famous golden dome was destroyed along with most of the building. Nobody was killed in the explosion.

Why? The shrine is among the most sacred in shiite Islam; Juan Cole (no relation) describes it thusly:

The shrine, sacred to Shiiites, honors 3 Imams or holy descendants of the Prophet. They are Ali al-Hadi, Hasan al-Askari, and his disappeared son Muhammad al-Mahdi. Thousands of Shiiites demonnstrated in Samarra and in East Baghdad, against this desecration.

The Twelfh Imam or Mahdi is believed by Shiites to have disappeared into a supernatural realm (just as Christians believe in the ascension of Christ) from which he will someday return.

The only imaginable reason why somebody would want to do this is if they want a civil war. I say that because that’s what’s happening, and it’s inconceivable that a group of Iraqis wouldn’t forsee it. Juan Cole has a follow-up email from Iraq:

You know the Najaf boys are losing their heads over what happened.

...They told B. how the demolition was carried out. You see, it was nothing like
a hipshot sneaking up bombing by night. It was meticulous, skilful piece of work,
taking a lot of time, the guards knowing all about what was going on. At least that´s what they told him today.

So now they all gather downtown Nejef rallying, preparing a gruesome revenge.
Sistani tries hard to stop them, they told him, but the boys won´t listen. They´re heading for Samarra. ‘

Somebody in Iraq wants chaos and it looks like they have a fairly good idea how to get it (read more about the reaction within Iraq here). It doesn’t help that Iran is gleefully fanning rumors of American and Israeli involvement, not that you can expect anything different. If a meteor hit Baghdad you could count on Iran to blame Israel for throwing it.

This ties in well with the debate regarding to what degree the Iraqi police and army is penetrated by the insurgency. Apparently it runs pretty deep.

This is big news but the American attention is drawn to the Portgate event. One of the holiest shrines of the Shiites was destroyed, not by suicide bombers but sophisticated, well-trained people. This is not good at all.

The other interesting things about all this is that the Shiites believe in the 'resurrection' of the disappeared son, who will one day return. Many believe that day is now. So we have end-timers in a lot of relgions today.   9:20:01 PM    

A Brief Reminder. Bush does, of course, have inherent authority under Article II to make all decisions relating to national security. [Eschaton]

I guess the Unitary Executive means that he could let Saddam Hussein run our ports if the President wanted to. Congress can't tell him otherwise. I think we are going to see some changes regarding this belief.  12:41:37 AM    

[link]

SO NOW BUSH IS THREATENING TO VETO any legislation that would block the Dubai ports deal? Either this deal is somehow a lot more important than it seems (a quid pro quo for, well, something . . . ) or Bush is an idiot. Your call.

[Instapundit.com]

This from one of the most popular right-leaning blogs. You know something is up when peoplel from both sides of the political spectrum agree.  12:35:43 AM    

Can the Republicans Defend America?--Part II. It's bad enough that the administration has caused a manpower crisis in the United States armed forces. After it has created a completely incompetent bureaucracy unable to defend the country, it now has decided to outsource homeland security to the United Arab Emirates--a country not likely to see its interests as dovetailing with the United States. No matter, says DHS... [The Reality-Based Community]

And if you think it is easy for someone to get into the united States across our border, read about how open the UAE border is to other Arabs, including terrorists.   12:14:56 AM    

Student Finds Way to Thwart Anthrax. LiveScience.com Feb 21 2006 7:17PM GMT [Moreover Technologies - Science news]

Always nice to see a new use for an iron. Glad i've got a good one.  12:11:36 AM