An insurgency cannot be crushed. It has to be defused.
 —Anas Shallal, Iraqi-Americans for Peaceful Alternatives, on the PBS News Hour

There is no solution on the ground.
 —A retired general on the PBS News Hour (quoted from memory)

There is some hope, however faint, that elections later this month will help defuse the bloody insurgency in Iraq.

If the elections are seen to be fair and honest, the people of Iraq might finally rally behind the elected government. If Iraqis have confidence in their elected government, sympathy for the insurgents could fade. Without a sympathetic populace, the violent insurgents wouldn’t last long. We must hope for such an outcome.

Senate approval of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General might derail that hope.

The people of Iraq are not ignorant. They have radios and television sets. They have satellite dishes. They have electricity, sometimes. They know what’s happening here.

Gonzales’ diligent efforts to seek loopholes in U.S. laws against torture, and to place the United States beyond the reach of international law, may earn him the gratitude of his client, George W. Bush. But they do nothing but harm to the international reputation of the United States. Fairly or unfairly, Gonzales is seen as one of the spiritual fathers of Abu Ghraib.

The elected government in Iraq will have to work with the U.S.-led Coalition. Promoting Alberto Gonzales at this time sends the wrong message. It will undermine popular support for any Iraqi government that attempts to work with the United States. It will give fresh fuel to the insurgency.