Good News For Peace...I Think

This morning, when I woke up, my newly straightened hair was sticking straight out from the back of my head. I guess I had burrowed to far under the pillows, and was now confronted with my first new Hair Issue. Normally, when I wake up and my hair is sticking wildly out on all sides of my head, I just jump in the shower, and soak it all down, slap some product in it, and everything is peachy. But my hair care instructions clearly state that water and product are verboten, for one more day. So I put on my bicycle helmet, and wore it around the house for a few hours, and what do you know? No more hair issues.

I'm thinking about sending that tip in to Glamour Magazine.

I haven't been paying much attention to the Iraq War, I figure it's lost, and will die a slow death from incompetence and the immoral nature of it's conception. The Bush Administration has been desperately trying to shove a SOFA (I always thing of my mom's living room couch when I hear that term) down the throat of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and the agreement leaves some 50 permanent military bases in Iraq.

In addition to the 50 US bases, the deal calls for long-term American supervision of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and Defense (no less than 10 years). It gives the Americans almost exclusive right to rebuild Iraq, train Iraqi forces and maintain personnel on Iraqi territory - with immunity from the Iraqi courts. It gives the US the right to arrest or persecute any Iraqi working against its interests, within Iraq, and pledges to protect Iraq from any war, coup or revolution. It also gives the US control of Iraqi airspace. Barhan Saleh, the deputy prime minister, said that the Americans threatened to freeze no less than US$50 billion worth of Iraqi hard currency, and keep all of Iraq's monetary debts to the US, if an agreement is not signed before December (the date that the United Nations mandate for the American presence in Iraq expires).

It's not such a good deal for the Iraqis.

I'm happy to hear that someone, is opposed to permanent US military presence in Iraq, I just wish that Tehran didn't play so big a role in this scenario. It is rumored that al-Maliki was ordered by Tehran to oppose the agreements, and that the ayatollahs are fired up against the agreement, worried that Israel and the Bush Administration will use those bases to launch an air strike against Iran. I'm not really crazy about Iran, but you can't blame them for being worried with all of this war talk that has been circulating lately, and the thought that the Bush Administration is running out of time for it's 100 year war. The SOFA is looking like a long-shot, and that is good for peace in Iraq, and American soldiers. But I worry that the influence of Tehran, in opposition to the Bush Administration might trigger some last ditch scheme to drop those bombs.

And if you think that gas is expensive now, if we bomb Iran, you're walking.

Okay, it is getting ready to storm right this minute, and I must not, under any circumstance, get my straight hair wet, so I leave you with this thought.

Work for peace.

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