Hearings! Oh Boy!

Well! The Empire's Iraq problems will soon be over. According to this story, the new Congress -- looking amazingly like the old Congress -- is going to hold hearings. You've got to hand it to the Representatives of the People: they can come up with the most ingenious and original alternatives to actually solving a problem. Hearings -- why didn't I think of that?

And if the hearings don't make everything better, there's always the Iraq Study Group:

But the most feverishly anticipated set of findings are those of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) - the commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton.

The ISG is a group of veterans of Washington politics from across the spectrum which is expected to present a set of policy options to the Bush administration.

So President Bush can expect to receive a torrent of advice on how to proceed in Iraq, much of it contradictory.

The leaks which currently saturate the Washington media suggest the president will hear the following:

* calls for diplomatic dialogue with Iran and Syria

* calls for a phased withdrawal from Iraq

* calls for more troops to be sent to Iraq

* calls for Iraq to split apart into autonomous zones

* and calls for Iraq to hold together at any cost

Well-placed officials tell the BBC Mr Bush's task will be to identify the recommendations that stand a chance of bringing stability to Iraq, but which are also politically acceptable at home.

One intelligence official said Mr Bush will have to find proposals that are acceptable to the US military, to his own administration, to the state department, and, crucially, to Congress.

Yes, but that "intelligence official" omitted the really crucial requirement for any acceptable proposal. It has to be satisfactory to the Israel lobby and to its various and sundry U.S. functionaries.