It's Official

The New York Times has obtained a draft copy of a portion of the official history of the Iraq War. As it is 508 pages long, you may prefer to read their highlights here.

I will admit, I have only skimmed the original document thus far, although those immobilized by back injuries may enjoy a more thorough exploration :). Compiled from over 500 interviews and 600 other documents and reports, the history is a sweeping indictment of government planning from the moment the invasion ended and the reconstruction began. It further concludes that the White House was essentially fabricating numbers such as the size of the Iraqi force which had been trained. If you want to read more about the train wreck everyone outside the official mind has largely been aware of for the last few years, you have the links above.

This document should also serve as another nail in the coffin for the Bush legacy. As much as historians enjoy slaughtering sacred cows in the name of revisionism, it speaks volumes (pardon the pun)that Bush-appointed writers can find nothing but fiasco. As I've suggested previously, it's quite possible that President Bush's only hope for historical spin rides on the shoulders of his successor.

Cheney, Black Flagged

Score one for the historians - a judge has ordered Dick Cheney to preserve his records while litigation pertaining to his ever having to reveal them to the public moves forward.

See the story here.

I don't know what they are so worried about. The historians who WILL be judging the Bush administration have already largely spoken. 98% of them in this poll rate the Bush presidency as a failure, before the economic dislocations of the last week. 61% see him as the worst president ever, and if the US historian next to my office is at all typical, many of the remainder put him in a debatable top three. See this story, and it's pretty graphs, here.