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Iyad Allawi, the pick of American and British intelligence agencies to be the interim prime minister of Iraq says Iraq is in civil war.

Other than living there, speaking the language, reading the local newspapers, and having friends and relatives in the country, how could he know more than the Shrubbery’s incompetent circle of cronies?

Cronies like Donald Rumsfield who wrote in the Washington Post that the US leaving Iraq was the equivalent of giving Germany back to the Nazis after World War II.

Henry Kissinger, who served with U.S. forces in Germany at the end of World War II and who served as secretary of state under Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford, said the situations are not analogous.

“In Germany, the opposition was completely crushed; there was no significant resistance movement,” the German-born diplomat told CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under President Carter, a Democrat, was less charitable.

“That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history,” he said. “There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn’t know history or he’s simply demagoguing.”

With respect Mr. Brzezinski have you considered the possibility that Rumsfeld is crazy, ignorant of history, and playing demagogue?

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CBS reports that a Category 5 Cyclone with 180 mph winds has come ashore at Innisail, Queensland, on Australia’s northeastern coast.

Having been there and seen it, my hopes go out to the people of Queensland.

Update: More from Australian Broadcasting.

03/20: Latest update from Australian Broadcasting.

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March 20^th marks the third anniversary of the official invasion of Iraq. Of course, we now know that Special Forces teams went in earlier and the air forces of the US and Britain had been doing some “pre-emptive bombing” prior to the missile attacks on possible locations that the Shrubbery’s intelligence services swore contained Saddam Hussein.

Fafnir noted that the Iraq War would have it’s feelings hurt if we didn’t hold a birthday party.

The traditional gift for the third anniversary is leather, which Anne Zook noted and suggested new hoods for those in Guantanamo. Anne also has a list of the general costs in blood and treasure.

Riverbend looks back at the three years and its impact on individual Iraqis and fears for her people as the fourth year begins.

CBS, among most media, notes that Protests Mark 3 Years Of Iraq War and Blondesense Liz has a nice photo montage.

FAIR and Glenn Greenwald cover the Chickenhawk Cheerleading Crew’s pronouncements of correctness and competence displayed by the Shrubbery in his noble and manly actions against Iraq.

To celebrate this anniversary the Shrubbery launched Operation Swarmer, another photo op. To call it a “Potemkin village” denigrates the style of Prince Potemkin.

For those who have short-term memory problems: Iraq did not have WMDs and, as a result, was not in violation of UN Resolution 1441. The UN weapons inspectors were forced out of Iraq by the actions of the President of the United States, not the President of Iraq. The “intelligence” was selected to support the desires of the White House, not the reality on the ground.

Every problem encountered in Iraq was anticipated, but the warnings were ignored.

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