Amazing Grace: Liaising With The Enemy

"Up to a point, the eruption of liberal bad faith was the fault of George W. Bush and Tony Blair, but only up to a p[oint. Longer term trends in both the liberal mainstream and the nihilist left had created the ideal circumstances for millions of people who considered themselves thoughtful and honourable to make a nonsense of their beliefs."

Nick Cohen.


Fraternisation and betrayal, times that were interlocked and gasping for air; I couldn't breathe because the anger and the nerves kept mounting so high; and nothing seemed real. The undertow was at it again. Couldn't we be satisfied with what had gone? Mount campaigns for change. Secure a comfortable discourse. Make jam and find comfort in the old ways. Be a cipher to a more comfortable past. Stop the weary soul and mount a new course; again.

These were uncertain times. Lack of a car is driving me nuts. My old faithful has finally died; and the next move I'm just not quite sure. It's impractical living in this city without a car; even though we're close to transport. I have a lot of things I want to do and no clear way of doing them. Post traumatic stress; that is what much of it is. We move on very slowly, stuttering; and the brutality of government, that's another story.

I didn't want to mess with things, I just wanted to be quiet. It wasn't the way things were meant to be, this constant distress. Just saw Die Hard 4 with Bruce Willis; down at Broadway with Joyce. We caught a taxi; and the time fluxed around us in such perfect flutes; two old alcies going to the movie, she said, referring to our drinking pasts; and the present, I couldn't sleep; no one could sleep. The world was a difficult place; I helped her up the escalator and across the streets; and everywhere in our lives mortality; the finite nature of things.


THE BIGGER STORY:

ABC:


The US 'surge' of troops in Iraq is likely to fail, a British parliamentary committee said as it delivered a critical report on London's foreign policy in the Middle East.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said in a wide-ranging document that "it is too early to provide a definitive assessment of the US 'surge' but it does not look likely to succeed."

"The committee believes that the success of this strategy will ultimately ride on whether Iraq's politicians are able to reach agreement on a number of key issues," it added.

ABC:

Federal Labor says attempts to build democracy in Iraq after the United States-led invasion have been a complete and utter failure.

Prime Minister John Howard says he is not happy with the pace of change in Iraq, but is not threatening to withdraw Australian troops.

Labor says that does not give Iraq any incentives to improve the situation.

Opposition defence spokesman Robert McClelland says the Australian Government should face up to the failures in Iraq.