"Only now, at the end, do you understand."

The colour of success

``These spikes of violence are predictable around certain critical events that highlight the progress of democracy,'' said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the chief American military spokesman.

``Remember, democracy equals failure for the insurgency. So there has to be heightened awareness now as we work our way toward the referendum'' on Oct. 15, he said. ``That's power, that's movement toward democracy.''

Guardian

We have come to the endgame in Iraq. Our Freedom (TM) project has resulted in an Islamic Republic and her neighbours are positioning themselves for the aftermath. Reality has mugged the Bush administration. Even Bill O'reilly is asking difficult questions. Hurricane Katrina will be remembered as the fork in the road where America chose between disaster and painful recovery.

Of course for those of us who predicted that this would never succeed there is only more sadness at being right, coming at the cost of untold thousands of dead and probably irriversible changes to our way of life. Besides, we're only at the turning point. Bitter pro-war dead-enders still seethe in their enclaves, they are doomed, yes, but some will fight to the bitter end rather than quietly slink away. Something tells me that plenty more pain and dying lies in store.