The John Burns Interview

                 

An hour with John F. Burns of The New York Times.  He's just returned from Iraq and he'll talk about the current conditions in the country and discusses the possibilities for the future.

Paying attention to Burns is a good idea. His Charlie Rose interview and his subsequent interview with Hugh Hewitt are very insightful. There doesn't seem to be a way to get a good link to a Hewitt podcast.

There have been a few surprises in Burns' Rose interview, but he has interestingly confirmed the sort of things that one might not have expected from an NYT reporter.

1. There is no question that AQ is involved in the current insurgency.
2. The mathematics of the surge has not been really properly discussed unless one talks about the ratio of defense vs offensive troop deployments.
3. The potential for violence in the aftermath of a rapid US withdrawl outstrips that of Bosnia
4. Partition is not likely because Iraqi nationalism is real.
5. Iraqis are of course happier that Saddam is gone. Nobody would rather that the US hadn't overthrown Saddam.