ED MORRISSEY HAS A LENGTHY POST on the CPA memo mentioned in the Village Voice article discussed below, and subsequently made available on the web. Morrissey writes:

The subhead of the article, in fact, reads “A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq”.

However, in reading the actual memo, the author points not to an inevitable civil war but instead to the numerous opportunities surrounding the CPA to improve its performance and its position with the Iraqis, the vast majority of which want to see the US succeed. . . .

The Village Voice cherry-picked a bit to write its analysis, but give them credit for releasing a near-complete text of the memo for everyone to analyze on their own. In truth, people use bits and pieces of this memo to support a number of political stances. However, when one reads the memo in its entirety, the inescapable conclusion is not that the writer has given up on American efforts in Iraq, but that only American efforts will solve the problems.

Yes, the memo’s insights won’t be exactly shocking to blog readers. Read the whole thing.