A Ludicrous Attempt at Spin

"Our study shows that the Iraq War has generated a stunning sevenfold increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks, amounting to literally hundreds of additional terrorist attacks and thousands of civilian lives lost; even when terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is excluded, fatal attacks in the rest of the world have increased by more than one-third."

David Ignatius writes in his Washington Post opinion column, from Qatar: "We are in the ditch in the Middle East. As bad as you think it is watching TV, it's worse. It's not just Iraq but the whole pattern of America's dealings with the Arab world. People aren't just angry at America -- they've been that way to varying degrees since I first came here 27 years ago. What's worse is that they're giving up on us -- on our ability to make good decisions, to solve problems, to play the role of honest broker."

Cheney's Trip

Holly Rosenkrantz and Brendan Murray write for Bloomberg: "Vice President Dick Cheney is finding it harder and harder to locate a welcome mat.

"Cheney arrives today in Australia to meet with Prime Minister John Howard, a U.S. ally in the Iraq war who has resisted calls to withdraw his country's 1,600 troops. The visit comes two days after the vice president's meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when he was greeted by shouts of 'Yankee go home' from a loudspeaker outside the U.S. embassy and a controversy over Japan's defense minister terming the war a 'mistake.'

"Even today, Cheney will have to tread carefully: A Feb. 16-18 poll in the Australian, a national newspaper, showed that 68 percent oppose the war. 'The vice president won't be walking the streets of Australia, so he won't have to be worried about being subjected to verbal abuse on this stop,' said Stephen Yates, who served as his national security adviser until 2005. "

Cheney and Pelosi

Here's what Cheney had to say about the Democrats in his interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News yesterday: "I think, in fact, if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we'll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy. The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people -- in fact, knowing they can't win in a stand-up fight, try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit.

"I think that's exactly the wrong course to go on. I think that's the course of action that Speaker Pelosi and Jack Murtha support. I think it would be a huge mistake for the country."

Terence Hunt writes for the Associated Press: "'I hope the president will repudiate and distance himself from the vice president's remarks,' Pelosi said. She said she tried to complain about Cheney to President Bush but could not reach him.

"'You cannot say as the president of the United States, "I welcome disagreement in a time of war," and then have the vice president of the United States go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position of authority is acting against the national security of our country,' the speaker said."

Cheney and McCain

Michael A. Fletcher writes in The Washington Post: "Vice President Cheney objected yesterday to Sen. John McCain's assertion that Donald H. Rumsfeld 'will go down as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history' and added that the senator had apologized to him for saying Cheney had misled President Bush on Iraq."

Cheney and Nixon

Will Bunch blogs for the Philadelphia Daily News about Cheney's resonant assertion in his Tokyo speech: "We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honor."

Bunch writes: "For Richard Nixon, 'peace with honor' was not synonymous with 'peace.' It meant 'war.' A lot of war."