Cheney Received Cooly by Troops in Iraq

As we all know by now, Dick Cheney is in Iraq today -- he finally got to visit a war after having dodged the draft with five deferments during Vietnam. I assume they thought he would get a rousing ovation from the troops that would be a great lead in to Bush's "big" speech tonight. Things didn't work out that way.

Shouts of "hooah!" from the audience interrupted Cheney a few times, but mostly the service members listened intently. When he delivered the applause line, "We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run," the only sound was a lone whistle.

The skepticism that Cheney faced reflects opinions back home, where most Americans say they do not approve of President Bush's handling of the war. It was unique coming from a military audience, which typically receives administration officials more enthusiastically.

I think the Bush administration is imploding. But, as I said a day or so ago, beware of the wounded beast.