Hasn't Iraq suffered enough?

Now they have to put up with a joint visit from Rummy and Condiliar:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, seeking to put past differences behind them, paid a surprise joint visit to Iraq today to mobilize diplomatic and security forces and bolster the new government of Prime Minister Jawad al-Maliki.

"We really want to be ready to hit the ground running with this new government when it's ready to go," Ms. Rice told reporters on her way here from Ankara, Turkey, early in the morning.

Because it is, of course, OUR government, since we vetoed the one actually elected by the constitutional process the Iraqis voted for (sort of).

"The turning point here is that Iraq now has its first permanent government, and that it is a government of national unity, and it gives Iraq a real chance to deal with the real vexing problems that it has faced," she added.

Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq from 1979 until 2003; Hammurabi ruled Babyon for some 42 years. If Condi thinks THIS government is going to be more permanent than theirs, she's even crazier than I thought. Al-Maliki will be extremely lucky to outlast Paul Bremer's one year of ruining running Iraq, or even Comical Allawi's eight months. And having two puppetmasters show up and say they want to "hit the ground running with this new government" is sure to convince Iraqis of the legitimacy and independence of this "government of national unity" (which it is because Condi says it is, I guess).

Not to be outdone, Rummy added some knee-slapping inanities of his own:

"This is a sovereign country, and they're making impressive progress," he said, adding that the government that Mr. Maliki is trying to assemble will be composed of "people who are competent, people who understand the importance of running ministries, not as sectarian ministries but as ministries for the whole country."

And if it works, maybe we'll try it back home, he didn't add.