ONE WAY, MANY MEANS:

A Worn Road for U.N. Aide (DEXTER FILKINS, 5/31/04, NY Times)

When Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy, arrived earlier this month, he declared that he would crisscross Iraq to give the people a new government, one that he suggested would be more independent of America's heavy-handed ways.

Now, as Mr. Brahimi nears the end of his work, Iraqis are discovering that his task was not so simple.

With his slate of appointees expected to be announced in the next day or two, the appointments leaked so far suggest that what Mr. Brahimi ultimately accomplishes may turn out to be less a revolution than a rearrangement, less a new cast of characters than a reworked version of the same old faces.

The reason, Iraqis are beginning to say, has been the unexpected assertiveness of American officials and their allies on the Iraqi Governing Council, coupled with Mr. Brahimi's surprising passivity, after he was expected to have a free hand.

Here's a handy rule of thumb for anyone who still hasn't figured it out four years into the Bush administration: today's story about the President reversing a position will be followed by tomorrow's about how he's simply accomplishing it via different means.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 31, 2004 8:59 AM