Few things induce as much vertigo as reading outdated Iraq talking points. Here's General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just before the December 15 Iraqi election:

...When there's 300 parties, that tells me that that many different voices are going to be heard in this campaign, and that the elected individuals will come from a diverse background with diverse goals that will be put into the cauldron of their parliament that will produce the rules and laws that they want to live under.

At least he didn't say "melting pot" of their parliament. But truly there are few things as embarrassing as the recent past.

Also, building off Seymour Hersh's latest piece, here's my feeble attempt to shoehorn as many Alan Partridge references into national-security writing as I can. A-Ha!