This week's issue of Time has an intriguing cover article about making Iraq work. Most of the article focuses on the difficulties faced by Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Andy Bearpark, Bremer's chief of operations is quoted as saying, "What we're doing is postwar reconstruction before the war's even over."

Do you suppose Mr. Bearpark failed to get the memo that the war was over? Both Daddy Rumsfeld and Mr. Powell agree that the war is over.

Here's another quote: " 'We're still at war,' said Lieut. General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. " Gosh, I hope Lt Sanchez has good insurance, because he's not likely to have a military career much longer.

I keep thinking about John Lennon's song "War is Over," written during the Vietnam War. It was inspired by an off-hand comment Alan Ginsberg made to a San Francisco paper. Ginsberg suggested the paper publish the headline 'War is Over' - partly to test the public's reaction, partly to influence the reality. Seems a tragic irony that the Administration has coopted Ginsberg's idea.

Meanwhile, casualty and injury figures have become a nearly daily part of the news cycle. Whether our Fearless Leader's invitation to "bring it on" added to this is a matter of conjecture.

Here's another telling quote: "Military officers and officials involved in planning the governing of postwar Iraq say the Administration never devised a strategy for running the country and ignored warnings about some of the maladies—such as widespread looting and collapse of the country's infrastructure—that continue to plague the nation-building effort." Now, wasn't I the one who said this whole affair had the earmarks of a Risk game played by a bunch of drunken frat boys?

I can never remember if Time or Newsweek is supposed to be "conservative." The Time-Warner behemoth is sufficiently large to exert its own litte hegemony. But I find a degree of encouragement that this coverarticle is written with a slant that things are going terribly, terribly wrong. "Conservative" or "liberal", Time is a major source of information for many influential Americans.