but Halliburton is still in charge."

Daily Kos gets it right - as usual. [We should all be reading him regularly.] The entire post:

US tells UN to screw off, but give us money and troops first

I can't be too surprised about this, but it's still shocking:

The United States went to the United Nations Wednesday to seek help with troops and money for Iraq, but said it would not give up command of military operations or its dominant role in the country.

Translation: Give us your money and blood, but Halliburton is still in charge.

Germany is unlikely to be swayed, as they want the UN to take control of the operations. And France wants a hard deadline for ending the occupation (which to be honest is a silly requirement). Russia seems to be sitting back enjoying the castration of the mighty US military.

We suddenly don't look so tough anymore, huh?