"...I cannot recall a more comprehensive and avoidable man-made disaster."

[underpants]

Timothy Garton Ash writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion column: "At the end of 2002, what is sometimes tagged 'Al Qaeda Central' in Afghanistan had been virtually destroyed, and there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq. In 2007, there is an Al Qaeda in Iraq, parts of the old Al Qaeda are creeping back into Afghanistan and there are Al Qaeda emulators spawning elsewhere, notably in Europe.

"Osama bin Laden's plan was to get the U.S. to overreact and overreach itself. With the invasion of Iraq, Bush fell slap-bang into that trap. . . .

"In history, the most important consequences are often the unintended ones. We do not yet know the longer-term unintended consequences of Iraq. Maybe there is a silver lining hidden somewhere in this cloud. But as far as the human eye can see, the likely consequences of Iraq range from the bad to the catastrophic.

"Looking back over a quarter of a century of chronicling current affairs, I cannot recall a more comprehensive and avoidable man-made disaster."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html?hpid=topnews

[Virginia Dare]

1. OBL: Mission Accomplished...

to my fellow Americans, this is what we get when we elect somebody on the basis of "wanting to have a beer with them". We may as well have elected my plumber. Actually, my plumber probably would have done a much better job.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. I'd vote for a plumber over a guy with a Yale or Harvard degree anytime.

The guys with Yale and Harvard degrees haven't had a great record in the White House.

One of the things I like about Dennis Kucinich is that he mopped floors and caddied to pay his Catholic school tuition, worked in a steel mill after high school, later worked as a hospital orderly, a surgical assistant, and a television cameraman. He still belongs to the cameraman's union and is very pro-union.

Most politicians don't have that kind of real-world experience and it shows in their positions and attitudes.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I humbly offer one correction

Iraq - bush's war is a JERK-MADE DISASTER.

[tridim]

3. "With the invasion of Iraq, Bush fell slap-bang into that trap"

Then the only conclusion I can draw is that Timothy Garton Ash is a naive fool. Nothing having to do with Bush's war in Iraq is a mistake or a miscalculation.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. George W. Bush met all 3 major demands from bin Laden.

He removed the US troops from Saudi Arabia.
He removed the secular government of Saddam from Iraq.
He gave bin Laden the recruiting tool he'd been wanting: Iraq.

[frylock]

6. the trifecta..

if you will.