the plain truth.

i think i've been doing a tad too much bush bashing on here; not that i'm second-guessing my sentiments, just that i realize it has gotten somewhat redundant.

but this i want to pass on. my pops brought to my attention today's reader "email of the day" from acclaimed blogger / political commentator andrew sullivan. the iraq situation and the bush president could not be better summarized:


"Andrew, face it: The Iraq debate is so over, and the interventionist argument has lost. At best - and that best is very far from certain - Iraq will be an Islamist, theocratic, Iran-dominated state, even with the insurgency suppressed. Women will have far fewer rights than they had under Hussein; in fact, in large parts of the country their oppression will be total. Once the U.S. leaves, I would bet heavily that in time some of Iraq's oil revenue will be diverted to support Hezbollah and Hamas and others of that ilk, under Iran's influence. Democracy is great, but when the Islamist element has all the guns, and the willingness to use them, the moderates will be rendered irrelevant. We will live to see them curse our name.

I think Bush was wrong to go in as quickly as he did, and without international support. That was a huge error, but one that could have been salvaged - even in the absence of WMDs - if the war and its aftermath had been competently and honestly executed. It wasn't, in part because the war had to be sold as a low-cost operation to gain public support, but mostly because - it is now clear - George Bush is one of the most mediocre presidents to ever hold that office. Even worse, as the Katrina experience revealed, he lacks a fundamental moral seriousness, his professed religiosity notwithstanding. I first realized this the night of that now infamous correspondents' dinner, when he was making jokes about not finding weapons of mass destruction. Try to imagine Abe Lincoln or FDR doing something like that during wartime. The consequences in Iraq of this failed leader are apparent - though for some reason not to you. At some point, surely, experience must triumph over hope. Andrew, that point's been reached."