Wrong about everything

When some basic assumptions underpinning an idea are incorrect, the consequences for the world around you are usually limited. Most of us have very little power to shape the course of human events. That is unless you are the President and surround yourself with likeminded advisors that share your skewed worldview. I write this because this week will mark the start of our fifth year in Iraq and I want to revisit a statement made by Rumsfeld in the run up to the War; a statement that was utter bullshit and could serve as a proxy for the rest of garbage we were asked to swallow.

And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

TownHall Meeting At Aviano Air Base in Italy, February 7, 2003

Idiots rule us. That idiocy continues to bear the bitter fruit of death, destruction and civil war. The Iraq policy is a miserable failure, such that the Administration and Pentagon are scaling back what they think is achievable even though the tactics remain much the same. These people are lost, grasping at straws. They opened the Pandora’s Box with rosy scenarios and pie in the sky expectations, so consumed by hubris and self-righteousness that calls to the contrary fell on deaf ears. Four years ago, this Administration had no idea what it was getting into. Four years later, they still have no idea how to get out. Happy Shock and Awe Day everyone.