It's easier to take pot shots at failures under difficult circumstances than to come up with real solutions. Putting forth solutions that were proven failures shows the utter lack of realism on the part of those castigating Bush. The post war Iraq situation is a mess and part of it is blunders on the part of the Bush administration and part is simply a tough situation.

As I pointed out earlier all the potential choices in dealing with Irag and terrorists had potential pitfalls. Contrary to the clueless picture Don likes to paint, I recall many republicans and administration officials voice concern about the potential negative consequences. Going ahead with the war doesn't mean these concerns were ignored, but rather were weighed as less significant than the risks of doing nothing. The Bush team was I think overly optimistic in their ability to minimize those negative consequences.

I do think the Bush administration did a poor job of post war planning and has done a poor job adapting to the changing circumstances. A turnover to the ineffectual UN is an assinine solution however based on their record of failure. Italian troups have already caused anger by their treatment of Iraqis without harming anyone. There is no reason to believe UN troups will handle the situation any better than US troups. If you have to shoot someone to protect yourself and others, the friends and relatives of those shot are likely to call for retribution. It doesn't matter where you are from. Doing nothing as the UN is so inclined to do may avoid irritating anyone directly, but a failure to control those bent on destroying Iragi infrastructure dooms the effort to build a democratic Iraq in the long run. The best thing is pressure on the Bush administration to learn from its mistakes and put people in charge who are problem solvers not just diplomats.

Involving the UN in rebuilding is a good idea to me. A competitive bid approach may be appropriate, but favoritism towards Russia and France for rebuilding contracts is not the kind of blackmail which should be tolerated. It's laughable that anyone still believes Russia and France's motives in opposing changing the status quo in Iraq were altruistic.

Don and others here seem to prefer the do nothing approach which failed miserably just so no one can point a finger of blame at the US. I's rather we protect ourselves and others that have the French shower us with praise.

Regards,
Mark