Before all the blaming begins, well, a little after all the blaming begins, let's notice what a mess Iraq, Afghanistan, the deficit, the balance of payments, the regard of the ROW for the US, the US claim to be a leader in rule of law and human rights are right now after 6 years of Bush & Co.

The "war" in Iraq is lost. Already. All that's left there is for the Iraqis to figure out how to divide themselves. Afghanistan as a country is in the effective hands of drug lords and tribal leaders. The Afghans are going to kick the asses out of any occupiers. The Taliban is stronger. Al-Qaeda is much stronger, and has a refuge not only in Afghanistan, but Iraq.

Iran and Syria are growing powers in the Middle East, their influence fueled by Muslims afraid of the Israeli-American war on that portion of Islam with oil.

A massive army of "terrorists" has been created by the US in response to the attack on Iraq and the manner in which the occupation has been handled. They will seek retribution for several generations, if not longer.

And the "karma effect". As noted in the above paragraph, America and Americans won't be safe in much of the ROW for a long, long time, even if there is peace. They won't, as will the US, forget the attacks and occupations.

And this is after Bush & Co. have had their entire way for 6 years, all the money for which they asked, all the troops they wanted, everything, with no balances and blank checks.

Just for the record.

Arf (The True Believers will say it's still all GOOD NEWS, Bow. Nope, now they're saying it's all BAD NEWS because of the mid-term elections. Go figure.)