"No High Road Out of Hell"

Wolcott & Dreyfuss on Iraq (click the links for the complete posts):

Robert Dreyfuss, one of the keenest analysts of the unfolding debacle, writes:

"With Iraq perched at the very precipice of an ethnic and sectarian holocaust, the utter failure of the Bush administration’s policy is revealed with starkest clarity. Iraq may or may not fall into the abyss in the next few days and weeks, but what is no longer in doubt is who is to blame: If Iraq is engulfed in civil war then Americans, Iraqis and the international community must hold President Bush and Vice President Cheney responsible for the destruction of Iraq."

Poor President Bush, prince of fools. He let the neoconservative creative destructors play upon his religiosity (and Cheney's power hunger) and persuade him that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein would be a transformative moment that would set democracy and freedom in motion across the region, and crown him in history with Churchillian honor. I believe Bush wanted democracy in Iraq, or convinced himself that he believed it after the Chalabi-as-chess-king scheme fell through, because such belief flatters his pride in his own idealism. But the intellectual architects of the policy didn't care. If there was peace and stability in the new Iraq that would strength America's power in the region and bolster Israeli security, fine; if Iraq fissured into factional strife, fire, and chaos, better still.

Bush played for a fool? What a surprise. I cannot, however, feel sorry for Pouty McShitfaced. No one as arrogant as our president could ever elicit sympathy from me. I do feel sorry for the people of Iraq. And I feel sorry for the stupid Americans who believed in our president's fantasy world. But I'm not sure I can forgive them...