Boston.com / News / Nation / Kennedy calls case for Iraq war `a fraud’:

‘There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically,’ Kennedy said. ‘This whole thing was a fraud’

Kennedy may well be right, but reconstruction is still going to have to be paid for. If the administration has it’s numbers right (and who really believes they do) it is going to work out to be about $300 for every man, woman and child in the US. What’s really sad about that, is that it is all going to be wasted, along with the considerable goodwill the US has built up, at considerable expense, over the last hundred years.

The “investment” in Afghanistan is already in steep decline. Distracted by Iraq, US and coalition efforts to date are being squandered as warlords re-establish themselves and the Taliban is allowed to leak over the border from Pakistan and pursue a brilliant campaign to discredit not just the US, but every other foreign power involved. They shoot up aid workers, disrupting aid efforts, and then wisper convincing lies pinning the failure to deliver aid on us. In short, Afghanistan will once again be fertile ground for backwards-ass medieval thinkers with access to 21st century killing technology. Hell, we fucking fertilized the ground for them.

In Iraq, we have a big payment coming due just as the US economy shows some signs of life and politicians, sensing an issue they can play to their political advantage are wary of writing the check. Bush appears to go looking for help at the UN from the very people he alienated so completely in the spring, and to show his sincerity, he uses the same rhetoric that worked so well for him before.