So stupid it's laughable.

I just commented on Obama and his brave, honest and intelligent speech on race relations.

Now let's talk about George Bush (ie. Commander in Stupidity).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7305023.stm

Bush gave his own speech today, to mark the 5th anniversary of an unecessary, money wasting, life destroying war. He called it a "strategic victory in the war against terror."

Couple things:
First, it is not, has not, and probably never will be a strategic "victory." He can fly all the "mission accomplished" banners he wants, but thousands of Iraqi's continue to die in the violence, and our soldiers are still getting killed for NO policial progress at all. Second, Iraq has nothing to do with the so-called "war" on terror. Al Quaida did not exist in Iraq prior to our invasion - Bush CREATED the link between Iraq and Al Quaida.

Second, to throw a little economics in the mix here, he said, "The costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq."
No, the sentence should be, economically speaking, "The costs MAY be necessary when we consider the PROBABILISTIC cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq."

In other words, it's not so black and white as what Bush makes it out to be. Yes, much of our costs are sunk in Iraq - they have taken place and we can't reclaim them. But if Stiglitz et. al. are correct, we could only just be at the base of what will be an astounding cost (in terms of money - not to mention lives). Obviously the Iraqi government doesn't feel enough pressure yet - we need to light a fire and give a timetable for complete withrawl. Otherwise, we are just burning money and killing our own citizens and the citizens of Iraq.