It always bothers me when people assume that our leadership is as hopelessly incompetent as their public explanations would indicate, and that the situation in Iraq in evolving in undesirable and/or unintended directions... thanks Marlowe for reminding us that sure, we certainly exacerbated this latest round of chaos, but maybe it was on purpose... the balkanization (great new shades of meaning on that one, innit?) of Iraq might not just be a welcome side-effect but one of the planned-for goals of the administration all along, and well worth a few thousand american lives.

Hey, maybe in ten years we can look forward to Lesser Kurdistan joining NATO -- I have a Greek friend who would be thrilled!

Giovanni