"A month before the war began in Iraq, senior Bush administration officials said their plan for winning the peace was built upon the swift provision of basic services that would "immediately" make the Iraqi people feel they were better off than they had been under the government of Saddam Hussein."

Too bad, Saddam Hussein, and his sorry band of wannabe ninja's sabotaged their own people prior to fleeing like cowards. I guess they wanted to experience the zeal in executing Baath Party policy one last time.

The Mother Of All Retreats.

Too bad the Bushies didn't expect that, among other incredibly predictable eventualities and too bad they didn't listen to the multitudes who told them that you won't be able to rebuild on the cheap. Too bad innocent Iraqis are suffering now to pay for the Bushies' arrogance and cruelty. Too bad Iraq could have been solved diplomatically instead of with violence. Too bad the American people were lied to and are continuing to be lied to. There's a lot of "too bads" when it comes to this administration.

It's not that the Bush admin didn't expect these problems...experts were begging them to prepare for the consequences. The truth is, they just didn't care. They had their priorities: killing, securing the oil bonanza, setting up their robber baron buddies, creating fake photo ops, scaring the bejesus out of the rest of the world (not in that order). They can't even deal with the domestic issues of our own people, let alone those of other countries. All they know how to do is destroy things. Creating and building up (things other than a portfolio) take a genuine love of and affirmation for life that these geezers just don't have, despite all their "culture of life" claptrap.
Now that they've made this big, fat, heartbreaking mess, they do what they've always done...lie through their teeth, change the rules mid-game, chastise us for noticing, and laugh at us for our gullibility. The fact that we as citizens continue to ignore the mountain of evidence in front of our own eyes and let the media lead us around by the nose is proof that we have gotten what we deserve. The fact that we let these clowns steal the election and our right to representation---the very thing our founders died to gain---without so much a whimper or a sigh, proves how undeserving we are of a republic worthy of the name. Just give us our video games and reality shows, and they can do whatever they want.

Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly.