Reconstruction Gap

First, I want to quote David Remnick of the New Yorker.

"Bush had been unmasked in all his insularity, arrogance, and executive incompetence.... But the lessons that Bush is likely to derive from the complex of recent disasters will not automatically lead to a more considered, modest, and moderate Presidency."

Second, I want to tell Patrick Fitzgerald that he's my hero. Thank you for loving the law, this country and justice. Thank you for threatening Cheney with being called as a witness in the Libby trial. Thank you for staying the course. We will wait as long as you need to indict Mr. A. Your record in Chicago proves you know what you are doing.

Finally, the Financial Times is calling the staggering lack of "post-war" (we are still fighting, people are dying, right?) direction in Iraq a "reconstruction gap". More than 25% of the money appropriated for reconstruction has been redirected to pay for security costs relating to the insurgency. There have been 532 non-Iraqi contractors killed in theater since the beginning of the war with more certain to be killed as fighting continues. The lack of effective planning for rebuilding Iraq is just another vivid demonstration of executive incompetence Mr. Remnick identified.