It took a while for me to finish reading this (three weeks, which for me is an eternity, most things take a day or two days tops, War and Peace took three) but the sheer density of this thing cannot be understated. Ricks breaks down what has gone wrong in Iraq from 2003 to 2006, spending most of the book dealing with 03-05 and why the things people were doing did not, would not and in many cases could not work.

It is a devastating, non-partisan look at how things went horribly wrong and in part tries to deal with why. I finished and think the medals of freedom given to Bremer, Franks and Tenet were actually given freeing us of them. This is a vital read for having an understanding of what is going on in Iraq.

Amazon.com: Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq: Books: Thomas E. Ricks

The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.

The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

This is both appalling and not surprising.Meet the candidate and get a bullet in the head...

Truck bomb kills Iraqi schoolchildren | The World | The Australian

He and other merchants used to keep their shops open until dusk, but with the dropoff in customers as a result of the attacks, and a nightly curfew, most shop owners close their businesses in the early afternoon.

“This area here is very dangerous,” continued Mr. Youssef, who lost his shop in the February attack. “They cannot secure it.”

But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday.

Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.

Just a minor disconnect between what the guys in the street are saying versus what the guys on "fact-finding" tours are saying. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say - New York Times

It remains unclear who fabricated the documents. Intelligence officials say most likely it was rogue elements in Sismi who wanted to make money selling them.

Nice try, but absolutely not. First, the documents are on letterhead purportedly stolen from the Niger embassy in Rome which means the creator of the documents needs both forgery and black bag experience. Second, the supposed motive is money, which never changed hands. Who does have the money? The US and the Brits, so this story needs to go there, not to the Italians, and certainly not the Italian press, which gets us to third, taking this to the press kills the money angle. Maybe the press pays you, maybe not, but it doesn't pay as well as the US does.

Bottom line? The case doesn't add up.

How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War - washingtonpost.com

Federal prosecutors and the FBI have significantly overstated the number of terrorism-related investigations and prosecutions they pursue, according to a highly critical report released Tuesday by a Justice Department watchdog.

The study by Inspector General Glenn Fine concluded that the overstatements occurred in large part because authorities count offenses such as document and marriage fraud and immigration violations as terrorism-related even when there was no discernible tie to terror.

Your "War on Terror" inaction.

Report: Feds overstate terrorism cases | Chicago Tribune

It worked. As the plane landed on Gran Canaria, the man was standing in the middle aisle when the pilot carried out his maneuver, and he fell to the floor, dropping one of his two 7mm pistols. Flight attendants then threw boiling water in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him, the Spanish official said.

Why hijacking is no longer a very good idea.

Independent Online Edition - Bumpy landing foils plane hijacke

"Bush suffers from an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. I don't know his present condition ... but the one who examines his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults — lying and gambling," al-Zawahri said in the audiotape.

Excuse me for a moment. HAHAHAHAHA!!! There's an old line which says "just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they really aren't out to get you." Well, Zawahri may be a terrorist and sociopathic ass, but that doesn't mean he didn't call this one pretty much right on. For more reference see some old but amusing footage of a drunk W here , commentary on the drunk topic here, commentary on the gambling issue from Maureen Dowd here, and I don't think I need to bother deliniating the Augean stables full of crap he's told us since day one.

Al-Qaida's No. 2 calls Bush an alcoholic - Yahoo! News

The Department of Defense defended its policy shift in a budget document sent to Congress in October: "The DOD position is that detecting drug trafficking is a lower priority than supporting our service members on ongoing combat missions."

At this point it's not detecting drug trafficking I give a damn about. If someone can move a few tons of coke, smack, pot or people, how hard would it be to move a similar quantity of explosives, or other such item, via the same methods?

I don't care about the war on drugs. I care about the "War on Terror" that is not just being lost, it's being fueled beyond any hope of control by the Bushies.

Burdened U.S. military cuts role in drug war - Los Angeles Times

"We have seen huge sums of money spread across the country like peanut butter. If you want to build a honey pot to spread money around the states, around the 50 states, so be it, but call it what it is. Don't call it homeland security."

Nice description by Bloomberg.

wcbstv.com - Bloomberg Furious Over Homeland Security Money

The appointment of Fallon, a former Navy aviator who commanded an air wing during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, is seen as a signal of strength to recalcitrant Iran. While Bush may not intend to go to war with that nation, if he ever did use a military option, it would have to depend largely on carrier-based air attacks commanded by Fallon.

Exactly. This isn't about dealing with the disaster that Iraq is or the horrible mess Afghanistan is becoming, it is about having an air commander to bomb the hell out of Iran. It's not enough that we have to make a total mess of things in the middle east, George Bush wants to push over the final domino that may shove the entire region into total war.

And just so we're clear, total war is a very specific phrase, not a flourish. If this happens the middle east is going to look like the Russian Front, no holds barred, if it moves, kill it, war. Creating one of those gets you sent to hell. Creating one of those deliberately puts you around the top of the "monsters" list.

Iraq: What Bush’s Staff Shakeups Mean - Newsweek The War in Iraq - MSNBC.com