WTF Is It Now?!?

'The diplomatic disaster of the century'
The United States is about to go to war saying that diplomacy has failed. They're right about that. Day after day, month after month, president Bush and his men have made things worse for themselves in one of the most ruinous exercises in diplomacy the country has ever seen.

Not to put too fine a point on it - and no matter how the war against Iraq goes - it is hard not to conclude that the president is ignorant, the secretary of defense nuts and the secretary of state incompetent. - from Richard Reeves' column, here.


'The high price of bad diplomacy'
The failure of the Bush Administration to manage its diplomacy is staggering, and the price paid, even if the war ends quickly, could be higher than anyone now anticipates.

The political effect of this foreign policy imbroglio is already obvious. It can be measured in tattered alliances and global tensions, eroding support for president George W. Bush, and big changes throughout the Middle East. What remains unclear are the economic consequences. In the end, they may be far more significant. - by Bruce Nussbaum, here.