Oh, about rebuilding Iraq, it now appears we aren't a-gonna.

"The Bush administration's decision not to seek new funds in its congressional budget request next month signals the winding down of the rebuilding effort in Iraq, says the WP. Less than 20 percent remains of an $18.4 billion rebuilding effort. Half was spent on the insurgency, the criminal justice system, and the trial of Saddam Hussein. Billions that were initially supposed to go to rebuilding Iraq's decrepit infrastructure went to new security forces and maximum-security prisons and detention centers. Bringing reliable electrical, water, sewage, and sanitation services to Iraq will require tens of billions yet, but, as one brigadier general put it, "The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq." "


(Slate).

Bill Kristol's rant is typical fanatic arm-waving, not anchored in facts related to issues. He implies, inanely and wrongly, that Mister Bush had to bypass court permissions required by FISA because courts wouldn't support his needs competently. This is quite a slander, considering that most legal requests are approved in short order. Bush didn't want to be under the law.

Arm-waving and yelling doesn't make his own feverish and rhetorical swamp any more accurate or relevant, nor does he speak to the actual issues.

Bizarro stuff, IMO.

A