From Victim to Bully.

While Dubya tries in vain to muster international support for his “save the US” Iraq bailout plan, the NY Times portray the chilling consequences of his blunt unilateralism. For, in only two short years, the administration has completely squandered the considerable reservoirs of international goodwill that followed the wake of 9/11. It’s troubling to think what a President with some understanding of the art of diplomacy could’ve accomplished in this time. Instead we’ve had a rank amateur at the helm, poisoning the image of our nation in the eyes of the world. In so doing, the Bushies have done America — and American values — a great disservice.

Hat in Hand.

While he’s still abusing the terrorism angle to hoodwink us on Iraq (As Howard Dean noted yesterday, the only indisputable thing Iraq has to do with terrorism is that we’ve now chosen it as the place where terrorists can attack us), Dubya at least admitted on nationwide television that unilaterally, we’re in over our head, which I suppose amounts to what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. Yet, with the necessary Iraq funds — even lowballed as they are — threatening to blow the deficit to $525 billion, I do hope that the Bushies realize that the responsibility and sacrifice they’re expecting from the American people, our somewhat skeptical allies, and everyone but themselves in prosecuting this war should preclude any more discussion of a tax cut in the coming year. After all, why shouldn’t America’s wealthiest citizens also have to pay the heavy price for Dubya’s blundering, incompetent, and hubris-ridden diplomacy on the road to war?

Incoherent Preemption.

“As Paul Wolfowitz has all but admitted, the ‘bureaucratic’ reason for war — weapons of mass destruction — was not the main one. The real reason was to rebuild the pillars of American influence in the Middle East. Americans may have figured this out for themselves, but it was certainly not what they were told. Nor were they told that building this new pillar might take years and years. What they were told — misleadingly and simplistically — was that force was justified to fight ‘terrorism’ and to destroy arsenals of mass destruction targeted at America and at Israel.” In a wide-ranging article for the NYT Magazine, Michael Ignatieff offers an historical critique of our currently muddled intervention policy, and outlines his own best-case-scenario proposal for US-led UN reform. “Putting the United States at the head of a revitalized United Nations is a huge task. For the United States is as disillusioned with the United Nations as the world is disillusioned with the United States. Yet…Pax Americana must be multilateral, as Franklin Roosevelt realized, or it will not survive.

Pretty Please with Sugar on Top?

Trapped in a quagmire of their own making, the Bushies beg the UN to help out in Iraq. Well, although he may not admit it now, I guess Sec. Powell deserves some cred for seeing the writing on the wall and trying to end a failed policy. But, let’s be serious — do we really expect the international community to snap to and take over the body count after the White House tried so hard to demean them and to undermine the UN as an institution along the road to war? Sheah. Although the GOP probably never expected it’d come to this, I’m afraid we will now reap the bitter rewards of Dubya’s amateurish diplomacy.

Werewolves of Baghdad.

Slate correspondent Daniel Benjamin pokes holes in Condi and Rummy’s recent spurious comparisons between postwar Iraq and Germany. Yep, it’s more revisionist history emanating from Team Dubya. In related news, Jack Beatty laments Dubya’s lack of postwar vision, which now seems ever more constrained to lining the coffers of Halliburton.

A Chill in Damascus.

“Up through January of 2003, the cooperation was topnotch,” a former State Department official said. “Then we were going to do Iraq, and some people in the Administration got heavy- handed. They wanted Syria to get involved in operational stuff having nothing to do with Al Qaeda and everything to do with Iraq.” As Dubya accuses Syria of harboring terrorists, Sy Hersh examines the rise and fall of US-Syrian cooperation after 9/11.

Lies and Gaffes.

Two interesting editorials in today’s Globe: Derrick Jackson wonders aloud about the GOP’s double standard on Presidential lies, while H.D.S. Greenway laments the diplomatic damage wrought by Dubya’s ill-advised “axis of evil” rhetoric. Dishonest and incompetent…the total package.

Pile On.

Weaponsgate fallout continues, with Ted Kennedy decrying Dubya’s foreign policy, John Kerry lambasting Homeland (in)Security under Bush, and Dean and Lieberman calling for Tenet’s head. Whether or not Tenet continues to fall on his sword for the Bushies, the buck stops with the White House, and the GOP Senate can only play defense for so long. What did Dubya know, and when did he know it?

Fratboy Kissinger, Dean Acheson?

What happened to free trade under Dubya? According to this article, it appears Bush prefers the frat trade approach — help your buddies, stiff everyone else. Also in TNR, political scientist Daniel Drezner examines Dean’s foreign policy, and finds more rigorous thinking than critics have given him credit for.

Paper Cowboy.

A number of other weblogs have already pointed out the sheer idiocy of Dubya’s “Bring Them On” remark to Iraqi belligerents, so I’ll just give an Amen. I highly doubt the men and women on the ground in Baghdad every day share the President’s cavalier attitude about their lives…Amateurish to say the least.