Much worse than just a quagmire

Here in Arizona it is almost Monday, and countless people in Lebanon and Israel and around the world are hoping the nascent cease fire will take hold. So far it looks quite shaky, but a failure will just accelerate the Mid-Eastern descent into total hell.

Some unintimidated U.S. journalists are now telling the story like it really is.
* Bush has neglected real diplomacy in the Middle East for five years - with the Palestinians, the Iranians and the Syrians.
* The majority of Americans now realize that Bush's attack on Iraq was senseless and the occupation is disastrous.
* Iraq is already in a civil war.
* The Iraq and now Lebanon situations are stoking the fires of hate and the recruitment of terrorists.
* Some Bush buddies (e.g., Kristol and Perle) now want to attack Syria and Iran.
* The Taliban are making a strong comeback in Afghanistan.
* Turkey's military is extremely nervous about the possibility of the Kurds of Iraq becoming an independent country.
* India is considering retaliating against Pakistan over train bombings.

Richard Holbrooke wrote last week that "the combination of combustible elements poses the greatest threat to global stability since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, history's only nuclear superpower confrontation."

So here we are, looking into the pit. And George is still at the helm. Pray for a miracle.