Bush's fourth anniversary

In less than an hour, today's brutal anniversary will have passed--four bloody years since George W. Bush's slickly choreographed, color-coordinated extravaganza was staged on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln off San Diego. The Navy Viking made two fly-bys for the cameras before landing, and then The Decider, decked out in his flight suit, did his grand entrance.

A quick change into a regular suit and tie and there he was, posing in all his glory under that huge banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished."

Oh yes.

And since that sad, gimmicky circus wrapped up, 3,213 American troops have been killed in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. Two million Iraqis have fled to Jordan, Syria and beyond, and another two million are displaced in their own country. The civil war rages, while the dollar cost for the US is heading for a half trillion.

The Senate and House of Representatives have voted to turn the tide and start bringing the troops home, but on this very day, the emperor stubbornly wielded his veto. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said it well: "Being stubborn is not foreign policy."

Clearly now for all to see, the emperor has no flight suit.