Scary

From Daily Kos comes this look at a report from the Pentagon's Defense Science Fund. Required reading!

"Furthermore, in the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering. U.S. actions appear in contrast to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination."

I've kept it to myself that I think toppling Saddam was a mistake in part because he headed the only secular government in the Middle East. Sounds calculating and cruel, I know, but it's just an invitation for another theocratic takeover. And that'll be a clean sweep (not to mention putting the entire region under the control of repressive, religious extremists). Stupid, stupid idea.