The vast, Islamofascist conspiracy

I heard an interesting statement last night on Bush's legacy (unfortunately, I didn't catch who said it on the BBC World Service). Something to the effect that it won't be about "avoiding a failure in Iraq, but avoiding a catastrophic failure of American foreign policy in the Middle East." And it's something that receives scant attention. For that matter, the fact that we face failure in Afghanistan as well receives scant attention compared to the Iraq debacle.

Unfortunately for Bush's legacy (not to mention tens of thousands of dead civilians), his only strategy is campaigning on 9/11.

During a press availability in Estonia today, the president acknowledged that the enemies' plans for Iraq have been going pretty well. Asked whether it isn't fair to call what's happening in Iraq a "civil war," Bush said: "You know, the plans of Mr. Zarqawi was to foment sectarian violence. That's what he said he wanted to do. The Samarra bombing that took place last winter was intended to create sectarian violence, and it has. The recent bombings were to perpetuate the sectarian violence. In other words, we've been in this phase for a while."

Of course, Bush's weird response was much more disingenuous than that. I think the most remarkable part was the way he cast Iraq as an American effort to "help" the fledgling government achieve order and stability, as if that's been the idea all along-- although order and stability are all Iraq did have until we invaded.