I won't live to see it, but I'm firmly of the belief that Rumsfeld will be highly lauded by the historians.

To do less is to betray billions of people for whom we are a beacon of hope

There don't seem to be very many who believe this, but it's a beautiful way to state it.

pt1.
President Bush warned Americans on Wednesday that the war in Iraq would require “difficult choices and additional sacrifices” - meaning additional cuts to the already diminishing budgets for Medicaid, social services, education and health, to feed his more-than $1-billion-a-day “terror” habit.

He vowed that the United States would not be “run out of the Middle East” by extremists – to conjure up a Cowboy movie image. A mere three years ago, he also vowed to track down Osama bin Laden “dead-or-alive”, but subsequently said that that was “just not important” anymore.

Indeed, with the more important day-to-day gutting of the Constitution with the Patriot Act, and the leech-like financial opportunities the Terror War creates, Bush and his corpulent business associates have been more than a little busy:

• The patriotic US bankers have already succeeded in preventing off-shore tax loopholes from being closed, even though maintaining them allows terrorist finances to escape US Government control.
• Profits for Oil and Military-related industries have exploded, while tax-reductions for these industries have also been increased.
• Constant-dollars salaries for blue-collar and salaried employees have steadily decreased; corporate officers, on the other hand, have seen record growth of their incomes.
• Corporate responsibility for pollution of air and water has been further erased from Federal regulations by “Clean Water” and “Clean Skies” legislation.
• Federal mandates to increase pressure on Detroit for fuel-economic automobiles and trucks have been watered down as being “too demanding”, yet Japan seems to have no problems leapfrogging Detroit.
…but, I digress….

pt2.
Mr. Bush appeared somber and at times reflective during his traditional year-end news conference – a first in this New England cowboy’s six years of presidential “decidings”. Previous presidential banter has been about the “great job” his staff is doing, watch my golf putt, and “mission accomplished”.
He cited “unspeakable sectarian violence” but he did not refer to the unspeakable violence against men, women and children when US “smart”-bombs explode off-target.
“Victory in Iraq is achievable,” Mr. Bush said, underscoring the depth of his grasp of his Administration’s inept strategies and incompetent tactics.
After giving due thought to the Baker proposal for Iraq, Mr. Bush confirmed his plans to increase the size of the Armed Forces. The military is already having a difficult time of getting new enlistees without prison records, problem behaviors, or even graduates of high school. But the President, with his own proud history of military volunteerism, is confident that by privatizing the whole US Military, successful contractors like Halliburton, KBR, Boeing and Erinys will be more than capable of increasing the size of the military expenditures.
He called the global campaign against terrorism “the calling of our generation”, but what he really meant was “your generation”, because he and his are not at risk.
But the president gave little hint of what he would do in Iraq. Actually, this is not too surprising, considering he doesn’t have a clue, and repeats only what scraps of information are fed to him by his handlers.
And he clings to those scraps like a starving dog -- he will not quit Iraq even “if Laura and Barney are the only ones who support me.”
The president has dropped his previous assertion that “we are winning” and has replaced it with “neither winning nor losing”.

Wow. All that was lacking in the troll's post was the phrase, "running dogs of capitalism".

Chill, Mr. Euphrates. Time has a way of sorting things out.

Or, to put it another way, God (or the Universe) will not be mocked.

Talk to us again in 2015 or so.

Now, now - let's all try to control our emotions and stay focused on the big picture here. People like Mr. Euphrates should be encouraged, yes encouraged, to speak their minds - to us, to editorial boards, to CNN, to anyone who will listen. If we could just get more people like him standing on the podium next to their favorite Democratic candidate we'd never have to worry about Congress falling into the wrong hands again. Just think of all the glorious election victories to come if the Mr. Euphrates' of the world gain more and more influence in their party.