Herbert on Point

From yesterday's NY Times, a clearly angry Bob Herbert. Good. He should be angry. We should all be angry. There's cause for great anger, more cause each day. The entire nation should be beside itself with anger at the foolhardy, self-serving, despicable actions of Bush and his gang of warmongering oligarchs.

We've all been placed at increased risk, our soldiers are being sacrificed for his lies, and the world is growing ever more opposed to America. The fact that all of this comes in addition to the squandering of the world's unprecedented unity and support for America after the attacks of September 11th makes it all the worse.

No one has a clue how this madness will end. As G.I.'s continue to fight and die in Iraq, the national leaders who put them needlessly in harm's way are now flashing orange alert signals to convey that Al Qaeda - the enemy that should have been in our sights all along - is poised to strike us again.

It's as if the government were following a script from the theater of the absurd. Instead of rallying our allies to a coordinated and relentless campaign against Al Qaeda after Sept. 11, we insulted the allies, gave them the back of our hand and arrogantly sent the bulk of our forces into the sand trap of Iraq....

...The nation seems paralyzed, unsure of what to do about Iraq or terrorism. The failure of leadership that led to the bonehead decision to invade Iraq remains painfully evident today. Nobody seems to know where we go from here.

What Americans need more than anything else right now is some honest information about the critical situations we're facing.

What's the military mission in Iraq? Can it be clearly defined? Is it achievable? At what cost and over what time frame? How many troops will be needed? How many casualties are we willing to accept? And how much suffering are we willing to endure here at home in terms of the domestic needs that are unmet?