David Sanger and Jim Rutenberg in this morning's NYT article
"Bush and Blair Concede Errors, but Defend War" bring something to the report that I'm not willing to give: compassion for Bush and Blair.
The article describes how the two tyrants speak "in subdued, almost chastened, tones in a joint news conference" about "learning some lessons." Bush speaks about regretting his "bring it on" challenge to the Iraqi resistance, about "expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner."
So Bush has learned some lessons in narcissism from the havoc and slaughter he ordered.
"He went on to say the American military's biggest mistake was the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison..." Not my mistake.
Later, Bush says "A loss in Iraq would make this world an incredibly dangerous place." I'm so relieved it's not dangerous now.
But the overwhelming sense from the news conference was of two battered leaders who, once confident in their judgments on Iraq, now understood that misjudgments had not only affected their approval ratings, but perhaps their legacies.
This is simple journalistic sycophancy. Together, these two "badly weakened leaders" are responsible for the deaths of at least one hundred thousand innocent human beings, for wrecking the infrastructure of Iraq, and for arousing more mortal hatred against their two countries than bin Laden ever could have.
Nowhere do Sanger and Rutenberg, in their compassion for these two "battered leaders" and their "chastened tones," confront the reality of what these two monsters have done.
Neither does Blair:
Mr. Blair, while saying that the coalition had misjudged the de-Baathification process, added: "It's easy to go back over mistakes that we may have made. But the biggest reason why Iraq has been difficult is the determination of our opponents to defeat us. And I don't think we should be surprised at that."
The biggest reason, Mr. Blair, why "Iraq has been difficult" is that you invaded it without moral or legal justification. That's the reason for the "determination of our opponents to defeat us," you stupid git. Forget your "legacy" and consider the people whose misery, pain, and deaths you've caused. Be contrite and chastened about that.