I'll admit that on occasion it slips my mind for a spell that the colossal twin fuck ups by Team Bush have any number of similar if smaller direct blood relations, no pun intended. Iraq, New Orleans, yes, but there's also the US Gulf Coast (hurricanes Katrina and Rita), the anemic economy, the cynical, fat cat cronyism (e.g., cost-plus, no bid contracts), the Medicare drug benefit give away to Big Pharma...and the other hot war...in Afghanistan:
Billions of dollars are to be pumped into Afghanistan to help build up the army and for reconstruction projects such as roads, water, schools and clinics.
About 3,200 US troops in Afghanistan from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division who were due to return home are to remain for a further 120 days to help Nato counter an expected Taliban spring offensive.
The White House is to ask Congress next month for $8bn (£4.1bn) in new funds, which is more than half the $14.2bn Washington has spent on Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.
If you read the entire article (or similar ones here and here), yet again you'll see the weasely parsing and phraseology that the media sops up like a sponge:
"Substantial progress has been made in many areas, but it's also clear that the policy needed to be reviewed, so that we continue to improve the lives of Afghan citizens."
Um, translated into plain English, that means
"I'm spewing forth bullshit as fast as my tongue can move."
Ten years ago, that sort of parsing, in the context of a consensual sexual affair between two adults, was a harbinger of moral decay. Now it's filler for a news report.
Dick Cheney'd call that progress.
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