Seen on Foxnews (We spin. We decide.): In the upper left of the screen, superimposed over the inevitable waving flag, "The cost of freedom;" in the right of the screen, over the shoulder of the airbrushed blond host, the name of the show, ""Cashin' In."

Perfect. Fox and its viewers seem to believe that the "cost of freedom" is something that should be paid to them. After all, nobody's "cashed in" more from the war in Iraq, than Roger Aisles and Foxnews Except maybe Howard Dean.

The "Rummy wants to spend more time with his family" countdown continues

"'Robert McNamara for four years of Vietnam going down the toilet was absolutely convinced with a religious zeal that what he was doing was the right thing,' said Thomas E. White, a retired Army general who was fired as Army secretary this year by Rumsfeld. 'It wasn't until 30 years later that it dawned on him that he was dead wrong. And I think you have the same thing with Don Rumsfeld.'

"McNamara served as secretary of defense in the 1960s under Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson."

Rumsfeld's relationships with the White House, Congress, and the military brass, never -- especially the last two -- very warm, have cooled considerably.

"Unhappiness with Rumsfeld flared on Capitol Hill months before the invasion of Iraq, when Warner stood up at a meeting of Republican senators with White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and complained that Rumsfeld was neither cooperating nor consulting with the Senate. Warner told Card that he had never seen anything like it in 25 years in the Senate."

And senior military officers, current and retired, aren't too pleased with him either.

"Retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a former head of the U.S. Central Command who also served the Bush administration as Middle East envoy, sharply criticized the Pentagon's handling of postwar Iraq in a speech before the U.S. Naval Institute and the Marine Corps Association 10 days ago. He received an enthusiastic response from hundreds of military officers present."

There's particular unhappiness -- and nervousness -- since the word is troops who may be going home soon will have to return to Iraq in 2004. "'The last time we had people doing combat tours every other year was Vietnam,' one defense expert said. 'The impact on soldiers and families was great. A lot of good junior officers and mid-grade NCOs [noncommissioned officers] walked. This decimated the rising leadership and broke the force.'"

Now, six months from now, if the security situation in Iraq is stable, the power's on, and there's a functioning quasi-democracy (at least a functioning gov't.), Rumsfeld's -- and probably Bush's -- hide will be saved.

The irony, as the story concludes, is that in all likelihood that may be the case. But it won't have been Rumsfeld's refusal to look reality in the eye (that must be why he squints so much), it will have been because of the ingenuity and sweat of the 122,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq.

But will Congress and the U.S. public have the stomach for another six months? $87 billion here, $87 billion there, it begins to add up.

An interesting question, with over $400 billion in deficits this year, in the trillions in just a few years, just as the first of the baby boomers start looking for their entitlements. Apparently that's the point. Krugman has an interesting, important, and deeply disturbing view of the Supply Side Trojan Horse being used by Bush and his pals, Stephen Moore and Grover Norquist, to bleed the non-defense portion of federal spending dry. Krugman is a vital voice in the wilderness these days. Pay attention. We're getting lied to and, unless you're among the richest few percentages, screwed.

*****

The curse of Ben Affleck.