No confidence

Commenting on the 52 former British foreign service professionals who recently criticized the Blair government for the ongoing "Mess-o-potamia," that lefy rag, the Financial Times, is blunt in its criticism of Tony Blair's inability to trade support for the war with an agreement by Bush to forge a more sane path in the Middle East. By backing Bush's policies, Blair is hurting British, nay Western, interests, writes the ambassadors. The FT agrees, saying that British military commanders are also exasperated with the U.S. conduct of the war in Iraq.

"In any case, the notion that so-called Arabists - expert in the language, culture and politics of Arab countries -should be excluded from policy because of their alleged predilection to "go native" should be discredited by the way the Pentagon, which shut out anyone with actual knowledge of Iraq, has serially bungled the occupation."

According to a fistful of euros, Blair ignores these professionals at his political peril.

Are you keeping score? How many political leaders have seen their popularity go south for supporting Bush (UK, Spain) and how many have been elected or reelected as a result of opposing Bush (South Korea, Germany, Spain).

I don't think even Ronald Reagan had that kind of ability to shape allied politics around the world...to our detriment.

Reminds me of a bit they do each day on Air America's "O'Franken Report." It's called "Rightwing 'Non-Lie' of the Day." Today's was none other than George W. Bush saying "We're changing the world."