One of the BIGGEST mistakes made during the invasion of Iraq was to go in without enough troops to secure the borders. With the White House touting new evidence that the deadliest weapons killing our troops are coming from Iran, why are we continuing this stupidity - and why haven't the Democrats made this a central theme in their arguments against Bush's surge?

As U.S. troops drove across Iraq during the invasion, commanders on the ground fretted that they were leaving abandoned Iraqi military compounds unguarded, with the potential of massive looting putting arms in the hands of future insurgents.

Donald Rumsfeld ordered the generals to keep moving, and leave the bases to be looted.

Others complained that by dismantling the entire Iraqi army, we were leaving Iraq's borders unguarded, allowing insurgents and arms to flow freely across Iraq's borders.

Paul Bremer didn't listen.

I listened to President Bush's recent press conference on Iraq and was stunned, once again, to hear him say that something surprised him which should not have. He said "We did not expect the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard, to melt away in the way that it did."

For over a decade prior to invading Iraq, millions of leaflets were dropped by the United States across Iraq, urging the Iraqi military and police to shed their uniforms and go home once the invasion started. By doing so, and not fighting against coalition forces, these folks were told they would be welcomed later as part of the team building a new Iraq.

Generals who have chosen to speak out against Donald Rumsfeld have mentioned two of the biggest strategic mistakes made in the Iraq war (beyond going to war based on bull in the first place). The mistakes? Not going in with a large enough force to maintain the peace once the regime fell, and disbanding the Iraqi army.

I have one simple question that I have not heard a single reporter ask yet. Who made the decision to disband the Iraqi army?

When Medea Benjamin (founder of Global Exchange and Occupation Watch) returned from a trip to U.S. occupied Iraq soon after Baghdad fell, one of the key things she mentioned in her talks about the situation was the mistake the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority whom she referred to as the failed Texas businessmen running the apltly-named "Repbulican Palace") made in disbanding the Iraqi army. Military psy-ops had dropped leaflets across the country before the war started, telling Iraqi soldiers that if they took off their uniforms and stayed home when the bombing started, and didn't fight U.S. troops as they entered the country, the Iraqi troops could be partners in rebuilding a new, free Iraq.

When those troops did exactly as the leaflets asked, and didn't fight back, U.S. troops easily took the entire country. That's why George Bush was able to, mistakenly as it turns out, declare "Mission Accomplished" so quickly.

"President Bush fired the guy, the former chef, for serving scallops. I'm thinking, well, gosh, is this the guy he should be firing? What about those guys who got us into Iraq? Why didn't he fire those guys?"

-- David Letterman 01/03/06

In the recent late-night scuffle twixt 'Sheehan-defending' Letterman and 'Sheehan-bashing' O'Reilly, a particularly disturbing accusation was made by the scurvy one -- a charge that should burn the senses of all who hold the capacity to think beyond the scope of "your either with us or against us." O'Reilly said:

"The soldiers and Marines are noble. They're not terrorists. And when people call them that, like Cindy Sheehan called the insurgents 'freedom fighters', we don't like that."

O'Reilly makes two detestable implications. 1) That Cindy Sheehan and 'people' like her consider our troops terrorists, and 2) That Cindy Sheehan and 'people' like her consider the insurgents the real 'freedom fighters' -- even favoring insurgents over our own troops.

What filth! Of course I can't speak for Cindy any more than Bill O'Reilly can, but I think it's safe to assume that O'Reilly's implications were of the purest quality horseshit that any horse's ass could offer -- and one certainly did.

cnn's anderson cooper just reported 5:50 a.m. EST) that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was held in custody in iraq some months previous and was released "because he wasn't 'recognized'..."

Following on the heels of an incident that took out 10 American marines, it looks like the same tactics were employed to kill 19 Iraqi soldiers on patrol north of Baghdad.

Insurgents launched a coordinated ambush against Iraqi soldiers northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, detonating a roadside bomb and then firing on the patrol, killing 19 and wounding two, officials said.

The way things are going, would any responsible commander send troops on a foot patrol?