"They don't know what they're doing and that's not just the lack of pre-war planning. It's the lack of any kind of empathy with human beings outside of their class."
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University professor

If you have a media player you can watch and listen to Dr. Sachs and other panelists at today's Congressional Black Caucus forum on U.S. Policy in Iraq shown on the C-Span network. Caucus members Charles Rangel and Barbara Lee, Senator Ted Kennedy, Al Sharpton and others spoke eloquently on the topic.

"They Misunderestimated Me"
George W. Bush

For a long time I have been telling my fellow progressives that George W. Bush is the smartest man in America. It is difficult to believe that assessment when listening to him mispronounce the word "nuclear," his twisted syntax, and the "ums" and "uhs" that too often come from his mouth.

But this allegedly stupid man has succeeded in making Iraq safe for American corporations, the true cause for American intervention, through companies such as New Bridge Strategies. The CEO of New Bridge Strategies is Joe Allbaugh, Chief of Staff to George Bush when he was Governor of Texas, and also former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Bush administration.

The appearance of New Bridge Strategies is not the first step in turning Iraq over to American corporations with connections in high places. When Vice President Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, was handed a contract to rebuild Iraq I was stunned by the lack of concern for even the appearance of impropriety. Even with my lack of trust in this administration I could not believe that there was no bid, not even a sham bidding process with Halliburton as the surprise winner.

Now we have a plethora of well placed republicans getting and/or helping others get a piece of the $87 billion that Bush has requested from congress to rebuild Iraq. How stupid is Bush? He lied about the reason for war, convinced most Americans that he was in fact telling the truth, destroyed the nation we didn't have to fight, and then made sure his friends made money in rebuilding the country that shouldn't have been attacked in the first place.

If Bush is stupid I pray that God makes me stupid too.