From Eric Alterman’s Blog…

This just kind of leaves me speechless and breathless: “A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.” If the number is even half that, well then … I really don’t know to say.

Meanwhile, are these guys trying to protect us? More than five years after 9-11, only 33 out of 12,000 FBI agents have even a limited proficiency in Arabic, and none of them work in areas that coordinate investigations of international terrorism, here. (And don’t tell me they can’t recruit Arabic speakers. Five years is plenty of time to learn Arabic.) More bad news on that front here.

Meanwhile, speaking of this glorious adminstration’s bravery and competence, what really happened at Haditha? William Langewiesche takes 14,551 words in the current Vanity Fair to tell us, here, and it ain’t pretty. Well, neither is losing three sons, owing to the lies of your president. Our condolences …

And, oh yeah, North Korea.

(McCain’s straight-talking, mavericky solution? Blame Clinton. Brilliant. I sure hope he finds a way to get booked on ABC’s This Week someday.)