The Iraq election

No matter how inspiring the election or the Bush rhetoric, the U.S. project is about getting control of Iraq's vast, virtually untouched oil reserves, and extending our military reach over the region. "Think of Iraq as a military base with a very large oil reserve underneath; you can't ask for better than that," the Wall Street oil analyst Fadel Gheit has said.

If democracy comes to Iraq, it will be because events forced a jigger of idealism down the throats of the Bushies. They wanted Chalabi to run Iraq, remember?

Read Why the Children in Iraq Make No Sound When They Fall for a cold-shower view by one Bernard Chazelle. He writes: “With Bush's reelection, America now has the president it deserves. And should you find that Lady Liberty, all dolled up with the latest in fashion from Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, looks a bit like a used-up hooker, you won't need to ask who hired her pimp: We did.”

A friend from Amsterdam: "Europe is so sick of USA, and the 40 million dollar inauguration party was the last straw, basically." Hopefully our prestige will be restored when Hillary becomes our next president.