Mick gave me a bit of a hard time just after 9/11 when I was tearing my hair out terrified that Bushco would use this as an opportunity for massive bombings, and I found myself in the strange position of arguing for a Phoenix Program-type approach instead. This was in the knowledge that we were definitely going to have a Phoenix Program-type response anyway, which obviously is a horrorshow, but less so than a Phoenix Program combined with aerial bombing of civilian areas and all-out war, which is of course what we got. John (DeathSquad) Negroponte was in Baghdad long enough to establish Phoenix type death squads, who've been pretty busy from the sounds of it. There's your trifecta, righties... Civilian bombing, all out war, and death squads. Ya happy? Much as I usually love to say I told you so, this time I'd have been a hell of a lot happier being flat out wrong. And to add terror to insult, Negroponte is now the highest ranking intelligence chief in this US of A. Pray for rain.

Sorry, my mistake. He got moved out of DNI and is now at State.