Billmon: Fiasco

Victor Davis Hanson is dictating straight from his rectum again:

Three recent books about the "fiasco'' in Iraq -- Cobra II by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor, State of Denial by Bob Woodward and just plain Fiasco by Tom Ricks -- have attracted a lot of attention, and sales. All three well-written exposes repeat the now well-known argument that our government's incompetence and arrogance have nearly ensured America's failure in birthing democracy in Iraq.

It's worth noting, though, that many of the authors' critical portraits rely on private conversations and anonymous sources. The most damning informants in these books are never identified and so can't be questioned.

Note the print equivalent of air quotes around the word "fiasco" -- a way of signaling that Hanson, who has spent the past three years staunchly denying that the Titanic has hit an iceberg, is determined to go down with the ship.