This Is Depressing

What pisses me off the most about this is how much money and resources the United States has squandered simply because the Idiot-In-Chief was determined to invade Iraq regardless of whether it posed a threat (via Kevin Drum):

During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, [Bush] made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons.

....The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation

...."The U.S. was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in U.N. colours," the memo says, attributing the idea to Mr. Bush. "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."

It also described the president as saying, "The U.S. might be able to bring out a defector who could give a public presentation about Saddam's W.M.D," referring to weapons of mass destruction.

A brief clause in the memo refers to a third possibility, mentioned by Mr. Bush, a proposal to assassinate Saddam Hussein.

What a waste, especially when you consider that the resources we spent invading and occupying Iraq could have been used against legitimate threats, like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I feel the same way when I read stuff like this:

The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show.

The Number One Asshole in the Senate, Pat Roberts of Kansas (I know -- that's a pretty big assertion to make, given that Santorum and Frist are also senators, but that's how I really feel) was on Wolf Blitzer yesterday talking about how "you don't have any civil liberties if you are dead," but he also had this to say:

We do have Al Qaeda in this country. We do have sleeper cells. We do have plots. The reason I know is that I've been briefed on the program.

So, we have Al Qaeda sleeper cells in this country plotting to do God knows what, and the FBI is spending the taxpayers' money gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists.

That's pretty f*#ked up if you ask me.