Do pinheads who use words like "retreatist" have any comprehension of the fact that the goal of terrorism is to elicit an irrational overreaction from a much more powerful foe? It's David hoping Goliath takes a blind swing, falls and hurts himself. George W has played right into the terrorist hand.

Iran has a couple hundred thousand Americans in range of its weapons and army, and they have better control over Iraq than we do. The United States Congress will not start the war with Iran, and neither will George W. They need to add another minute or two to the Doomsday Clock, because the odds of the U.S. making a nuclear strike in the next year are higher than they have been since the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban embargo.

Bush's anorexic foreign policy is about to purge. Daddy only got the prime minister of Japan, but Shrub has most of the Republican party genuflecting before him. Smart money is on dry cleaning futures, shoe polish and sand turning to glass.