Never mind the dollars wasted on Halliburton and other cronies. Never mind all the dead soldiers. Never mind the destruction of forests and pastures and the poisons flowing into our rivers.
What's really devastating about the Bush regime is their redefinition of the very principles on which this nation was founded. With a relentlessness that's truly amazing, they have managed to bring both democracy and freedom into ill-repute.
Now when freedom is mentioned all around the globe and the question is asked, "freedom to do what," it isn't the freedom to speak, to write, to travel and to pray without interference that comes to mind. No, as the invasion and occupation of Iraq has made it all too clear, the only freedom that counts is the freedom to use force whenever and wherever America wants.
Democracy, on the other hand, having been reduced to the equivalent of a multiple choice exam marked up with a rubber stamp, has managed to achieve a level of citizen participation that would gladden the heart of any would-be tyrant.
Little wonder, then, that nations looking to escape their own dictatorships are inspired no longer to follow the American model. What a shame and how disheartening that all this damage could be accomplished in just a few years.