Fall guy?

I'm certainly shedding no tears over the departure of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense – he presided over one of the most mismanaged military campaigns in this nation's history - but let's keep one thing in mind: this is George W. Bush's war.

Rumsfeld certainly could have planned better for the occupation and the post-war chaos that we see in Iraq now on a daily basis, but he was carrying out a policy ordered by Bush. He wasn't a rogue defense secretary, he wasn't freelancing, there wasn't a quiet coup in Washington.

Blame for the Iraq debacle begins and ends with Bush. With the soulless Dick Cheney no doubt egging him on, it was Bush who decided to make part of the U.S. response to 9-11 be the invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9-11 (and in the process, of course, allow Bin Laden to remain at large, while Afghanistan is now sliding back under the control of the Taliban.)

And the change in the Pentagon fits the usual pattern of Boy George, who has skated through life using his daddy's name, connections and money. From avoiding service in Vietnam, to the oil business he failed at, from making millions through a sweetheart deal that allowed him to buy the Texas Rangers, to getting into politics, Bush Jr. has led a charmed life – and, unfortunately, we've had to pay for it.

And now daddy is bailing him out yet again. The new Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates, used to work for Bush, Sr. Meanwhile, the Bush family consigliere, James Baker, is heading a commission that will come up with some sort of recommendation about Iraq, no doubt allowing us to “declare victory” and get the hell out.

But in the meantime, almost 3,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead, thanks to the reckless and incompetent policies of this empty little suit, unquestionably the worst president in history. Let's not let Rumsfeld take the full blame for that.

Heckuva job, Bushie.