It seems to me that historians are already lining up to write about Bush as a sad example of highly counter-productive foreign policy.

Take for example CNN’s report on a recent study that suggests Bush’s search for WMD has now generated a new class of Iraq operatives bent on attacking US soil.

Officials have expressed concern in the past that the Iraq war is providing a theater for al Qaeda to train insurgents and test the terror network’s capabilities.

[…]

Though the problem is more dire in Europe than the United States, the report said, there is evidence that extremists in the U.S. are “becoming more connected ideologically, virtually and/or in a physical sense to the global extremist movement.”

Actually, while we are all reading about the Texas-sized mess in the Middle East, I would guess that a much bigger problem on the horizon is the Russians and Chinese. They have taken their arms proliferation gloves off (another glaringly counter-productive failure of the Bush foreign policy) and are supplying terrorists and guerrillas in Afghanistan and Iraq to refine anti-US defense technology and strategies. The US is essentially spending billions to provide military training to its enemies and estranged allies, with little or nothing in the way of security to show as a result. The only way this kind of end-game makes any sense would be if the US wanted to spend all its money on defense and oil industries… Wait a minute. Wasn’t that the foundation of Reaganomics?

Leave it to the Onion to provide a humorous characterization of the rapid re-decline of American sensibilities — “After 5 Years in U.S., Terrorist Cell Too Complacent To Carry Out Attack”:

Indeed, general preparedness appears to be the cell’s greatest stumbling block.

“Five a.m. is when the facility is most vulnerable to attack, when the morning shift security personnel replace the overnight crew,” said Adib Dhakwan, the cell’s second-in-command. “Unfortunately, Starbucks doesn’t open until six, and I don’t know about you, but if I don’t have that first cup of coffee, forget it.”

Despite the terrorists’ successful assimilation into American society, the FBI has been monitoring the activities of the “San Clemente Six” since late 2005. According to declassified intelligence documents, the cell’s status was recently downgraded to “low risk,” due in part to a near absence of cell phone chatter to parties other than Moviefone, and last month’s online purchase of a hammock.

Starbucks alert! Quick, close all Starbucks to protect the US from terrorist attack!