The Left Coaster nails the problem posted by Ben

The Left Coaster: With War On Terror Failing, At Least Bush Has His Boys Around Him

Here's a few highlights, but the whole article is definitely worth reading! Make sure you look at the original, as it links directly to the story behind each of the claims.

The Administration requests another $80 billion for Afghanistan and Iraq, reminding some that John Kerry was blasted during the campaign when he said we had spent $200 billion on these wars. It turns out he was right: after these supplemental requests, we will in fact have ripped off American taxpayers for $300 billion for wars against terror that Bush’s own handpicked CIA director says have done nothing but make it easier for terrorists to launch their next set of strikes against us. And what did Porter Goss and Robert Mueller say was the best way to protect us from these threats from Al Qaeda that Bush’s war against terror has failed to derail yet? To pass Bush’s defense and terror budgets, of course.

Then, when the Congress, and members on both sides of the aisle I might add, try and get information from the Defense Secretary on why the money is needed and what for, he tells them basically to f**k off. The performance worked so well on the Republicans that they have decided to cut money from Rummy’s budget.

A week after Bush’s proposed budget for 2006 cut thousands of border control agent positions so that his tax cuts for millionaires could be protected, his own intelligence officials told Congress that Al Qaeda is ready to send teams over the border from Mexico.

Then, Bush makes the circle-closing complete by naming John Negroponte, he of our failures at the United Nations, in Iraq, and years ago in the travesty of supporting the death squads in Honduras, to be the nation’s first Director of National Intelligence.

Yeah, I’d say that Bush may be happy with the cast of characters he has around him, but I doubt that we are any safer now than we were on September 10, 2001.

Yup.