REAL DANGER-- AND ALL WE HAVE FOR ANOTHER 11 MONTHS IS... GEORGE W. BUSH AND HIS CREW OF INCOMPETENTS

Afghani insurgents blew up an outdoor dog fight in Kandahar and killed 80 people (and, obviously, some dogs (German shepherds, bully kuttas and Afghan mastiffs); who were likely to have been killed anyway, at least some of them.) The target was an anti-Taliban militia commander, Abdul Hakim Jan. While Bush was destabilizing Iraq and turning it into the most dangerous place on earth, he failed to follow-up on initial success in Afghanistan, which is rapidly descending into chaos.

With shocking simultaneity, four reports by military experts recently sounded the same alarm: without a fundamental revision of current strategy (indeed, the lack thereof) by the international community in Afghanistan, the country runs the risk of becoming a “Failed State,” and will quickly become, if it hasn’t already, the nexus of international terrorism. Six years after 9/11, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden enjoy a state of quasi-impunity in the vast no man’s land between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

By calculation as much as by sheer blindness, the Unites States has for a long time leaned on the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, without seeing that Musharraf would never dare to check the Islamist faction within his army, those complicit with the Taliban. Historically, Washington has been constant in its missteps in Afghanistan. During the Soviet period, America favored the arming of the most anti-western elements within the Mujahedeen-- Gulbuddin Hekmatyar-- to the detriment of the more moderate elements-- Ahmad Shah Massoud.

In February 1989, when the Red Army withdrew, Afghanistan ceased to be a player in the Cold War. The indifference of the international community was fodder for Taliban extremism. Today, Musharraf’s regime is in rapid decline, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the dangerous traveling companion of Al Qaeda, and the United States is discovering that the millions of dollars thrown each year at their Pakistani “Ally” have not, contrary to what they had intended, been used to fight Al Qaeda.

The Taliban followed that up with an attack on a NATO convoy in the area, killing 37 civilians in a busy market. NATO "strongly condemns this cowardly attack."

But... George Bush? What he worry? He's worried about his criminal allies in the telecommunications industry possibly being sued for breaking the law. In fact, he and Cheney are having such a hissy fit over it that they're willing to jeopardize America's security-- at least their fear-mongering definition of it-- to score political points against House Democrats over this retroactive immunity. In fact, the two of them, and their partisan allies in the GOP media, have been so hysterical in combating the House Democrats-- since everything is so hunky-dory in Iraq now-- that Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid felt it was incumbent upon them to issue a joint statement so Americans could understand that Bush's shrill warnings are more about his own crumbling state of mind than the country's actual security.

"The Protect America Act will expire only because the President and congressional Republicans refused to approve an extension of that law. Their true concern here is not national security. Rather, they want to protect the financial interests of telecommunications companies and avoid judicial scrutiny of their warrantless wiretapping program.

"Congressional Democrats will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to finalize a strong law. As we do, there should be no question in anyone's mind that U.S. intelligence agencies have the legal ability to take all actions necessary to protect the security of the American people. For anyone to suggest otherwise is irresponsible and totally inaccurate.

"In particular, the law protects telecommunication carriers, and we will ensure that no lawfully cooperating carrier is disadvantaged by the President's decision to block a brief extension of the Protect America Act."

The FBI is warning Americans to watch out for "potential retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah," whose they claim may have sleeper cells in America and are a greater threat than... Al Qaeda! Yeah, elections are coming and Bush will do whatever he can to frighten people into voting for what's left of the GOP.

And although Bush is bringing plenty of U.S. tax dollars to use to bribe local leaders, the reaction to his visit, in an area where people are praying for Obama to become president, has been decidedly... mixed. The video tells the story in a way we're unlikely to see on CNN, ABC or Fox.