Wilson's Almanac is a terrific website of great depth and fascination. I suscribe to the daily blog of the site, and also to companion sites Pagans4Peace and Almost Prophetic. Been reading Austrailian webauthor Pip Wilson's commentary and gems of history, folklore and peaceful links for quite a while and highly recommend to all readers. Look for J-9's contributions too, in Pagans4Peace. These are amazing folks that make you smile and get out messages that enrich your life.

Today the aphorism blog - AlmostProphetic - delivered a telling quote from BushDaddy, from just five years ago. Links to many delightful sites, blogs, and online communities fill this compendium. Read today's quote and see what you think. Prophetic, oh yeah - big time. Comments welcome - just click on the "comment" link at the end of this post.

"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under the circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different - and perhaps barren - outcome."