Boo!

In the same day, nine days before a Presidential election, the U.S. made cross-border raids into both Pakistan and Syria, nations with whom we are not at war. Karl Rove would be proud.

Any administration that was scrupulous about not injecting military action into politics would have refrained from this for a couple more weeks. But 'scrupulous' is not a word that should ever be applied to the Bushists.

By now we know that the initial reticence about the Syria raid and promises to investigate by the military were bullshit. The Bushists now defend what they previously would not admit doing.

No doubt there were bad people across each border. There were probably innocents as well.

There is even justification in crossing borders into anarchic zones such as these. But to do it in a way that appears to be for political benefit abuses the American consensus for partisan ends.

Hitting a fly with a sledgehammer

Upgrading F-16s (fer chrissake) is counterterrorism only in the sense that we have to keep bribing the Pakistanis to keep claiming in public that they care about the Taliban. What they do and what they say in private? What do you expect for $230 million?

“Using F-16s this way is like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” said one senior Senate Democratic aide.

The Bushists don't give the smallest shit how Congress designated the money, and a real counterterror weapon like an A-10 (already durable in close air support) or whatever the C-130-derived gunship is would seem to make a lot more sense if helicopters aren't flashy enough. But none of this matters to Duhbya. He's already on the way out and nothing he can do now will have much effect on the likelihood of terror for the rest of his term. 2009? Who cares?