Andrew Bacevich is critical of the Bush Administration's view of how to deal with the global Islamic terrorist threat, and believes it's legacy will continue after Bush leaves office.

Yet in crucial respects, the Bush era will not end Jan. 20, 2009. The administration's many failures, especially those related to Iraq, mask a considerable legacy. Among other things, the Bush team has accomplished the following:

Defined the contemporary era as an "age of terror" with an open-ended "global war" as the necessary, indeed the only logical, response;

Promulgated and implemented a doctrine of preventive war, thereby creating a far more permissive rationale for employing armed force;

Affirmed - despite the catastrophe of Sept. 11, 2001 - that the primary role of the Department of Defense is not defense, but power projection;

Removed constraints on military spending so that once more, as Ronald Reagan used to declare, "defense is not a budget item";

Enhanced the prerogatives of the imperial presidency on all matters pertaining to national security, effectively eviscerating the system of checks and balances;

Preserved and even expanded the national security state, despite the manifest shortcomings of institutions such as the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff;

Preempted any inclination to question the wisdom of the post-Cold War foreign policy consensus, founded on expectations of a sole superpower exercising "global leadership";

Completed the shift of US strategic priorities away from Europe and toward the Greater Middle East, the defense of Israel having now supplanted the defense of Berlin as the cause to which presidents and would-be presidents ritually declare their fealty.

By almost any measure, this constitutes a record of substantial, if almost entirely malignant, achievement.

Read the whole thing, as I think it perfectly encapsulates the, for lack of a better term, liberal view (and agreed with in some respects by traditional conservatives) of how President Bush responded, incorrectly, to 9/11.

On the other hand, there is evidence that the militaristic response to Islamic terrorism has been effective as, according to Amir Taheri, the Islamists who go under the brand name of Al Qaeda are looking for a new strategy.

Of course, if we treat the terrorist threat as a law enforcement problem, rather than a military problem, we could wind up watching as judges set them free, as is happening in Great Britain.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are finding it difficult to maintain a hard line against the terrorists who would exterminate them given half a chance, according to Benny Morris.

Fareed Zakaria says Barack Obama needs to make a speech about Iraq, and has some suggestions on what he should say in that speech.

The Obama people have been talking about winning some Southern states. At least one analyst thinks that won't happen.

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska explosion. Are we ready for the next one?

It was a grim first half of the year for global stocks.

So, my stock portfolio is down, and my heating oil, gasoline, and food prices are up. Who is to blame? Let's blame the speculators (even if they're not really at fault).