The Horror

[politics]

The Economist once decried the unbelievable incompetence of the American handling of the Iraq war and its aftermath. This was quite remarkable, coming from a paper that had actually supported the war beforehand.

Well, as a rule, I try to avoid labelling anyone "stupid" or "incompetent." I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.

In this case, the awfulness of the idea that the White House is inhabited by incompetents is nothing compared to the sheer horror that they may not have been so stupid - because that would mean that they knew exactly what was likely to happen, and they calculatedly decided, for some monstrously twisted reason, that it was the best course of action.