We read in today's Daily Reckoning some reported comments by Gavin Esler in the Daily Mail. "In my lifetime, I have never experienced around the world and in Britain such loathing and contempt for America. It's as if the only acceptable racism in 2006 is to be anti-American. At a local school in London, I gave a talk recently on world affairs to a group of clever kids ranging in age from 14 to 18. When I mentioned that I was concerned about a possible war with Iran over the Iranian nuclear program, more than half the pupils said they were more likely to believe the Iranians than the Americans. Can you believe it has really come to this?One opinion poll published yesterday found that Britons now believe George Bush poses a greater danger to world peace than either the Iranian fundamentalist leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-il..." Esler goes on to reflect on what a great job the Bush administration has done of greasing the "Axis of Evil" so it can roll on to wherever it is going. North Korea has managed to get a nuclear bomb, under the watchful
gaze of the United States, while the American military has actually helped Iran achieve all of its most important foreign policy objectives. It removed Iran's biggest rival in the region - Saddam Hussein - and
neutralized its biggest enemy - Iraq. In destabilizing Iraq, the United States also helped to extend the Shia revolution and expand Islamic fundamentalism. Mission Accomplished! The mullahs must be high-fiving each other.