I hope Japan got the memo, cause that whole co-prosperity sphere thing in the 30’s and early 40’s has still got to be embarassing. This could be a new start for them, too, never having been in the Philippines, Burma, Manchuria, etc. And for the Rei, er, Germany - good news! They were never in France or Poland! This will be handy for Syria, of course, in their awkward relationship with Lebanon. If trends continue, China won’t be in Tibet while they’re still there!

In other news, Russia didn’t annex the eastern part of Poland in 1939. Or the Petsamo province from Finland in 1940. And the Russians didn’t take Bessarabia from Rumania in 1940, either.

An authentic, honest-to-God joke from Stalin’s foreign minister Molotov: "I left the USSR & arrived in Lithuania on a Friday night. When I woke up on Saturday, I discovered I was back in the Soviet Union!"

What a card that guy was, huh?

Wow, that is a doozie!! What is it with the mentality of some of these guys? Reminds me of President Bush with his
"we found the weapons of mass destruction" line. Just makes one want to chuckle and ask "Oh, really???!!??"

There’s a great timeline about this administration’s WMD claims here.

Sure, Carson, bad intelligence in Iraq is morally equal to the Soviets’ brutally oppressive 40 year occupation of Eastern Europe.

Hmm...Mr. Carson, whenever I hear views like that (e.g., Bush Lied, People Died), I do a thought experiment. If we had found WMD in Iraq, what would people like you have to bitch about? Every time I run it over in my head, I realize that you and your ilk would have fund something else to be unhappy about.

Dain - here’s my thought experiment. Is there ANYTHING that this administration could do that would make "people like you" stop and say "That was wrong."?? The whole "bad intelligence" thing is a cheap cop-out. There’s more evidence now that Bush II had Iraq invasion plans BEFORE 9/11, and regardless of the existence of WMDs, than there was actual evidence that Iraq possessed WMDs before we stormed Baghdad. And no, "wm," I don’t think Bush’s lying or sexing up of intelligence is morally equivalent to the crimes of the Soviet regime. I doubt that was Carson’s point in the first place. I think what IS comparable is the willful ignorance, delusions and unwillingness to accept the cold hard truth(s). Russia DID annex the Baltics, and nobody has found WMDs in Iraq. Bush and Cheney probably would have a hard time even now making a clear statement that there were/are no WMDs in Iraq. They’d likely still use obfuscatory language (especially Cheney - he’s a master!).

Erica -- EVERY ADMINISTRATION had contingency plans for invading Iraq...it was SOP after the first Gulf War. I agree that (it appears) that Bush, his intelligence services, and every OTHER MAJOR INTELLIGENCE SERVICE IN THE WORLD were wrong about Saddam’s weaponry. Of course, Saddam had a lot to do with that...in EVERY sense he acted like a man who was hiding something.

So, buzz off. I think Bush has done several things wrong (e.g., immigration, drug benefits), but invading Iraq wasn’t one of them. He is guilty...of having a spine and the clear understanding of what needed to be done.