Or does it explode?* posted by Richard Seymour

Donald Rumsfeld has been charming the American public again, this time informing them that the Iraqi insurgency could last 12 years . Well, so far this motherfucker has cost you $1 trillion , so how fat is the American taxpayer's wallet, exactly? Apparently, not that fat, and getting thinner daily .

Hence, the 'charm' offensive, the admission that US officials have been meeting resistance members (this conferring legitimacy on their foes), and that 'foreign troops' (that's the US) will not be able to win any war against the insurgents.

*What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

(A Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes)