Forget the Sweet Smell of Success

Try the putrid stench of unmitigated disaster.

President Bush and his top advisors fanned out across the troubled Middle East over the last week to showcase their diplomatic initiatives to restore strained relationships with traditional allies and forge new ones with leaders in Iraq.

But instead of flaunting stronger ties and steadfast American influence, the president's journey found friends both old and new near a state of panic...

They still have two years to make it worse.

Ugh.