Solari, assuming that we're both right about how it went down, I'm not sure that it was SHORT-TERM stupidity, from a Neocon perspective. We had the sympathy of the civilized world. Bush got the Afghan war that he wanted, as well as the police state measures at home that he wanted. Like Napoleon's invasion of Russia, W's war of aggression against Iraq--which used 911 as part of the pretext--was a huge, stupid political mistake. The Republicans are discredited by that, by their lackluster response to Katrina, and most of all by the current global economic $hitstorm.

But they have gotten away with 911 for nearly 8 years. Like you, I hope that Merkin voters learn the truth soon. Many of them already have their doubts. But I don't think that we should look to Obama for that. He's a pragmatist; he's not going to say that the system is broken.

50 years from now, historians may raise some doubts about the official mythology, but it would be very impolitic of them to do so now. Bush and the other Neocons are stupid about many things, but I'm not sure that 911 was one of them. Evil yes. But stupid?