Good Intentions Gone Bad

It seems amazing that Newsweek has the cajones to print an article like this so soon after the administration made them their biatch for (correctly) reporting that an anonymous Pentagon source had seen in a report of allegations that the Koran had been flushed down the toilet. Note that the only thing that Newsweek was guilty of is getting the name of the report wrong, not the substance of the allegations. Note also that the Pentagon reported Friday of findings that a Koran was "splashed" with urine (how exactly does that happen?) This article, by Newsweek's exiting Baghdad Bureau Chief is definitely worth a read. Good Intentions Gone Bad (emphasis mine):

The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib alienated a broad swath of the Iraqi public. On top of that, it didn't work. There is no evidence that all the mistreatment and humiliation saved a single American life or led to the capture of any major terrorist, despite claims by the military that the prison produced "actionable intelligence."

The most shocking thing about Abu Ghraib was not the behavior of U.S. troops, but the incompetence of their leaders.

Actually, what is most shocking is that despite "plain as the nose on your face" knowledge that their leaders have proven to be so incompetent, is the fact that they somehow managed to get re-elected.