Another fine product from ACME

Rolling Stone brought together a panel of experts to discuss the fate of Iraq. The article is "Leaving Iraq: The Grim Truth."

Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit and author of "Imperial Hubris":

I can't help but think we've signed Jordan's death warrant.

Gen. Tony McPeak (retired), member of the Joint Chiefs during the Gulf War:

This is a dark chapter in our history. Whatever else happens, our country's international standing has been frittered away by people who don't have the foggiest understanding of how the hell the world works. America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn't make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference.

And it's worse if his top staff are ideologues who imagine they can build democracy -- in the desert and on the cheap -- out of a crate from ACME Halliburton, like Wile E. Coyote.

And yes, the Rolling Stone panel's assessment is uniformly grim.