the tables are turned, as they often are

Do you recall Donald Rumsfeld's description of Germany and France as "Old Europe?" This was his way of disparaging their respective opinions regarding the United States' puzzling foreign policy.

I'm sure that Rummy will be happy to know that the Germans have taken that phrase to heart, and wear it as a badge of honor.

You see, many people (though apparently none of the members of the Bush administration) understand and respect history. We learn from history; if we don't learn from the mistakes of others, we will make the same mistakes ourselves. I seem to recall that there is an axiom vaguely related to that concept, but I'm sure neither Rummy or Dubya subscribes to it.

Another axiom they might subscribe to is, "we stand on the shoulders of giants," meaning that we only know what we know thanks to the hard work of those who came before us. Unfortunately Rummy and Bush appear to believe that they are destined to be giants in their own right, while standing firmly on the ground. Don't need no stinkin' shoulders, no sir! That's a bad plan, but then Dubya did have a mighty hard time as a businessman. Sure, he made a lot of money, but only because he got out before his companies crashed and burned. He was a failure as a businessman - unless your measure of a successful businessman is restricted to his own enrichment.