“When Bob Woodward asked President Bush if he had consulted with his father about the decision to go to war in Iraq, the president famously replied, ‘There is a higher father that I appeal to.’

It might have been better if Mr. Bush had stayed in closer touch with his earthly father. From the very beginning the war in Iraq has been an exercise in extreme madness, an absurd venture that would have been rich in comic possibilities except for the fact that many thousands of men, women and children have died, and tens of thousands have been crippled, burned or otherwise maimed.” — Bob Herbert (New York Times op-ed)