Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) famously said on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Saturday “This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country.” This obvious statement was met with various responses. “I believe it’s one of the worst blunders, certainly is,” New Mexico’s Democratic Governor Bill Richardson also said on CNN, echoing Republican Senator (and potential Presidential candidate) Chuck Hagel’s comment that the nascent troop buildup “represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam.”
The White House wasn’t willing to let this stand. They challenge the notion that this is the worst foreign policy mistake in history. Okay, perhaps they’re right. Maybe its the just second worse.

I just watched the movie “Welcome to Sarajevo,” shot right after the end of hostilities in that sad place. There is a scene in the movie, basically a war correspondent’s diary akin to “The Year of Living Dangerously”, in which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and a bunch of other UN and foreign dignitaries land. The journalists ask what efforts will be made to help the civilians in this “the most dangerous place on earth?” The UNHCR corrects them, “There are thirteen places more dangerous in the world today.” During the rest of the movie, new comers are greeted with “Welcome to the fourteenth most dangerous place on earth!”
So, welcome to the second worst foreign policy decision in history. Don’t know what the first one was, but welcome to our own little slice of hell.