Sun Tzu, thought to have lived in the fifth century B.C., was the author of The Art of War, considered an indispensable handbook on the subject of war. Twenty-five centuries later, regarding the Iraq War:

From George W. Bush, June 17, 2004:

"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda, is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda."

From Osama bin-Laden, September 7, 2007:

"[A]fter several years of the tragedies of this war, the vast majority of you want it stopped. Thus, you elected the Democratic Party for this purpose, but the Democrats haven't made a move worth mentioning. On the contrary, they continue to agree to the spending of tens of billions to continue the killing and war there, which has led to the vast majority of you being afflicted with disappointment."

From The Art of War, Part III (of XIII) "Attack By Stratagem," section 18, Sun Tzu said:

If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

While personally I find no "art" in war, perhaps our self-proclaimed "war-time president" should have spent more time reading Sun Tzu than My Pet Goat.

And of our war-time president's qualifications?

"He clearly shirked the duty he undertook in 1968 upon enlistment and in 1969 upon completion of his flight training at Moody AF Base. Less than two years after Bush won his solo wings, he walked away from his duty to serve as a fighter pilot while troops were still dying in Vietnam."

Part II "Waging War," section 7, Sun Tzu said:

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

On the state of our military after years of war in Iraq from Lawrence Korb:

"After more than four years of being engaged in combat operations in Iraq and six and a half in Afghanistan, America's ground forces are stretched to their breaking point. Not since the aftermath of the Vietnam War has the U.S. Army been so depleted. In Iraq, about 3,300 troops have been killed and another 24,000 wounded. The Army is severely overstretched and its overall readiness has significantly declined. As General Colin Powell noted in December even before the surge, the active Army is about broken, and as General Barry McCaffrey has noted the ground forces are in a position of strategic peril. The Marine Corps is suffering from the same strains as the Army, and the situation for the Army National Guard is even worse."

In Part II, "Waging War," Sun Tzu said:

2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, the men's weapons will grow dull and their ardour will be damped…

3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain…

6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

And as the United States goes further and further into debt as a result of a half-trillion dollar war, Sun Tzu warned:

10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.

As our government is driven to pay up to $33,500 in reenlistment bonuses, consider Part IX, "Army on the March," section 36:

Too frequent rewards signify that the enemy is at the end of its resources.

Did Bush W. wage the Iraq War to avenge his Daddy's loss to Bill Clinton? Sun Tzu cautioned against such motives for war in Part XII, "The Attack By Fire," section 18:

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen.

While our esteemed war-time president may not have read The Art of War, it seems obvious that Osama bin-Laden did:

There are five ways of attacking by fire…the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy. Part XII, section 1.

After UBL's Attack By Fire, the United States military had him cornered in Tora Bora. Bin-Laden must have taken this Sun Tzu passage to heart:

If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. Part I, "Laying Plans," section 21.

He seemingly goads the United States. Time and time again, after long spans of not hearing from UBL, he appears again:

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. Part I, section 22.

Most of all think of the current and past leaders of the Bush administration and ponder this age-old wisdom, eerily applicable to the Iraq War (Part IX, section 37):

To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy's numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.