Being neither a Democrat or a Republican, I still see Bush's lack of grasp on world politics as a squandered opportunity to effect significant positive change in the Middle East and the world. In the time immediately post 9/11, there was a true sympathy world wide for the United States - Bush's futile, outmoded political stance not only wasted a fleeting opportunity for a world wide anti-terrorist concensus, but his so-called "dream team" only served to further polarize moderate Arab nations into exactly the opposite of our stated objective - there now exists a global distain for US foreign policy, consistantly reinforced by questionable political behavior and the shocking images coming out of Iraq. Unfortunately, this is no longer about the politics of the left vs. the right here in this country, as witnessed by some conservative Republicans calling for Rumsfeld's resignation. Saddest of all is an armed force of truly great men and women, being led by a small group of politicians with no clear, focused mission or exit strategy.