The utility of 9/11, to Bush and his neocon nutsos, was that it could be used to fool an ignorant, frightened public into backing the invasion of Iraq. Let’s see how that’s going, on this anniversary day:

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.

And Anwar province isn’t exactly Rhode Island or Delaware, either. It’s about a third of the country, stretching westward from Baghdad. So read the rest of this Washington Post story. And weep for the Republic.