Following the rout of the Republicans at the polls, sub-editors across the globe have, perhaps gloatingly, dubbed President Bush and his Secretary for Defence as “casualties of war.” Perhaps I’m being too literal-minded, but I didn’t see the president being medivaced from the White House lawn or hear of Donald Rumsfeld being injured in the latest Baghdad atrocity. The use of word “casualty” as a metaphor against the backdrop of a conflict that is estimated to have claimed 654,965 lives might seem a little ill-considered.Because in the political realm, being a “casualty of war” means, in Rumsfeld’s case, being given a by-the-numbers eulogy from your boss and being guided gently out the door (was I imagining it or in the footage did Bush’s hand on Rummy’s back seem to have a certain propulsive force?)

Yet for Rumsfeld, a man who made his fortune by giving the world the dubious benefits of Nutrasweet, a comfortable retirement will doubtless be further padded by lucrative sinecures in the metastasizing military-industrial complex.

But will he be able to sleep at night?
You betcha.
See here for the story behind Muayad Muhsin’s painting.