. . . Bad Presidents Blame Good Generals . . .

The latest White House spin -- certainly the most preposterious to date -- on why the Iraqi war is a big freaking mess is that it's all the fault of Army General George W. Casey Jr.

This is because:

Casey, as the top American commander in Iraq, should not have gone along with the Bush administration policy to maintain current troop levels. The result was that the U.S. constantly found itself a step or two behind what was happening on the ground.

If that isn't rich enough, try this nugget from a New York Times analysis:

White House insiders say the president lost faith in Casey some time ago, but it would having been politically . . . er, impolitic to say so before the midterm election.

Yessiree, declaring that a course correction was necessary would have painted the president as a gutless weenie.

The whole sordid story is here.