Oh Boy! Through the grapevine I'm hearing the next line from the precincts of DOD's civilian officialdom: FDR did it (lend-lease); Abraham Lincoln did it (Clement Vallandigham); even Clinton did it (the Sudanese medicine plant). Why are we getting so much grief? People make stuff up for the greater good. It comes with the territory!

I kid you not. That's the line now in the trial balloon stages. Let's call it the Franklin & Abe excuse (FAE).

Stuff like this reminds you what they meant when they came up with the metaphor of the $#@& hitting the fan.

It's really messy. It splatters everywhere. And you really don't want to be anywhere near it when it happens.

Yuck.