True to Bush fashion, the present crisis with Russia is yet another crisis that could have and should have been prevented by solid, competent leadership. Russia's responses have been entirely predictable based on what has been occurring over the last couple of years. Bush's Iraq misadventure and his other wasteful, misguided priorities allowed a window of opportunity for new wind to be breathed into the Cold War. A capable president would have dealt with this issue long before it became a crisis or big news.
See Bill Clinton.

Was Georgia acting "responsible" when it attacked So. Ossetia?

The headline is a stretch. The words Daschle used were "perhaps avoided", adding "We don't know".

His point was pretty clear: America's resources and attention have been diverted from real security threats around the world into (a largely made up threat in) Iraq.

I agree. Real threats being Putin's reshaping of the Russian empire as well as the real war on terror in Afghanistan and around the world.

People have lost their minds. You are now blaming what happened in Georgia on our preoccupation with Iraq??? huh???

According to this line of thinking, if ONLY we hadn't attacked Iraq we would have been free to solve all the problems of the world. Please.

Daschle is a true know-nothing. How about you study the situation a little. RUSSIA WANTS TO REFORM THE SOVIET UNION, ONLY WITHOUT THE NAME. This has to do with the European Union, NATO, etc. THEY DO NOT LIKE WESTERN EUROPE AND DO NOT WANT THEIR SATELLITES ASSIMILATED. NOTHING TO DO WITH IRAQ

What a mess the USA is in! Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, now Georgia w/Russia. It's going to take more money from the taxpayers to pay for the mess. Don't you think? What about the gas prices at the pump, economy, jobs, etc? Can John McCain truly handle these problems? The current administration is republican, why haven't they come up with solutions? Is that an indication of inexperience and bad judgement? I believe Senator Obama can fix the problems. He may not have the experience that McCain has in the area of foreign policy, but Obama will have people in his administration that have more experience than McCain does and also have better judgement. McCain is like a war monger. And that's scary.

Hard words beget harder words leading to separation and isolation; wars are no-win scenarios for everyone involved. How does a country win an "occupation"? By what criteria? It would be good for people to do deeper thinking then simply react to media sound bites. Evidence exists Georgia attacked based on believing the U.S. had its back covered. The military industrial once again stands to profit while everything else equals a loss.

If Obama had bothered to hold a SINGLE meeting of the Europe/NATO committee that he chairs, maybe this COULD have been avoided.

If Obama was too busy campaigning to hold meetings of this committee, he should have ceded the chairmanship to someone with enough time to hold meetings.

If Iraq is a diversion, I am sure glad that McCain's strategy is winning the Iraq war. Obama's retreat in defeat strategy would have destabilized the entire middle east and emboldened challengers such as Russia. I wonder how distracted we would have been then, while sitting licking the wounds of our failure as Iraq descended into civil war and Iran consolidated their control over the region. Obama is wrong on so many issues it is pitiful.

So, we are supposed to care what Tom Daschle says?

The man couldn't even get re-elected by the people of South Dakota when he was Senate Majority Leader.

Daschle and his opinions are a joke...

If anyone wants to get a real look at what a Democrat majority can do, take a look at what has happened to gas prices since the Democrats gained a majority in the House and Senate in 2006.

Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dean...

The blind leading the blind...

@Peter: Huck's army has gone "rouge"? Maybe they should just spend a little more time out in the sun.

Who wants to listen to that idiot Tom Daschle. He is becoming a little Jimmy Carter.

Russia can be expected to blow
the missile shield to bits if
it ever gets installed in
eastern Europe.

Another day, another opportunity for some dummy to blame Bush for something he has no control over. Tomorrow, maybe we can look forward to Bush creating hurricane Fay.

Janet Taylor
Barack Obama would be hard -pressed to point to Georgia on a world map. Why do you think he would, all of a sudden, have an answer to a a tricky diplomatic problem like this? Is it a messiah thing? Just what is going on with you people? Are we dealing with a cult? Just a few years ago BHO was a 'community organizer', (having failed as a law academic). What in the world- this is a serious question- makes you think that he has the judgement and experience to deal with a crisis like this? After all, in the Rezko affair,just 2 or 3 years ago, he showed extremely poor judgement, didn't he?

Yes Russia would blow the missle shield to bit's Anon. But it's not there to protect agains Russian. Never was intended too.

Tom Daschle reputation as one of the biggest morons in Washington is intact.

Democrats are still living in a fantasy world.

Wow, it really bugs the Dems that the US Military is succeeding in Iraq. That is the last thing the Dems wanted to see. Dems = The Party of Defeat. Pathetic!

The Georgia cluster#$%^ has been brewing for a couple of years. The Georgia government has been propped up by the pentagon. So why should we be surprised when Georgia abuses their power and attacks a neighboring country. And why are we surprised that Russia would come to Osettia's aid? There are a lot of if's but it's not a stretch to believe that Iraq is consuming attention that could have prevented this.

okay people seriously wake up, I know a lot of you like to blame the Iraq war on EVERYTHING, but this, are you serious? I mean seriously there is nothing that could be done to prevent. Nothing the USA would do and nothing that Europe would do. NATO wouldn't have done anything. Do we really want to go to war with Russia, no. Putin would walk all over Obama if he was elected. Do you even know what Putin's state run media is telling the people? He is saying that the Georgians attacked Russia so that America would elect McCain over Obama. Putin would love to have Obama elected.