The Worse, The Better

Tim Garton Ash gets all excited at the thought that things might be going badly for America in Iraq.

It would be suicidally dumb for any European to think, in relation to Iraq, "the worse the better".

followed by

But it is a fair and justified historical observation that American policy has got better - more sober, more realistic - at least partly because things in Iraq have gone so badly. This is the cunning of history.

So cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. He'll be telling us next that defeat for America (and the UK) would be 'character-building'.