Three years ago, the US invaded Iraq. We can all run the story through our minds: Shock and Awe, Coalition of the Willing, Mission Accomplished, looting, “Stuff happens,” no WMD, suicide bombers, blasted shrine.

Many who supported the invasion have taken this anniversary to argue that if the coalition forces had been large enough to actually secure the country, to keep insurgents from raiding Saddam Hussein’s ammunition depots, to give the people a sense of safety, the country might well be on the road to a hopeful future. We doubt it. The last three years have shown how little our national leaders understood Iraq, and have reminded us how badly attempts at liberation from the outside have gone in the past.

Chances are that at the time Mr Bush did not have an inkling of how badly he was being served by the decision makers at the Pentagon. But the fact that Donald Rumsfeld continues to hold his job tells us that Bush doesn’t care. If the mission in Iraq was to create a stable democracy, the results have been crushingly bad — unless Mr Bush regards the election of Palestinian terrorists as the leaders in Gaza and the West Bank as a step forward. Iran is extending its sway by the hour. In Afghanistan, American forces are too thin to do much more than protect the central government in dow-ntown Kabul.