Another Cost to Bush's Wars

There is a lack of assets to monitor what else is going on in the world. So even though the Bush Administration had some inkling that Russia was waiting for the Georgians to do something stupid (and the Georgians obliged them), the U.S. was unable to monitor what was unfolding.

U.S. "national technical means," the official name for spy satellites and other technology, are "pretty well consumed by Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan," the official said, and there was only limited monitoring of Russian military movements toward the Georgian border.

So everything caught them by surprise.

"I wouldn't say we were blind," the official said. No, we were incredibly nearsighted and nobody could find the glasses.