hindsight beforehand

In 50 years, in attempting to describe the history of the latter half of the twentieth century, it will be distilled into:

Following World War Two, the United states was engaged in a series of mostly disastrous wars, semi-wars and military interventions. The most significant of these were the second (Vietnam) and the last (Second Gulf). In Vietnam, the United States was taught the lesson that it is impossible to control a hostile population with an army designed to fight an opposition military force. Translation: The U.S. military can kick the ass of any organized force on the planet, but they suck as cops.

By the time of the Second Gulf war, a conservative government under the incompetant leadership of George Bush, and a group of reactionary political thinkers known as neocons had forgotten this lesson, as they promoted a war that led to an occupation in which they attempted to control a hostile population with a force designed to fight an opposition military force.

This war, combined with unparalelled corruption prosecutions, caused the unravelling of the Bush administration, and is considered the major factor in bringing on the mental illness that cost Bush his presidency. The Vice-Presidential suicide that swept the Pelosi administration into power was blamed on crack cocaine, but it is generally acknowledged that the pressure of the six unacknowledged heart attacks and the complete replacement of Cheney's pulmonary system with technology purchased from the Roswell aliens could have contributed to his eventual 'crash'.

Well, okay, maybe not that last bit.