In the second half of 2004, George W. Bush won re-election over John Kerry, the Beslan terror siege in Russia proved beyond all doubt that the very idea of the modern nation state was under attack while Mr. Putin waged war on the oligarchs, and the US authorities made their official reports on the war crimes committed at the Iraqi prison at Abu Ghraib. Perhaps the most important story was Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld getting grilled by US troops in Iraq over why their equipment was inadequate. The exchange demonstrated the inadequacy of the administration"s military planning, despite being able to choose the time and place of the war.