The Manhattan (Kansas?) Project

President Bush yesterday asked Congress for an additional $6.4 billion to develop ways of defeating roadside bombs in Iraq — nearly double what has been provided since 2003 — in the hopes of reviving an effort once billed as the “Manhattan Project” of the war but which has failed to stop the insurgents’ weapon of choice from becoming even deadlier.

Not that I’m a fan of the nuclear bomb or anything but in 2007, the “Manhattan Project” of our age is to find out how to avoid getting blowed up by a homemade roadside bomb stuck in a dead dog’s belly? What is this costing so far — like a million bucks per defeated IED (assuming, very generously, that the project succeeds)?

Is there anything that isn’t tragically pathetic about the Bush administration? Seems like it’d be on the short list.