The interview guest on the Daily Show Thursday night was Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Life inside Iraq's Green Zone.

I was puttering around and didn't listen to the whole thing, but what I did hear left me aghast.

Chandrasekaran, a Washington Post editor who spent 18 months in the Green Zone after the invasion, told what should be a mind-boggling tale. The Bushies essentially sent an army of party hacks to rebuild Iraq, using vetting questions like whether the candidate had voted for Dubya in 2000, even asking them their views on Roe v. Wade.

As a result, some sterling hires were made. A 24-year-old with no experience whatsoever in the financial business was put in charge of relaunching Iraq's stock exchange.

A 21-year-old, who hadn't graduated college and whose previous job experience was driving an ice cream truck, got put on the team in charge of Iraq's interior ministry.

It sounds unbelievable. Here's part one and here's part two.

A caution: There are some blurbs promoting his book on the website. At least two are from Washington Post colleagues of Chandrasekaran (Steve Coll, David Maraniss) -- although they aren't identified as such.

Hmm. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and that it was out to turn his citzens into slaves.

Here's what editorialists in the two countries have to say about it.

Update

Pakistan announced on Friday that it had arrested 500 Taliban in the past year and had turned most of them over to Afghanistan.