Behind The Sanchez Rant

Correspondingly, civilian control and power have weakened as the military becomes more and more the key and pivotal player in US politics. Admittedly, this process started long before George Bush was crowned the new king but under him it has crystallized, become more pronounced and focused. And if anyone doubts this development then all that one has to do is look at the “public” domain speeches of King George II – almost all are on military bases or some college or school with ties to the military.

 Just like General Sanchez and cut from the same bolt of cloth is the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, who pointedly stated when asked about the popular opposition to the war in Iraq that “people cannot vote and end to the war.” Again, such thinking suggests that the military is not constrained by civilian control and that the mechanism upon which the vestiges of American democracy is built is of no account.

So now the Bush Administration presides over a hugely unpopular war supported by the financial oligarchs whose mega-billion businesses and lucrative defense contracts allow them to rake in more and more billions of dollars while the United States Congress continues to dole out more and money for King George’s “war on terror.”

 Finally, the Sanchez speech is important for the silence that it generated. Only glossing over the attacks on the Bush Administration the mainstream media largely ignored it and pretended that the other more sinister aspects were inconsequential. The White House’s official response was muted and the leading Democrats in both the House and Senate maintained a craven silence.  By the next day the speech was a non-news event.

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