"But the Dems have passed bills that could cut off funds for the Iraq war," I said. "That action has teeth to it. What about that?"
"We shall see what bill finally emerges from the Senate and House conference. My guess is that a lot of those teeth will go missing in the process, as the Dems don't want to be blamed for 'not supporting the troops' sent to Iraq for the 'surge'. And, after removing mention of Iran from their funding bill, they have yet to address the pending Iran attack at all."
PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEYS
"The saddest aspect of that 'surge' policy in Iraq," Shallow Throat continued, "is that those in the inner White House circle are fully aware that it probably won't work. But the underlying motivation is to postpone the inevitable until after the November 2008 election. If there's going to be a defeat, it will not be on this administration's watch. If the Democrats win in 2008, let them clean up our mess and take the blame for the defeat -- that's the general idea.
"Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld placed all their chips on Iraq, conquering and then supposedly converting that pivot-country to a demonstration-model for the rest of the oil-rich Middle East. They've got huge personal and political investments in their plan not failing, so they continue dreaming and fantasizing that they can stay there for a good number of years and emerge with something they can call a 'victory.' But, deep down, they realize they've messed it up real bad. So now it's blame time: pin the defeat-tail on the donkeys (the Democrats), Iraqis, the Iranians, anybody but themselves.
"The problem is, of course, that the American people have awakened from their political slumber, as they demonstrated in the election of November 2006, and have awarded responsibility for the Iraq disaster right where it belongs: on the CheneyBush Administration and their GOP lackeys in the Congress."
THE CRAZINESS OF ATTACKING IRAN
"And what about attacking Iran?," I asked. "Surely the Administration is not that lunatic."
"Well, you and I thought much the same before Bush launched 'shock&awe' in 2003, didn't we? The U.S. and Israel and Brits are trying to provoke the Iranians into some sort of inflammatory military action, so that they can respond with overwhelming firepower. It's not outside the realm of possibility that the Brits deliberately sent their sailors into Iranian waters in order to create an eventual causus belli. The Iranians, horribile dictu, seem to have taken the bait and are behaving as if they're hell-bent on provoking the U.S., E.U., U.N., Brits, Israelis, everyone into taking extreme sanction action against them, and likely military action as well. The U.S. response would probably be an intense bombing campaign to set back Iran's fledgling nuclear research and conventional arms-building programs for at least a decade or more. Some Russian military sources have even supplied a date for the coming attack: around April 6th.
"Giant games of chicken are being played out here. The U.S. is guessing that the Iranians will back off to avoid having their country's military/industrial infrastructure destroyed. The Iranians are betting that the U.S., its military stretched so thin in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere around the globe, won't dare attack it or, if those bombing raids come, won't be supported by America's usual allies.
"Either way, if the U.S. attacks, Iran becomes a popular martyr in the Greater Middle East, the one nation that stood up to the big American bully and its one ally in the region, Israel. And there may be immense ramifications inside Iraq as well: the majority Shia population could well rise up en masse against the American occupiers to help defend Shia Iran.
"Yes, you would think that not even the CheneyBush Administration would be crazy enough to launch yet another war, when Afghanistan is re-exploding and Iraq is an ongoing disaster. But Bush probably would go for it, hoping that the American public would rally behind the 'commander-in-chief' during 'wartime,' giving him enough political wiggle room to avoid the impeachment noose dangling over his head.
"It's going to be an extremely tense and interesting next few months. I'll see you down the line and let you know what it feels like from the inside of this Administration. Right now, it's just scary."
And with that, Shallow Throat jogged around the track and out the exit on the other side. I had to sit down, my knees were wobbling so much. #
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, who has had numerous conversations with "Shallow Throat" ( www.crisispapers.org/weinerpubs.htm#shallow) over the past five years, has taught at various universities, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment: crisispapers@comcast.net .
First published by The Crisis Papers 4/2/07. www.crisispapers.org/essays7w/chicken.htm
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
We've seen privatized military with non-American forces, we've seen the outsourcing of jobs -- it's all been for practice: the next big thing is Halliburton buying the electorial process -- no bid, of course. I don't mean machines -- I mean they are outsourcing the election to India. Americans hate having to go out and vote, and next election they won't have to: the whole think will be done in India, by phone vote. The Indian phone banks will just call up the election boards and give them the results of what the polls in India were, and the American voters can spend their time shopping.
What the Republicans don't realize yet is that it's a globalized operation: the front runner for U.S. president so far is Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (the current Indian veep), and new members of the House will all be from Dubai. Senatorial candidates are being recruited from Israel.
It'll work out fine: the American people won't even notice the difference.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 11:31:03 PM
Looks like you read my mind and my articles before you wrote yours; but that's alright, I forgive you.
What scares the hell out of me is the propensity to (mindless) active anti-Semitism on the part of just about everybody when they're unhappy with themselves. Add to this the collusion with the Neocon mirror image, the Israeli leadership, and you can become wobbly again.
You've again proven the validity of the PPP (Posner's Pessimistic Premise) which holds that in the presence of a situation in which the pieces fit, albeit loosely, something not quite right, a piece missing--just think of the most degrading, cynical morally outrageous, depraved, and simplistic explanation, because it's the right one.
In a parallel universe, the Israeli (read corrupt) leadership is on the horns of a similar dilemma. At the same time, the history of blind trust and passivity that has brought the Israeli people down from proud winners in 1967 to what they have become, could explode into a general anarchy with an Arab attack, with the very real possibility of the use of nuclear weapons.
Moving metaphor into reality, it could be said that everyone has their head in the sand.
by
Moss David Posner, M.D. (7 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments)
on Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 2:24:13 AM
2 comments
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