Ever since the pirates, flying the Skull and Bones flag of their Yale club, hijacked the US ship of state in late 2000, the American people have been hostages in a game of nuclear chicken. When he came into office, Bush chose to provoke a new cold war with Russia, in order to feed his friends and relatives in the military/nuclear/oil corporate beast, who need war in order to profit. Each country still has thousands of nuclear tipped warheads aimed at the other, on intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach their targets within hours. Many of the nuclear tipped missiles are on hair-trigger alert.
We the People, the civilian population of the US, are hostages. We have no air raid shelters, unlike Russian civilians, who have had them since WW II. The Chinese, the third nuclear power, now aligned with Russia, also reportedly have extensive underground shelters in case of nuclear attack. A nuclear attack against the US would find civilians to be helpless targets. The Department of Homeland Security has put no effort toward preparing We the People for any sort of attack, although our tax dollars are paying for the program. The money instead is going toward building detention centers and training local law enforcement and clergy how to control the cilvilian population which survives a nuclear attack. Of course, Bush and Cheney and their friends have underground complexes to live in while waiting out the period of maximum nuclear pollution.
When Bush took over the White House, the Cold War was dormant, if not dead. After meeting with Putin, Bush instituted a series of provocations to get it going again. First, he used the cover of 9-11 to pull out of the ABM treaty of 1972, between the USSR (now Russia) and the US, which put a cap on the nuclear arms race of the first cold war. This left him free to fund the Missile Defense system, an incredible boondoggle that doesn't work, but $63 billion has been spent so far. Now he wants to place antimissile missiles in Europe, close to the Russian border, a very provocative move, which has Russia already retaliating with nuclear armed flights.
In the spring of 2002. the Nuclear Posture Review asserted the right of the US to initiate nuclear strikes against another country which has no nukes, in clear violation of the 1970 NonProliferation Treaty. It is this doctrine which enables the US to threaten pre-emptive nuclear strikes against Iran, a country which insists it has no nuclear weapons program, and which was recently certified by the International Atomic Energy Commission as in compliance with their standards.
Congress has been bribed, blackmailed, coerced into going along with this warmongering program. They have, to their credit, held the line on funding mininukes, but most of the Bush military budget has been approved or even increased. In the wake of 911, Congress ceded its Constitutional power of declaring war to Bush, and even the current Democratic Congress has already given Bush permission to attack Iran, even with nuclear weapons.
The rhetoric about Iran's aggression is heating up, in a repeat of the march toward invading Iraq. No doubt many lies are being told, as they were prior to starting that hapless "war". Iran, however, unlike Saddam's Iraq, has many powerful allies, including Russia and China. It has a strong military in its own right, and also has the capability of projecting terrorist activities around the world, including in the US.
Bush and Cheney have their backs against the wall- see David Lindorff's excellent article "Beware the Wounded Beast" at
www.counterpunch.org/lindorff09052007. The whole world is watching their threats against Iran with horror, knowing that a nuclear strike can easily lead to a freeforall- WW III, with the civilians in the US being the most in jeopardy. The professional military in the US is also horrified, knowing that the armed forces have already been broken in Iraq, and can't handle opening another front. The American people are passive, either not realizing our danger, or too depressed and helpless to mobilize much opposition.
Those of us who have been blogging, marching, lobbying for peace for 4 years are exhausted and discouraged. We can't quit now- the stakes are too high. We should take comfort in knowing we've kept fascism at bay and have built a healthy movement for peace and justice in this country. Bush and Cheney are now piloting a sinking ship- they have no credibility left and the rats are leaving in droves- Rove, Gonzales, Snow. Much of the scare talk about Iran may be bluff, as they have no other option left if they are to hold onto power- their ultimate goal.
We need to focus people's attention on the imminent danger of nuclear war, and then concentrate on the obvious remedy- impeachment of the war criminals. We need to make the American people understand that we are hostages, and the pirates will sacrifice us if they feel it is in the interest of their power game. We have to stop them before they bomb Iran. Impeachment is the only answer.
In the name of the Prince of Peace, Carol Wolman
