| "Shallow Throat" Advises Democrats to Bring It
On Big-Time
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers OpEdNews.com
With the Bush Administration in imploding disarray,
frantically scrambling for ways out of its WMD scandal, I set the code for
alerting "Shallow Throat" that I wanted to talk. I was anxious
to learn, from inside the belly of the beast, how bad the situation was
for the Bush forces and what we in the opposition could do to make
it worse. (The former, high-ranking Republican mole in the White House*
had moved on to another government agency, but still had friends on the
inside.)
Shallow Throat appeared for our rendezvous, at a park
bench in a D.C. suburb, wearing a wig, wide-brimmed hat and wraparound
dark glasses that I hadn't seen before. We ate our deli sandwiches while
we chatted.
"You've certainly got their knickers in a
twist," said ST, with a huge grin. "What's happened is that the
patina of invincibility has suddenly disappeared from Rove and his
minions. Everyone in the White House realizes they've bungled this one
badly, and they're struggling for how to play it to lessen the political
fallout. And so we all get to watch the laughable farce as a new line is
trotted out each day, to see what will work best. So far, nothing has
worked at all -- Bush is psychologically incapable of accepting
responsibility, for anything, so now the Dems are sharpening their knives.
"Oh, much of the larger public seems almost as
confused and apathetic as always -- although the public-opinion polls are
beginning to show a slide for Bush in believability and support for the
Iraq war -- but that's not the class that counts in this town. There's
blood in the water, and the political and media sharks are circling. With
their arrogant self-righteousness, the Bushies have made a lot of enemies
in two-plus years -- including among my traditional conservative friends
-- and, if the Bush juggernaut continues to be seriously weakened, it's
going to be payback time. So tell your friends to keep bringing it on; the
assault is working: The Bush Administration is finally having to use a
good share of its energies and time on defense instead of being able to
focus totally on offense."
"I'd guess," I offerred, "that the
Administration's biggest blunder to date was to try to dump all the WMD
scandal blame onto the CIA."
"The spooks in Langley are not appreciative of that
sort of political gamesmanship, and they are masters of the controlled
leak, and so all sorts of other Bush Administration skullduggery is
starting to, or is about to, surface -- in much the same way as a
'third-rate burglary' at the Watergate Apartments led to the real,
under-the-rock slime of the Nixon Administration. You don't want to get
the CIA ticked off; unlike many of your liberal friends, the spooks know
how to play for keeps, and they enjoy the sport.
"But it's a larger issue, and here's where the Bush
people are so vulnerable. Given that their bullyboy, in-your-face attitude
had worked so well, in their hubris they really thought they could do and
say anything and get away with it forever. So they told all sorts of
whoppers about why Iraq supposedly was an 'imminent' danger to the U.S.,
and grossly manipulated non-existent facts to generate pro-war hysteria in
time to meet the go-date for the bombing and invasion -- which, of course,
had been set a half-year before. All of that was so blatant and obvious,
it was no wonder millions of protesters took to the streets, and the
European leaders and the U.N. would have nothing to do with the Bush
Administration and even shouted at them in public."
"But," I said, "even though the Bushies
always had gotten away with such behavior before, didn't they suspect that
they might not get away with it this time, given the stakes
involved?"
"The short answer is no. For people like Cheney and
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Perle and so on -- the true-believer zealots --
they'd been on such an unimpeded roll for so long, and with the
conglomerate-owned mass-media covering their butts for them, why should it
ever end? Oh, a few were aware that the approach was risky -- Colin
Powell, for one, knew there was too much 'bullshit' intelligence, his word
not mine, being passed off as fact -- but figured that after the invasion,
the military might just find a whole lot of WMD to justify the war, and
make the lies moot.
"But nothing was found, zilch, nada. Even the two
trailers, which they claimed were proof of nefarious preparations for bio-chem
warfare, turned out to be British-sold vehicles for making weather-balloon
gas. And the stuff buried in the nuclear scientist's garden 12 years ago
just confirmed that there was no serious atomic development in the works.
"Now, just in case some actual or planted WMD turns
up in Iraq, it's vital that your Democrat and internet-writer friends need
to quit focusing only on those offending 16 words and to move on to the
larger point: Nothing that has been found to date, and probably nothing
that will be found, lends any credence to the Bush theory -- elaborated in
speech after speech for months before the State of the Union address --
that Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S. or U.K. or their neighbors.
Simply wasn't true.
"But there were Bush and Blair ranting about the
necessity to act immediately because Iraq could activate its bio-chemical
attack weapons in 45 minutes and have drone airplanes drop nuclear devices
on the U.S. mainland. And the supposedly 'close' ties between al-Qaida and
Iraq. It was ALL 'bullshit'! And they knew it, just as the Bush inner
circle knew al-Qaida was coming by planes to America in the Fall of 2001
and did nothing."
"You think Bush and Cheney and the rest are
vulnerable to impeachment?" I asked.
"It all depends on whether the Democrats and the
press and the whisleblowers keep the pressure on, keep releasing new juicy
tidbits of Bush Administration skullduggery. The GOP, at least the more
rabid elements, are circling the wagons around the White House, hoping to
cut off the attacks. You'll know the real answer to your question when
more Republican moderates, and then elements of the leadership, start
backing away and seek a meeting with Bush about the matter."
"You mean," I asked, "seek his
resignation before the impeachment stuff hits the fan?"
"Whoa, boy! We're nowhere near there yet. As I say,
it depends on a great number of factors: Whether Blair is forced to
resign, for example; whether the media keeps digging for more Bush and
Cheney dirt; whether the whistleblowers inside and outside the Agency keep
the embarrassing revelations coming, etc."
"But what if it continues to get worse and worser
for the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Perle cabal?"
Shallow Throat took a long swig of Snapple. "It's
like Watergate, in a way. Nixon was trapped, it was obvious to all that he
was going down, but he refused to resign until the impeachment train was
in the station, and it was then that the GOP leaders abandoned him and
sought a meeting. These Bush guys are not going to leave until impeachment
is staring them in the face -- and, even then, they're desperate and
greedy enough to be capable of anything, including trying to impose
martial law on the country and ruling from the bunkers, postponing the
2004 election, whatever.
"But my guess is that it will never come to that.
The forces that support the Bush extremists -- the GOP power-holders, the
giant corporations, the think-tank founders, the big-money guys, et al. --
will figure at some point that it's damage-control time and they'd better
have a back-up plan in order to continue their program, and to continue
their powerful role in making that program's policy. They'll find someone
who knows how to massage the system rather than wring its neck, who more
subtly can get them what they want."
"And what about Cheney?"
"Tenet probably will have to resign, now that he
loyally fell on his sword to take the blame away from Cheney and Bush and
Rice and Rumsfeld. But Cheney is expendable, too, if it comes to it.
Cheney might just have another heart 'episode,' and, for 'health reasons,'
he could resign. But don't look for that to happen overnight, or at all.
These guys are ruthless survivors. Cheney will leave, if he does, so that
the program can continue -- just like Lyndon Johnson chose not to run
again, so the Vietnam War could continue.
"And, by the way, the Bush people are incompetents
-- but that's another story."
"Don't just teasingly drop that in. I want to hear
that story," I said.
"They're so locked into their ideological box that
they don't receive the more complex, real-world information they need to
make wise decisions. The White House aides follow their boss in their lack
of curiosity about the world outside their little fiefdoms. Don't bother
them with facts, their minds are made up, that sort of thing.
"So, for example, they ignored what actually was
happenng inside Iraq and listened mostly to what the Iraqi exile leaders
were telling them -- basically whatever they figured the Bushies wanted to
hear -- and assumed it would all go down like Chalabi and his followers
said. The result was that there were no firm plans for an occupation by
arms after Saddam was defeated, since everyone would want to cooperate
with the Americans, after first kissing their feet and throwing rose
petals on their heads.
"And now these exiles, many of whom haven't the
foggiest notion what's really happening inside the country, dominate the
new Governing Council of Iraq. And the Americans are surprised that a
great many Iraqis consider these Council members to be collaborators with
the Americans. Every member was appointed by the occupying power --
terrified to permit Iraqis to vote for their own interim government.
"You can smell Vietnam all over Iraq. The U.S., too
stupid and stubborn to admit it's made a bad mistake, not really
understanding the layers of the culture in which they find themselves, is
going to be bogged down there forever, fighting Iraqi guerrillas and
calling for yes another 50,000 and then another 100,000 troops but we're
winning the hearts and minds of the natives don't worry the boys will be
home by Christmas now don't that sound familiar?"
"But they claim they're getting a number of nations
to come help them out, so that the American troops can head back
home?"
Shallow Throat gave me a look like I was a total
dumbbell, then said: "Look, my friend. Before the war started, the
Bush Administration humiliated and bullied countries that should have
been, and could have been, their allies in the first place. But that would
have meant sharing some power, and the Project for the New American
Century ideologues that control military policy in the Bush
Administration, who drew up the Iraq war doctrine and the strategy for
'benevolent global hegemony' -- yep, they really called it that -- could
not permit any other country or international body to have a piece of the
action.
"The unilateral cowboys went off and had their
nice, quick little war, but now are paying a huge price in blood and
treasure, and want the countries they'd insulted to come help them play
occupier and hegemonist. No wonder few are signing up voluntarily, and
almost nobody is sending large contingents of troops.
"Let's see which countries placate the Giant
Elephant by sending a few troops, and which countries, like France and
India, politely tell the U.S. to take a long walk on a short pier. And now
that Bush and Blair are in the hot seat because of their gross lies to
bamboozle their citizenry into supporting an unnecessary war, you can
imagine that many countries will feel more emboldened to refuse the U.S.
request for peacekeeping troops."
"I'm getting the distinct impression," I said,
"that maybe you don't really like the Bush folks."
"If it weren't so tragic, it WOULD be funny,"
said ST. "But the consequences of their incompetence, mixed with
their ideological fanaticism, are absolutely tragic. Death and destruction
on massive scales for -- what? So that the world's only Superpower can
swagger around the globe like a coked-out macho-man, thirsty for more oil,
more power, more control, more of everything.? It's madness, and does
long-term damage to America, creating a fertile field for terrorism to
grow."
"Do you think that Bush&Co. can be defeated in
2004?"
"Sure, given some givens: That the 9/11 and WMD
coverups continue to unravel. That the economy continues to tank as the
deficits keep climbing to astronomical heights. That as popular social
programs get cut (Head Start, Medicare, Social Security, pollution
controls, etc.), and states keep going broke, with no funds to fix the
bridges and the roads and the schools. That the American people grow tired
of permanent war and body bags being shipped home. That someone discovers
how to make the computer-voting software tamperproof and with verifiable
paper trails. And on and on.
"The short answer is yes, because the Rove
in-your-face approach works only as long as people are afraid of you; when
they stand up and tell you to go to hell, the foundations holding up that
deck of cards will topple and down will come baby, cradle and all. If they
haven't resigned or been impeached by November of 2004, the Bush forces
may well lose the election, provided, of course, that the Democrats put up
someone who isn't afraid to speak truth to power but who also is able to
mobilize not only the activist Democratic base but also can reach out to
middle-class, middle-of-the-road type voters.
"If my Republican conservative friends and
colleagues are examples -- just itching to feel secure but not with
reckless crazies in charge -- the Democrat could win a fair
election."
"Any final thoughts to pass on?" I asked.
"Just this: Like most bullies, the Bushies are
insecure. Confront them with the facts, put them on the defensive, keep
attacking their weak spots, don't let up, bring it on. You can win. And
when you win, we all win -- the country, the nervous world, the
Constitution. Now get to work."
And with that, Shallow Throat, from 10 feet out, flung a
half-eaten sandwich into the dustbin, grinned, pulled the hat down, and
sauntered out of the park.
I found myself smiling, for the first time in a long
time.
Bernard Weiner, a playwright and poet, was the San
Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for 16 years, and now co-edits the
progressive political website The Crisis Papers ( www.crisispapers.org
). *For other conversations with the Shallow Throat character, go to: www.crisispapers.org/weinerpubs.htm
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