In the shadow of the indictment, we forget what started the whole thing. The outing of an operative was the reason for the investigation, but the reason for the outing has been lost in the two-step shuffle of a Congress that is willing to dance with the devil. Lest we forget, the warmongers were all borrowed from Cold War, pre-Wall tactics. Something there is that doesn't love a wall. The enemy shifted like the sands in Iraq, but the tactics remain the same.
Humpty-Dumpty is falling. There are cracks in the shell, but so far we have hit up against hard-boiled rhetoric whose model is the dirty dozen. If the pieces ever really fall, there will be no kings with horses to repair the damage; for now, we have talking heads myopically trying to look inside the cracks.
The neos were lying in wait for their moment upon the stage. The curtain rose on 9-11 and now they're strutting and fretting. All lined up in position, the call of innocence from afar echoes in the chambers of Congress where the house of cards still stands. Osama got lost in the shuffle of shock and awe, traded for Saddam in a sleight of hand where the stakes were high and the die had been cast long before curtain call.
So the democratic base is splintered - should that be a surprise? The neos have been planning this culmination of their policies for two-three decades. What we are seeing is the result of careful planning. Too bad that kind of planning didn't go into Iraq for the post-invasion. Odd isn't it? The same folks who carefully planned for their climactic moment of superpower, forgot to plan for the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, a war they had been itching for, for more than ten years. Was the resulting chaos part of the larger plan? Was it really thought of as just a mere messy moment of democracy on the march? Or was it part and parcel of an overarching plan of chaos that would ultimately ensure the wealth of the oil magnates and contracting companies preemptively lined up to rebuild the country? Lining the pockets of Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, and other similarly connected contractors seems to have been the only real plan.
So with sticks and stones one by one their names were thrown in the eyes of a media umpire blinded by their mission of destruction. Like Santa's reindeer: from Ritter to Shinseki to Zinni and Beers, from O'Neill to Kay to ElBaradei and Clarke. Pelted and marginalized, they blended into the background like random noise. But the ire sparked by anyone who would dare to out the naked emperor inadvertently turned on itself when the Bushies got to Wilson. They hadn't anticipated the backlash; they thought this outing would be another picnic. The ants that showed up could always be stepped on. This time the red light started to blink, but hubris doesn't stop for lights. This blind administration that only sees black and white has turned the red light to yellow and is trying desperately to get it back to green. In the meantime, the detours shine the lights on side streets where the digging goes unnoticed and will be paved over like a Cold War coup.
The pins and flags and ribbons and stickers are worn out symbols of a White House bereft of everything but PR and marketing. You can fool some of the people some of the time " Isn't it about time? The polls seem to be turning around, but the headlines continue to reflect the corporate reign whose money is still on the fool on the Hill.
© Lynne Glasner 2005
Lynne Glasner is a freelance writer/editor based in New York City. She is the editor of Danny Schechter's book When News Lies (SelectBooks, Jan. 06). Her essays have appeared in OpEd News and Commondreams. She may be contacted at lyngla@rcn.com
