Cheney is pure Nixonian but with out the intellect. He's getting played and doesn't care. All he wants is power. Of course as reality has pointed out once he gets it the man is a bigger screwup than Bush.
Posted by Daryl at February 26, 2007 09:10 AMThe Media won't do anything. The Democratic Congress needs to haul her majesty Condi Rice into a hearing and ask her to explain exactly what's happening over there. Then call Gates in and ask him why we aren't bombing the nuke program in Pakistan so it won't fall into the hands of Al Queda if (1) Musharraf aligns with them or (2) Musharraf is overthrown.
Posted by T2 at February 26, 2007 09:14 AMThe MSM is hopeless; clueless; without reason to exist beyond functioning as a propaganda conduit for the Bush junta.
Posted by Christopher at February 26, 2007 10:03 AMJust got done reading Sy Hersh's article. Very long indeed, and as you point out, much of it is repetitive. I guess he really wanted to set the scene with the entire narrative, but as you say it's obvious that the juicy tidbit is the Iran-Contra parallel.
It does bring up an interesting question, however - as ThinkProgress notes in the interview with Wolf Blitzer, Hersh mentions there will be Congressional hearings on this. Well, okay, then what? If there's enough evidence to corroborate this scheme, will the Dems. have yet another reason to give Dubya the treason anvil and impeach his ass? Or will they once again cower down to compromise?
What the fuck will it take?
Posted by MisterOpus1 at February 26, 2007 03:25 PMChrist, Steve! Do you really think there is "a foreign policy driven by Saudi Arabia and Israel"? SA sheiks are pragmatic but not to the point where their position would be jeopardise by an alliance with what is considered to be a mortal enemy by their public. The chances of SA and Israel having a unified policy are about the same as Hillary Clinton and Lynne Cheney being lovers.
Let's recognize that the influence flows in the opposite direction. Sure, Cheney is a pawn, a finger man, really. But what is behind him is not Israel or some Saudi prince. You have to look at some of the far more nefarious characters that have been running the US economy. If you have any doubts, consider that it was the US that told Israel to step away from negotiations with Syria--the possibility of reduction in conflict in the Middle East was just too scary for this cabal. Before 1991, Iran and Iraq were fairly balanced militarily. Both suffered immense casualties during their war, which was spurred on by... the US. Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest of the Kissengerian (not Nixonian--not that Kissinger and Nixon were not pawns as well, but Nixon blew it) bunch were playing both sides.
What do you think they are doing now? Bankrolling Israel and Saudi Arabia? (Yes, money going TO SA, not FROM it!) Pitting Sunni rebels in Iran and Lebanese militias against Hezbollah? Just more fuel to the fire! The fact that this also fuels the conflict in Iraq and gets American soldiers caught in the crossfire is incidental. Soldiers are just a commodity, a statistic. Their deaths are a matter of accounting, not morality. Why else would Haliburton be running empty trucks across Iraq as bait?
Israel is a pawn. If one day some Israeli government wakes up and decides to break free of this insane, self-destructive policy, it will soon find itself outvoted and purged. There are always more hawks standing in the wings (no pun intended). And should anyone seriously start thinking about peace, you can bet your bottom dollar that the US expats commonly referred to as "settlers" will stir up the pot, kill a few Palestinians, then demand the government to protect them from backlash.
Remember the $10 billion cash that has gone missing from Iraq? Missing? Really?
Or did it go to bankrolling some of the same insurgents on whom we now spend more of the US GDP? Never mind that the weapons allegedly supplied by Iran were more likely to have been US-manufactured munitions modified by the "insurgents" for their purposes.
Steve, I know you've been angry at Israel for a long time. Israel makes for an easy target to blame for horrific US foreign policy. I don't know if you really believe in this imperialist connection or if you secretly harbor the same prejudices as Pat Buchanan and suspect a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. It doesn't matter. Your venom is misguided. The culprits are far closer to home and they are not "the Jews". They are not the Saudis either.
Ask yourself, who put Cheney in charge? Who selected Mitch McConnell to replace the idiots that ran Congress before him (Delay, Hastert, Frist)? And who put those very idiots in charge to begin with, guaranteeing the do-nothing Congress? Think about it--what sector has had record-breaking profits since the Texas bust in the late 1980s? It's not the Saudis, but it's someone close to them. Who profits from many little wars, from perpetual global conflicts? It's not the industries that build economies, but the ones that destroy them.
Syriana was a joke compared to what's really going on. The French and the Russian revolutionaries had the right idea--they just went after the wrong people.
Posted by buck turgidson at February 26, 2007 07:36 PM