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DETROIT -- We are living under a regime that has made war and torture
highly profitable for a handful of scummy corporations and individuals.
That's the way the Busheviks like doing business, keeping their
dirtiest deeds in the hands of for-profit surrogates.
Openness and accountability -- hallmarks of a free society -- have no
place in the mad project to sell and impose "freedom" in Iraq.
Desperate to drum up support for his horrible mistakes and refusal to
recognize his failed polices, President George Bush made a "major
policy" speech last Wednesday, outlining his strategy for "victory" in
Iraq.
The venue for his address was the United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md. For our rattled and insecure president, on not-so-secret
double-probation from the American public, traveling to cozy military
confines is like the "road trip" the Deltas in "Animal House" took to
duck their troubles and hide from their adversaries.
The military provides Bush with support for his policies and the
comfort and adulation he craves. Bush could look out at a sea of naval
uniforms and guaranteed applause to feed his insatiable ego and
reinforce his wounded machismo.
"Setting an artificial deadline would vindicate the terrorists' tactics
of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder and invite new
attacks on America," Bush told the midshipmen. Always the master of
straw man arguments and false choices, Bush is declaring that anyone
who advances an approach to the mess in Iraq that differs from his is
encouraging mass murders and atrocities. Nice.
Then, puffing his chest out, the man who made "bring 'em on" a battle
cry in Iraq, bellowed, "To all who wear the uniform, I make you this
pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins
so long as I am your commander in chief." The sailors cheered wildly as
their leader broke into that loathsome smirk.
Bush -- a moral and physical coward -- would never dare speak to a
randomly chosen audience of college students -- or, for that matter,
before any public forum. He cannot tolerate a challenge or accept
anything less than complete submission to his views.
In "Counterpunch," the political newsletter, Mike Whitney wrote, "It's
pathetic to see the world's most powerful man shunted into prearranged
venues so he can pitch his snake-oil to college-aged boys."
Whitney knows how our great leader covets these stilted events to boost
his delusions. "Bush loves the applause. He luxuriates in the warm glow
of human affection. In many ways, he is the consummate politician,
feeding his fragile ego with the ephemeral praise of complete
strangers. Too bad his only springboard to fame has been as bullhorn
for right-wing fanatics and warmongers. Now, he finds himself toddling
on a narrower and narrower ledge, peering down into the abyss of defeat
and disgrace."
Our "huckster in chief" successfully lied to get us into war. He's now
lying about "progress" in Iraq, success in quelling the insurrection,
and the Iraqi army's ability to take over security and pacify the
nation. In order to preach this nonsense, Bush always surrounds himself
with people who consider truth the same way the wicked witch viewed
water.
Vice President Dick Cheney, the Lord of the Lies, has returned to his
bunker after brief outside duty denouncing congressional war critics
and doing some Republican fund-raisers. Cheney is hearing the footsteps
of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is onto his serial
deceptions and the pivotal role he played in outing CIA officer Valerie
Plame. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's deputy says Cheney was
and remains the guiding force in fostering torture at U.S.-run
detention camps in Cuba and elsewhere.
"There is no question in my mind that we did. There is no question in
my mind that we may still be doing it," retired U.S. Army Col. Larry
Wilkerson told CNN's "Late Edition" regarding the use of torture.
Wilkerson -- speaking the truths his former boss knows, but is keeping
to himself for now -- says Cheney provided the "philosophical guidance"
and "flexibility" that led to the systematic torture of detainees at
U.S.-operated facilities. Wilkerson says Cheney's torture "implementer"
is "Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."
Field Marshal Rumsfeld, who once told us he knew "exactly" where to
find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, now is the
self-declared authority on the words of war.
Our secretary of defense thinks better semantics will change the course
of the war. Stop calling those bad guys "insurgents," Rummy warns us.
"That gives them greater legitimacy than they seem to merit." So what
should we call these extremist enemies?
Rummy had a vision. Let's call them, he beseeches us, "enemies of the
legitimate Iraqi government." The acronym ELIG might fly. In what's
left of Fallujah, I can just hear the locals yelling, "The ELIGs are
coming! The ELIGs are coming!" In fact, what they most fear are the
white phosphorus artillery attacks.
Rumsfeld tried this summer to rename the war on terror the "global
struggle against violent extremists." That semantic shuffle lasted
about one week. The Busheviks are third-rate rip-off artists, pirating
whatever they can from George Orwell's "Animal Farm." Years ago, Laura
read it to George. He couldn't stay awake for Orwell's "1984," but Karl
Rove gave him a summary.
The field marshal got into a little tiff with one of his generals last
week over the issue of what our troops should do when they encounter
torture in Iraq. The Busheviks insist that "we don't torture." Alas,
our allies in occupied Iraq find torture as irresistible as, well, Dick
Cheney does.
At a news conference last week, reporters asked Rumsfeld about U.S.
troops finding evidence that security police used an Iraqi Interior
Ministry jail as a torture chamber.
"Inhumane behavior is obviously worrisome," Rumsfeld said. Worrisome?
I'll say. When Saddam committed similar crimes, they were the
abominations of a "murderous dictator." They're just "worrisome" under
our watch.
Rummy fretted that the "allegations" were naughty, that better training
was needed, and that we must work more closely with "sovereign
officials" so Iraq doesn't do things that are "inconsistent with the
values of the international community." These words of wisdom from the
man who brought us Abu Ghraib and the detention camp at Guantanamo.
When American troops do encounter evidence of torture in Iraq, Rummy's
guidance is essentially, "Don't stop. Just tell." Gen. Peter Pace, the
newly appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was at the same
news conference and dared to offer radically different advice to his
troops. "It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service
member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene
and stop it."
Rumsfeld went into his super-squint mode and said to the general, "But
I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it;
it's to report it."
Without hesitation, Pace responded, "If they are physically present
when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation
to stop it."
With that single sentence spoken with honesty and professionalism, Pace
ended his military career. He is on his way out. He spoke the truth and
did so in public. The Busheviks never tolerate such disloyalty.
Bush's ever-loyal nanny, "Concealeezza" Rice, recently hinted that,
while publicly denouncing an "artificial deadline" for withdrawing
forces from Iraq, the administration is planning to dramatically slash
troop levels.
Rice told the Fox News Channel that the present 155,000 combat troops
will not be maintained "for very much longer" because the Iraqis are
getting so well trained and capable of countering the insurgency. Troop
levels will be whittled down based, not on the advice of commanders in
the field, but on the political commandment of the 2006 congressional
election. Secretary of State Rice is off to Europe this week, including
a visit to Romania, one of the reported sites for secret CIA-operated
prisons where private contractors torture suspected terrorists. Rice
will deny everything as she always does, and her skill at rambling
obfuscation will hypnotize her media cheerleaders.
Back at the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan will babble
and repeat Karl Rove's talking points. Iraq is the forefront in the war
on terror. We are partners in a great coalition to fight terror. We are
peace-loving, just, honest, forthright.
If you believe anything McClellan says, you are, by certain empirical
evidence, insane, irrational or both. I wouldn't trust McClellan to
tell us what day of the week it is. This hapless hack, because of his
constant public exposure, is the most thoroughly discredited of the
legion of liars who serve George W. Bush.
But with all those seasoned professional prevaricators on the payroll,
why are we contracting out for the services of private propaganda
outfits? The Busheviks have pumped tens of millions of taxpayer dollars
into shady public relations firms to help spread the big lies. Why? The
in-house liars are more than up for the task. The Pentagon is paying
the Lincoln Group $5 million to bribe Iraqi newspapers to print Bush
administration propaganda and pretend it's independently gathered news.
Lincoln is composed of politically connected, retired military types.
Lincoln took articles written by U.S. military "information operations"
troops, translated them into Arabic, and bought off Iraqi media people
to print the stories as "real news." The stories praised the work of
U.S. and Iraqi troops and trumpeted efforts to rebuild the war-torn
nation.
A military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, defended the
dissemination of Pentagon propaganda and its reliability. "We don't
lie. We don't need to lie," Lynch said, adding two more lies to the
story.
At the White House, McClellan feigned surprise, telling reporters, "We
are concerned about the reports. We have asked the Pentagon for more
information." You know damned well Rummy knew about this and approved
the bribe payments. "A free and independent press is critical to the
functioning of a democracy," Sen. John Warner, the Virginia Republican
and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said when he
learned about the dirty deals.
The Busheviks long ago dismissed Warner's old-fashioned notion of a
free press being important to democracy. They co-opted the mainstream
American media to sell the phony reasons for invading Iraq. Then they
kicked it up a notch and just bought off the Iraqi media to sell the
joys of the U.S. occupation.
The influence and information-peddling of the secretive Rendon Group
was exposed in a recent report in "Rolling Stone" magazine. The
Washington PR firm specializes in "perception management." The article
by James Bamford details how John Rendon single-handedly created the
Iraqi National Congress and its leader, convicted bank swindler Ahmed
Chalabi, who became a darling of Bush and the neocon warmongers.
Rendon rehabilitated the failed credibility of Iraqi defector Adan
Ihsan Saeed Al Haideri after he flunked a CIA polygraph exam. Al
Haideri claimed he knew about mobile biological weapons labs Saddam set
up all over Iraq.
His story was full of holes and the CIA declared him a useless liar. But Rendon found the lies useful and profitable.
Harry Truman once said, "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth
and they think it's hell." These are well-deserved hellish days for the
Busheviks.
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