William K. Wolfrum

Here is a given: George W. Bush and the neocon dream team building his foreign policy could truly care less about terrorists.

Because it’s quite easy to point at people like David Brooks and scoff at what an idiot he is and ponder how he manages to still get published. It’s just too easy, in fact. Which leads one to the conclusion that it’s blindingly obvious that fighting terrorism is the least of the neo-cons concerns. They are empire building, or at least, empire building as it goes for the year 2007. And the Kristols, Krauthammers and Brooks of the world could care less how they are perceived provided that their long-term goals are met. And they are being met.

However, there are many in the U.S. that believe an evil terrorist menace is coming to enslave us all unless we bog down our military in Iraq, then take over Iran and Syria, as well. These are Americans have such a stunted world view that they literally believe that Islamic extremists are mindless zombies. You know, the types that just chase after you at 1 mile per hour, arms outstretched, chanting “Shaaarrriiiaaa Laaaaw, Shaaarrriiiaaa Laaaaw.”

This is what many Americans think we’re fighting. Literally. There are Americans out there that believe the vast majority of all Muslims are subhuman animals, who only care of enslaving and murdering. And that we should not care how many of them we kill or displace, because - as the cartoon above shows - they are cockroaches.

Basically, many Americans have been pulled in by one of the oldest tricks in the book - the dehumanizing of a different culture. It’s a ploy that always seems to work, and we actually have perfect recent examples of it from Nazi Germany and Rwanda. But history is ignored, and right now, there are millions of Americans who have gladly accepted the dehumanization of Muslims as preached by politicians and the media.

And while the majority of Americans haven’t fallen for this despicable ploy, enough have to give those in charge of the U.S. the green light to kill as many Muslims as they need in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, or wherever else so that they can continue their plan of building an American empire and bending the world to U.S. might.

More Sunday reading

– Frank Rich: As the Iraqis Stand Down, We’ll Stand Up.

– Bartcop: We Are Going To Hit Iran…Bigtime.

– Glenn Greenwald: The DC Establishment versus American public opinion.

– Finally, if you haven’t seen Robert Greenwald’s clip of Rudy Giuliani’s putting the emergency command center in WTC 7, watch it below. If I’m a candidate in a debate against ol’ Mayor Rudy, this is the only thing I talk about, regardless of the question. This issue alone shows Giuliani’s true character.

–WKW

When I was a younger man, a boy really, I inflated my every accomplishment - which were in fact quite few. I was quick to brag about anything positive in my life, and gladly exaggerate to shine a brighter light on myself. To be viewed as more than I was.

At 40, I have grown up to a point, and look back and see how ridiculous I was. And while I feel a slight sense of unease at who I was, I have the confidence of knowing I’m likely not the only one who has made this journey.

But I can say with complete confidence that the President of the United States has not made this trek. And his childlike ego, which couldn’t resist being stroked in a new biography, is showcasing how easily he can lie, even about the grandest of decisions, and even to the noblest of people.

President George W. Bush, from the book “Dead Certain”:

“Yeah, I can’t remember, I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’” But, he added, “Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff,” referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser.

“State of Denial” Page 196:

Bremer huddled in a tiny office in the Republican Palace with four of his aides: Scott Carpenter from State, whom Liz Cheney had put in charge of the Iraqi governance issue; Meghan O’Sullivan, the State Department official who had come over to Garner’s team with Tom Warrick, only to be chased out by Cheney’s office and sneaked back in with the tacit approval of Rumsfeld and Hadley; Ryan Crocker of the State Department; and Roman Martinez, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who had worked with Feith at the Pentagon. Each of the five had a copy of the de-Baathification order.

“The White House, DOD, and State all signed off on this,” Bremer said. So let’s give it one final reading and, unless there’s some major screwup in the language, I’ll sign it.”

The next morning, May 16, Bremer signed the de-Baathification order. Later that day, he wrote in his book, he e-mailed his wife back home in the United States, as he tried to do each day, to tell her about the response he’d heard from Americans on the ground. “There was a sea of bitching and moaning with lots of them saying how hard it was going to be. I reminded them that the president’s guidance is clear: de-Baathification will be carried out even if at a cost to administrative efficiency. An ungood time was had by all.”

N.Y Times, Sept. 4, 2007:

A previously undisclosed exchange of letters shows that President Bush was told in advance by his top Iraq envoy in May 2003 of a plan to “dissolve Saddam’s military and intelligence structures,” a plan that the envoy, L. Paul Bremer, said referred to dismantling the Iraqi Army.

Mr. Bremer provided the letters to The New York Times on Monday after reading that Mr. Bush was quoted in a new book as saying that American policy had been “to keep the army intact” but that it “didn’t happen.”

The dismantling of the Iraqi Army in the aftermath of the American invasion is now widely regarded as a mistake that stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed and attacks by insurgents. In releasing the letters, Mr. Bremer said he wanted to refute the suggestion in Mr. Bush’s comment that Mr. Bremer had acted to disband the army without the knowledge and concurrence of the White House.

“We must make it clear to everyone that we mean business: that Saddam and the Baathists are finished,” Mr. Bremer wrote in a letter that was drafted on May 20, 2003, and sent to the president on May 22 through Donald H. Rumsfeld, then secretary of defense.

After recounting American efforts to remove members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein from civilian agencies, Mr. Bremer told Mr. Bush that he would “parallel this step with an even more robust measure” to dismantle the Iraq military.

One day later, Mr. Bush wrote back a short thank you letter. “Your leadership is apparent,” the president wrote. “You have quickly made a positive and significant impact. You have my full support and confidence.”

Keith Olbermann, Countdown Special Comment, Sept. 4, 2007:

Finally tonight, a Special Comment about Mr. Bush’s trip, and his startling admission of the true motive for this war, which was revealed in his absence.

And so he is back from his annual surprise gratuitous photo-op in Iraq, and what a sorry spectacle it was.

But it was nothing compared to the spectacle of one unfiltered, unguarded, horrifying quotation in the new biography to which Mr. Bush has consented.

As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying — is lying… will be lying — about Iraq.

He presumably did not know, that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper’s book “Dead Certain.”

“I’m playing for October-November,” Mr. Bush said to Draper.

That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan.

Which is, to quote him: “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates, will be comfortable about sustaining a presence.”

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, “stay longer.”

And there it is, sir. We’ve caught you.

The President of the United States is a child. A lying, insecure child who will do and say anything to appear a success. It is why he speaks so fondly of a distant time in the future, when he’ll be viewed as a hero. That is how children and the perpetually immature think.

And yet this man-child, with ungodly military power at his disposal and without the ability to truly comprehend human suffering outside of his own, will continue his reckless plan of occupying Iraq, as plans to attack Iran are readied. All because no adult in the room will stand up to him.

–WKW

As Aug. 22, 2007 comes to an end, one thing is emphatically clear: This is the day that the President of the United States disrespected and spit on the memories of the nearly 60,000 U.S. troops that died in Vietnam - a war he, his vice-president, and nearly everyone involved in creating the Iraq occupation, dodged.

This is the day George W. Bush threw Vietnam veterans under the bus, make no mistake. Not satisfied with allowing them to be used as political pawns by the U.S. government decades earlier, the President went out of his way to use those that fought in Vietnam, their families, and the millions killed in that war as political pawns yet again. He took history and altered it wildly to fit his agenda. To fit his sick ideology.

Today, a man who lacked the courage to fight, who has been a failure at all he has done, who is personally responsible for 4,000 dead Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, used Vietnam veterans as a prop to scare America into continuing his horrifyingly failed “War on Terror.” A War on Terror that amounts to little more than attacking a nation that hadn’t attacked us, and taking away the civil rights of his own people, while allowing terrorist organizations to grow stronger.

Aug. 22, 2007. The day George W. Bush, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proved to the entire world that he is a cowardly, despicable failure. On Aug. 22, 2007, the true character of the President of the United States was on display for all to see. And it was a chilling, horrible and pathetic thing to see. And if we allow this childish, stupid man to attack Iran, we are all just as pathetic as he.

–WKW

Not long ago, while speaking about the Iraq Occupation, a relative told me, in all sincerity, that the U.S. could no longer afford to be isolationist. I shrugged. Because that’s what I do now when talking politics with any family that’s not my wife. I shrug. And then steer the conversation to sports.

The U.S. has virtually never been isolationist in any real sense of the word. We are a dangerous, aggressive nation that has slaughtered millions and millions in the name of democracy, freedom, liberty, or whichever catch-phrase worked best at the time. But mainly, we are an empire. And we will kill any that stand in the way of our imperial goals.

And there is no error when I write “we.” Because We the People have allowed this to happen. We lost control of our government. We allowed the United States to define itself as a nation of international murders and terrorists. We have stood to the side and even applauded as our nation has attacked country after country.

And while there are plenty that protest America’s overt acts of aggression, there obviously just aren’t enough. And there isn’t enough passion in it. Because the voices for peace are easily drowned out by a government and media that believes we are a nation entitled to kill anyone, anywhere, for whatever reason, and whether those reasons are truthful or not.

Think of it - the Democratic Party allowed itself to be insulted as the party that was “weak on defense.” So now, Democratic candidates talk of how they would bring war to others, and the weapons they would use. The “weak on defense” bait has been so easily swallowed, even though the United States is anything but defensive. We are an offensive juggernaut.

And it appears obvious that soon that offense will be unleashed on Iran. And many more innocents will die. And many more will grow to hate America. And the cycle will continue. Because Americans will continue to allow it. And because our leaders - for whom the word “diplomacy” is spoken with disdain and anger - know of no other way.

And if you look clearly, you will see that the government truly believes it is doing the will of the people. We the People allowed the Neoconservative takeover of our nation. And they are no fluke. They are the natural progression of things. After eons and eons of American military involvement everywhere from Panama to Palestine, we have become a people at ease with our nation’s murderous plans. The endless bursting of bombs in our name have drowned out peace, and We the People have no idea what a world without American aggression sounds like. Murder has become white noise.

Even speaking of using nuclear weapons is no longer taboo. Imagine that. Discussion of a preemptive nuclear strike on a sovereign nation is now considered serious foreign diplomacy. And those in charge see this all as validation and are able to strut about with murderous hubris. Their hunger for a militarized free-market empire is endless. We are gluttons for war and the Middle East is a virtual buffet of targets.

It’s gotten increasingly difficult to imagine those currently in charge resisting the opening to launch a first-strike attack on Iran. Followed by a draft. Followed by more war. Followed by a war economy. Followed by more war. Serial killers don’t slow down until they are forced to stop, after all. And with military bases dotting the globe, a public and world unwilling to stop them, things will continue on their obvious path. The U.S. has the largest military in the history of the planet and will continue to use it and refuse to allow the world to know peace. And We are all culpable.

The U.S. is an aggressive, warring nation. And unless something dramatic happens, and We the People force those in charge to give up the belief that the U.S. has a divine right to rain death on any nation we so please, things are going to get much worse. And soon.

–WKW

Remember when Mark Halperin damn near fellated Hugh Hewitt on the air in a desperate attempt to prove that he was no liberal?

Well, now it’s CNN’s turn to try to prove to the right that they are really on their side. CNN just released a 4,000-word debunking of Michael Moore’s debunking of their debunking of his film “Sicko”.

Ezra Klein does a great job of looking into why CNN, and a host of other mainstream media organizations, will go to literally absurd lengths to try and check every last fact Moore presented in “Sicko” while ignoring the endless barrage of fallacies they air day after day.

Maybe if these mainstream media types were as incredulous towards the powerful as they are to Moore, his productions wouldn’t pose a threat. After all, there’s nothing wrong with fact-checking, and asking hard questions, and raising an oppositional eyebrow towards pabulum and propaganda. The problem isn’t that the media is so quick to doubt Moore. It’s that they’re so trusting the rest of the time.

Where CNN really misses the point, like Halperin did is that they will never be considered anything other than radically liberal by fringe authoritarians like Hewitt and the those at National Review. When you are that far right, the middle disappears entirely. You are either with them, or against them, facts and reality be damned.

Plus, for CNN, they need to realize that if they can run Glenn Beck every single day without any type of fact-checking of any type, then they are in no position to check anyone else’s facts. On anything. Ever.

–WKW

Welcome to the United States of America, the world’s greatest bastion of freedom. We value freedom of speech beyond anything else!

Unless you’re an athlete, then it could hurt your endorsement deals. So it’s best if you just kept quiet.

And if you aren’t the current favorite in an election that’s 18 months away, you should just keep your mouth shut.

And face it, actors are narcissistic head cases, who should be ignored. As should musicians. Well, maybe a few musicians should speak up more often, but not many.

And filmmakers hate the country anyway, so they can be ignored and trivialized.

And bloggers are all a bunch of partisan idiots who are both fringe and need to be reined in.

And no one really listens to the American people anymore. They’re a bunch of idiots who couldn’t find Kansas on a map.

Enjoy your freedom of speech, though. It’s what America is all about.

–WKW

Late in his film “Sicko”, filmmaker Michael Moore asks a question about himself and his fellow Americans:

“Who are we?”

It is a question with many answers, and more and more, those answers are frightening. We are a nation that spends $12 billion monthly on a war that the vast majority consider a worthless, stupid exercise, yet one man can stubbornly keep the money, and blood flowing. And while spending that money to help create a fractured Iraq, members of the media can somehow connect healing people with terrorism, because it advances their ideology of killing rather than healing.

Who are we?

(more…)

When the “anthrax attacks” came not long after 9/11, I was living in an apartment in Southern California. I went out one day to get my mail and saw a neighbor, wearing surgical gloves, trying to get her mail from her box. She was shaking and crying.

“I’m so afraid,” she said.

Five years later, a delusional president clings to the fear he helped instill into that woman. And he attempts, whenever possible, to continue to add to that fear. Because the leaders of the U.S. only care about one feeling as far as the public goes - fear.

Because as far as the occupation on Iraq goes, Bush and his PNACian overlords flat out mock the will of the American people.

From the AP:

… Bush said: “I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, ‘Get out, you know, it’s just not worth it. Let’s just leave.’ I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well.'’

However, in a poll released Friday by CBS and The New York Times, 63 percent supported a troop withdrawal timetable of sometime next year. Another poll earlier this month from USA Today and Gallup found 59 percent backing a withdrawal deadline that the U.S. should stick to no matter what’s happening in Iraq.

Bush aides say poll questions are asked so many ways, and often so imprecisely, that it is impossible to conclude that most Americans really want to get out. Failure, Bush says, is not what the public wants - they just don’t fully understand that that is just what they will get if troops are pulled out before the Iraqi government is capable of keeping the country stable.

So as Bush looks at the will of the American public and flatly denies it, he and his party crank up the fear machine again to hopefully paralyze the public. Just one look at the recent Republican debate should be enough to show anyone that fear has an established place on the GOP platform. And we should be in for 16 months of terror as the 2008 elections loom in the distance.

“They viciously attacked us before we went to Iraq, and they’ve been attacking ever since. They are a threat to your children, David,” said Bush.

“America will be safer with a Republican president,” said Rudy Giuliani.

“The terrorists know what they want and they will stop at nothing to get it. By force and intimidation, they seek to impose a dictatorship of fear, under which every man, woman, and child lives in total obedience to their ideology. Their ultimate goal is to establish a totalitarian empire, a caliphate, with Baghdad as its capital. They view the world as a battlefield and they yearn to hit us again. And now they have chosen to make Iraq the central front in their war against civilization,” said Dick Cheney.

Since 9/11, President Bush has asked just two things from the American public:

1) To shop.
2) To be afraid.

Those who try and bend their opponents’ will by fear are not leaders. They are, by definition, terrorists. They know what they want and they will stop at nothing to get it.

But they won’t, provided we’re not afraid.

–WKW

For the past five years, Memorial Day consistently causes many mixed feelings. It is a day to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. And there is no confusion over the fact that the memories of these fallen soldiers are to be honored.

It is our own behavior that Memorial Day shines a light on. And Memorial Day should now be as much a day to apologize as a day to honor. A day for the U.S. citizens, all of us, to apologize for using our military so haphazardly and ineffectively, and treating them with such disrespect. We underfund them, send them into unwinnable situations, and treat the wounded with near malice.

On Memorial Day we honor the fallen. And next year we’ll honor even more that have made the ultimate sacrifice. And we’ll need to apologize again.

Suggested Memorial Day reading:

–WKW

All it will take is one incident. A terrorist attack on a major city. A tornado wiping out some coastline. Just one incident. And we will be living in an entirely different world.

When the documents “National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51″ and “Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20″ were released, it gave President George W. Bush responsibility “for ensuring constitutional government” in the case of catastrophic attack.

“It defines a ‘catastrophic emergency’ as ‘any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function,’ ” wrote Matthew Rothschild for The Progressive.

Among the efforts coordinated by the President would ensuring the capability of the three branches of government to “provide for orderly succession” and “appropriate transition of leadership.”

The document designates a National Continuity Coordinator, who would be the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

Currently holding that post is Frances Fragos Townsend.

She is required to develop a National Continuity Implementation Plan and submit it within 90 days.

As part of that plan, she is not only to devise procedures for the Executive Branch but also give guidance to “state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure.”

The secretary of Homeland Security is also directed to develop planning guidance for “private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators,” as well as state, local, territorial, and tribal governments.

“I guess the obvious question here is why this directive is necessary if the president doesn’t intend to usurp real power from the other two branches of government, because it certainly sounds like what’s being suggested is a coup that keeps a pretty façade of constitutional government,” wrote Melissa McEwan on the subject.

One incident. Look how the U.S. has changed fundamentally since 9/11. We are a nation that treats the Constitution with scorn, despises rule of law, spies on its citizens, condones torture and denies habeas corpus, among other things.

Our leaders quickly ushered in clamps on civil liberties and geared up the war machine for their own purposes as the dust from 9/11 was still settling. More than five years later, with a failure of historical proportions going on in Iraq, President Bush looked at the American public and again invoked 9/11. And again. And again. After gaining the war funding he wanted from an impotent Congress, the President looked at the nation and told them to be afraid.

And nearly six years after the fact, the Patriot Act still remains. And we’re still being spied on. And they have more plans on deck for the next attack.

Just one incident and it all changes even more. Shout “panic” if you will, but there’s nothing panicky about looking to history as a guide. The U.S. is a fundamentally changed nation since 9/11. And they have plans to change it even more. It will just take one incident.

–WKW