BuzzFlash Got 15 of the Reasons Bush Invaded Iraq Right, But One Wrong
Note: This marks the fourteenth of 20 consecutive editorials BuzzFlash will be publishing through January 20th.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
Yes, sometimes we do get it wrong, but our March 17, 2003, editorial got 15 of the reasons Bush went to war with Iraq right. Actually, it's a few more than 15, but they aren't all numbered.
But what was the one point we got wrong?
Well, we ended the editorial with this paragraph:
In a just-published book about Karl Rove, "Bush's Brain," a Democratic political consultant is quoted as saying about the Bush Cartel: "They just picked a war they could win....It has to be the most evil political calculation in American history."
Obviously we were wrong about the evil cabal in the White House picking a war they could win. Well, actually, come to think of it, we weren't the ones who said it, but we did like the quote, so we'll take responsibility.
Now, wait a second, shouldn't Bush be taking the responsibility for 1) lying the nation into a war; and 2) declaring it "over" a few hundred American and countless Iraqi deaths ago?
Oh, don't get us going, just read one of our pre-Iraq War editorials, and you'll get the picture.
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Reposted from March 17, 2003
Endgame
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
It's the endgame of a mad, politically calculated war. From the beginning, everyone's agreed that Saddam Hussein is a bad man, almost a prototype for a villain in a James Bond Film.
But that's where the agreement stopped. The Bush Cartel, for a variety of politically and financially calculated reasons, decided that a war that could cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars was of strategic importance to its world domination game plan -- and to a second term for George W. Bush.
The corporate media -- for reasons of financial interest combined with sheer ineptitude -- enabled and facilitated a rush to war that was transparently self-serving for the Chickenhawks in the White House. The Democrats, as usual, allowed the Grand Hypocrisy Party (GHP) to define the issue in such a way that it marginalized any dissent. This despite the fact that the Bush Cartel brazenly used lies and shifting justifications to mask the real reasons for the war.
In the end, Bush is going to war for two reasons. First of all, the Iraq war offers him and his Vietnam service evading administration many political positives from their perspective, including (but not limited to):
1. The permanent war public relations strategy is, in large part, aimed at keeping any of the numerous Bush domestic disasters off of the political table. War supersedes even an economy down the tubes.
2. Keeping the threat of terror simmering on the burner through ginned up and meaningless terror alerts scares Americans into supporting Bush, because they seemingly have no option, since they believe they are under a constant terrorist threat. This leads to a sort of "Stockholm Syndrome" for the nation as a whole. Most Americans look to their psychological tormentor for protection from an outside threat perceived as the more serious of two evils.
3. A war in Iraq offers almost bottomless billion-dollar profiteering opportunities for Bush Cartel campaign contributors and Bush administration officials. Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, etc. are all set to reap big financial benefits from the destruction of the Iraq infrastructure. Blow the country up with bombs paid for by taxpayers -- and then use taxpayer dollars to pay campaign contributors and companies with connections to administration officials to rebuild it. A nice scam if you got a railroad car on the gravy train.
4. By using a brutal, thuggish "diplomacy" -- including threats, bribes and intimidation -- the Bush Cartel has alienated the populations of almost every nation in the world. It has managed to lure a few "leaders" into the alliance of the unwilling with a combination of inducements worthy of a crime family, but created a hostile reaction in almost every country. Why does the seemingly disastrous result actually benefit the Bush Cartel? Because they want to see the United Nations sink into the East River. They don't want anybody but the Bush Cartel Chickenhawks calling the international shots. Sayonara, U.N., and good riddance. That's what the Bush administration fanatics want -- and they are on the verge of achieving their goal.
5. Through the financial "inducements" the Bush administration has offered some nations to support the war, they have found an ingenious way to pay back campaign contributors. Take Poland, for instance. The Bush administration gives Poland six billion dollars in taxpayer money (which would be okay if it were for improving the lot of Polish citizens). What will Poland use the money for, according to a New York Times article? Why, to buy six billion dollars worth of fighter jets from Lockheed-Martin.
6. The assertion of raw, brute, power -- in the form of sophisticated killing war technology -- is meant to intimidate all of the nations of the world, not just our enemies. It is also meant to bully dissenters at home into submission. Since Democratic leaders usually cower when the Bush Cartel barks, it is, additionally, meant to scare them into "dazed and confused" passivity.
7. The conquest of Iraq will shore up a Middle East alliance with the Sharon government, with whom the Bush Cartel shares a common worldview. (The Sharon right wing government is, in this case, to be viewed as a distinct political entity. It is clear that Bush would not have cared a hoot about Israel if the Labor government were in power. Remember that the right wing in Israel killed Yitzhak Rabin, a man of peace. Sharon and Bush are two peas in a pod for whom war is peace.)
8. An attack on Iraq will almost surely be the catalyst for renewed terrorist attacks. After the next terrorist attack, the Bush Cartel will further dismantle the Constitution and move toward a Stalinist "KGB police powers" state of emergency with the likely passage of "Patriot II". It is the Bush Cartel's goal to incrementally seize power until it one day, unnoticed, crosses the line into a dictatorship rather than a democracy. (If you think this is some fringe conspiracy theory, think about the theft of election 2000, think about the 6 year attempt to find a way to impeach Bill Clinton. This is a clique that thinks God has chosen it to run America.)
9. A permanent war will pave the way for even larger Republican majorities in Congress. This will further consolidate a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. It will also mean an accelerated dismantling of government services and the removal of any separation between church and state.
10. The media will be even more in the pocket of the Bush Cartel, because war has become a form of media news entertainment. War increases print readership and television news viewership. War is "exciting." War is profitable for the news media.
11. The war will increase oil prices and give the second largest oil reserves to American and British oil companies, who financially support the Republican Party.
12. A permanent war will ensure that no one digs up the truth about the Bush administration's catastrophic failure to prevent 9/11, including an August 2001 briefing that warned Bush about terrorist hijackings. Bush did nothing in response to that briefing.
13. The religious right and Neo-Confederacy warrior culture will be energized to contribute more to the 2004 Bush election effort, as well as turn out at the polls.
14. There is nothing like a war to try out the latest mega-bombs and hi tech weapons. It's hard to find a place to target practice nowadays, let alone a whole country with real live people in it -- alive for the moment, anyway. And, of course, when bombs are blown up, more bombs are needed. They just happen to be manufactured by companies that contribute to the Bush Cartel election fund. And when more taxpayer money goes toward bombs and new military equipment, there is even less money for government services. Ah, yes, the perfect war for the extremist right wingers running our nation.
But what is the number one reason that the Bush Cartel will send our sons and daughters into War?
The number one reason is that it has no Plan "B."
As BuzzFlash noted in an earlier editorial entitled "Muscle Beach Party":
In the end the Bush Cartel is banking on making the kind of impression on the world that a thug makes with a baseball bat on a car.
It's all about image and firepower. It's how the playground bully establishes himself. Pick the weakest guy in the school -- the one nobody likes much anyway -- and beat the living daylights out of him. Keep all the kids nervous and on edge. Let them think that you are a little bit mad and might just beat up on them for the fun of it. Tell them that you will protect them from the gang that lives in the next neighborhood in return for their loyalty. Make an example of anyone who challenges your leadership by denouncing them and bloodying them up. Establish a system of stool pigeons. Rummage through lockers, at your will, for any signs of betrayal. Issue warnings from time-to-time about how you have information that the other gang has plans to rape your mothers and sisters, and lay waste to your homes -- and that is why you need to trust in the playground bully from your school, because he will protect your mothers and sisters from the gang that few have ever actually encountered.
It's governance by brazen muscle power, by unfailing commitment to picking a target to destroy as an example of your ruthlessness, and your will to use any means necessary to establish and preserve your leadership. And if your attack is successful, you will enjoy the spoils of war -- the second largest oil reserves in the world. This is all the better, because you double up your goal of displaying raw, harsh military power, by combining it with additional natural resources that reinforce your dominance. You will be sitting on top of the world, masters of the universe, controlling almost everything on the Monopoly board.
And to accomplish this goal, you never blink, you never apologize, you never let facts get in the way of your mission. You remain steadfast and focused. Getting distracted by truth and ethics is a sign of weakness. And weakness is something you can smell and feel in a man.
In a just-published book about Karl Rove, "Bush's Brain," a Democratic political consultant is quoted as saying about the Bush Cartel: "They just picked a war they could win....It has to be the most evil political calculation in American history."
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL