I've not posted a diary entry before, but this piece of information I found so frightening and depressing, I just had to put it out here. This is a bit like therapy for me: if I can share it with others, perhaps I won't experience quite
so much despair.
These quotes were from an interview with General Tommy Franks in Cigar Aficianado magazine (bleecch - it has to be in some manly-man magazine, doesn't it?).
He begins by praising President Al Caholic (a nod to Bart) thusly:
"As I look at President Bush, I think he will ultimately be judged as a man of extremely high character. A very thoughtful man, not having been appraised properly by those who would say he's not very smart. I find the contrary. I think he's very, very bright. And I suspect that he'll be judged as a man who led this country through a crease in history effectively. Probably we'll think of him in years to come as an American hero."
As if that thinking wasn't scary enough, here is where it becomes absolutely fucking terrifying: In addition, Franks warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it could mean, according to him, the end of the Constitution:
"...the potential of a weapon of mass destruction - [a] massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world - [even] in the United States of America - [may] cause our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important."
And I don't think I'm wrapping myself in the tinfoil when I say I strongly suspect that a contingency plan for just an event is probably already in place.
If and when this does occur? I'll become, what in some parts, is referred to as a "freedom fighter."
God help us.