We can quibble whether the Curveball Revelations mean anything today: that the Bush Administration was tricked into going to a war they didn't want by an Iraqi Patriot.
Or Dastardly Dick and Incurious George were desperate to move the American People to a place they didn't want to go: War. And would do anything to achieve their foul ends. WMDs, Mushroom Clouds, Yellow Cake, Mobile weapons laboratories, Hot tubs with Osama. Anything. Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.
To leave aside Afghanistan and American History in the Middle East for a moment, the Iraq War was the gateway drug to the global war against silliness we now fight. And it was based upon nothing but naked aggression by the United States of America – the highest international war crime.
And look at us now. The American People have struck the grand bargain with the War Criminals who mislead, misdirect and misuse the resources of a nation on crony building, profiteering and brutal domination. The Bargain is: Do What You Want Over There But Don't Bring the Battlefield Home. We have agreed to become the subjects of Empire. Our part of the bargain is to give in to a Surveillance/Nanny/Big Brother State where we have done what the fore-bearers warned – given over liberty for “safety.” We have agreed the power which runs American policy is out of the People's hands and we're just along for the ride even if that takes us down the road to perdition.
Because instead of investigating and holding accountable those who have moved the nation to its present circumstance – bankruptcy and degradation, a miasma of dark foreboding - we get only the bobby's voice “nothing to see, move along now, nothing to see, move along now, move along, there's an election coming up. Don't want any distractions. Anyway, Bush and Cheney aren't war criminals, they were lied to.”
To which I call bullshit. The American People do itself no credit by “just moving on” from a part of our history which has caused so much tragedy in the world. Generally, people try to separate a people from the actions of its government. Heavens, if people couldn't do that generally, I'd be locked up somewhere by now, my only crime my citizenship in a country perceived as a selfish bully across civilization. But's it's hard to separate the government from its people when the people remain silent for so long about its governments' reckless and criminal behavior. At what point do we the people become indistinguishable from our government? When good men do nothing...
The Occupy Movement helps our prestige somewhat and makes clear at least some Americans want accountability and an end to heartless economic injustice and selfish aggression.
But generally amongst the people, America's expanding wars in Africa, the Middle East and saber rattling in Asia are met with a bit of a yawn. Who are we fighting in Africa again? Who is the real threat to peace in the Middle East? Why are we running guns to Syrians but not Bahrainis? What was Libya really all about? Why are we still in Afghanistan? They lied to us about Iraq. What else were they capable of lying to us about? There was something fishy about Bush and Cheney.
It's easier just to shrug your shoulders and say, “Oops.” Bygones.
Because when we look at the root of our policies which our elected officials continue to embark, there is nothing noble, honorable or virtuous to be found. Our “War” is a fraud. We continue the language of 911 and chasing terrorists and liberating the oppressed and blah, blah, blah and it is nothing but propaganda to colonize, terrorize and pulverize human beings standing in the way of America's Global Geo-Strategery. Full Spectrum Dominance. Our Manifest Destiny. In God We Trust.
Our unbridled vanity. American Vainglory.
They watch our every move. The Fourth Amendment went without a whimper. The First Amendment is in tatters. Global Central Banks are waging war against Public Treasuries. Banks are forcing governments to implement austerity and privatization policies to repay the banks for loaning us money we could have lent ourselves without interest if we hadn't surrendered that right long ago.
Poverty is growing, the middle class is shrinking, the Banks are squeezing, the military is huffing and puffing, the President's power is less than a marionette's; a deaf, dumb and blind kid who loves to play pinball.
A very real and dangerous thing has occurred to the People of America in the wake of The Attack of 911. In the name of the “War on Terror” we have allowed our government to run rampant with vengeful pride. Over 10 years our military/security forces have committed egregious war crimes. The Civilian Government continues to be cowed by the War Machine to fight wars of greed. And all because Bush and Cheney used the crime of 911 as a springboard to multiple wars in the name of chasing Al Qaeda, the Taliban, then Hussein, then Gaddafi, now Assad and Iran, and Yemen and Somalia and Sudan and Uganda and anywhere else it is practicing its strategery of greed and domination. And always with an echo back to 911 – the un-investigated crime of the millennium.
Why shouldn't there be Congressional Hearings to investigate the why and how of our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq? Is it okay for our leaders to routinely lie to the American people to pursue the agenda of the puppeteers? Thousands dead, millions displaced, trillions wasted. The “Noble Cause” was Might Makes Right.
Is it because The Managers have kept their bargain and not brought the battlefield home that we agree to continued indignity? The President is now Unitary Executive with unlimited authority and no accountability. We have a Congress of Vichy. And it's all okay because we don't have to be vigilant against IEDs or raped and set afire in our beds because soldiers are mad with bloodlust?
The President's faith, race, politics, legitimacy and golf swing may be criticized but bring up the idea he is a war criminal to be stopped and all kinds of blank stares ensue.
And this is the very reason Bush and Cheney are not held to account; the crimes continue today. And we don't want to think about them.
The United States is not chasing those pesky few 'terrorists' in the world, we are subduing regions of resources out of self-interest. We are not supporting an Arab Spring against Tyranny, we are trolling for compliant dictators to further imperial interests.
America's Wars are all based upon lies. The stripping away of American civil rights is based upon lies. We are not chasing terrorists and liberating oppressed masses. We are pillaging as an Empire.
We know it in our hearts. But bread and circuses work. Distraction works. The Big Lie works.
Have the American People let things go so far downhill there is no recourse to the corruption of the political process? We vote for the most sane and likeable candidate and hope for the best? Meanwhile every decision is made for us – how the money is spent, who we kill, who we let fall through the cracks.
911 was the pretext for Bush and Cheney's illegals wars which they used lies to achieve. This is not conspiracy but history. Bush and Cheney propagandized the American People with information and threat assessment they knew was not true. None of the pretexts they used for war were true. The Iraq War was a naked act of aggression to topple a dictator not on America's payroll.
The Iraq War was a war crime. Bush and Cheney are war criminals under the law but America cannot even open a can of worms to see what wiggles out because it is yet another reminder Americans do not control their country.
But with so many American apologists one wonders if it is powerlessness or vainglory which propels us to ignore our history time and again. How many democratically elected leaders have we assassinated because we didn't like their socialist tendencies? How many Economic Hitman loans have we foisted upon peoples through their corrupt leadership? How many times has the U.S. Military intervened based on this and that justification but always in the end to protect corporate interests? How many military installations do we have in how many countries to support our global empire?
The War Machine has ruined this country and still we fight because they say we are “at war.” A war with no objective but vacuous promises of victory. There is no plan to win, but only to keep the fight alive. Every minute of every day America creates thousands of human tragedies for the people we liberate. How many civilians do we kill in our hot pursuit of 'terrorists' who are nothing more than opposition forces to our imperial presence? Protect corporations and project power is all we do. As MLK said, our government is the biggest purveyor of violence in the world. It was true then it is truer now.
And always based upon lies.
In the world of American Empire, the people are powerless, the president impotent, the Congress corrupt and the Money Power - the keeper of the gold, the maker of law, the dictator of lies - runs the show.
With the Curveball Revelations there is at least an excuse to question our history and the national tragedy which was the Bush/Cheney regime.
Alas, the silence will be deafening.