They've been hiding a lot of things besides the memo. I don't just mean Cheney's energy task for, either, or any of the other known obfuscations.
I mean the party line about June 30th & not yet knowing the "entity" to whom they will hand off power.
Do you believe that? I did. Until the last week or so.
Let's put a few things together, things we may have known but which have been highlighted by Rice-a-Rovey's testimony & the PDB: (1) they operate with an old cold war mentality, the same one that originally put Hussein (and God knows how many other dictators in power, & kept them there (2) they postponed elections in Iraq, preferring to install a pseudo-representative council until the country was "stabilized" (3) our troops aren't going anywhere (4) these are not folks who trust democratic processes (5) along with no-bid contracts, they are spending, I believe, somewhere between 2 & 4 billion on "contractors"-- a private army for the corporations that operates independently of the established military chain of command & whose numbers are likely to increase as business gets better. (6) additionally, $340,000 monthly is paid to support the private militia of... not Sadr..
You guessed it. Our new man in Beirut-- oops, I mean, Baghdad-- escorted in, underwritten, housed, sponsored & protected-- that great Iraqi & IMO, their next President: Ahmed Chalabi.
Of course, that was their original intention. We all knew it. But they "can't" still be committed to that idea, can they? I mean, considering recent events...& the general all-around antipathy & scorn for him in Iraq... They wouldn't! They couldn't!
Wanna bet?
Remember what we know about Chimpy & Co. Not just that they hate debate, do not brook disagreement, and are predisposed to hold their cards very close to their collective vest. But also, & mainly, that they stick to their guns. Don't often change their minds, now, do they?
They also count on everyone else's gullibility & respect for the offices they occupy. Congress (has anyone even asked them about June 30?) The media(accepts the vagueness) Our Candidate (hasn't mentioned it, has he?) Even the UN.
We're all so bloody polite, so effing passive. When they say they haven't figured it out yet, we go, "oh, okay"
Helloooo? Anybody home?
And then, June 1 or May 15, on a friday, after everybody's gone home, they will roll out the new product line. Well, the new line about hte old product. Chalabi.
And, of course, the date will be hard and fast. Our national "credibility" dependent on it. Whatever motions they have to go through or endure will be brief.. and probably, pointless.
This is what I got from listening to Condi at the commission. And from one other thing: the interview with W on August 7, in his golf cart. He seemed so, well, so elated. And watching it, I thought, he knows he's going to get his war.
Call it an intuitive flash, if you will, and maybe of no value-- maybe, just plain wrong. Or, even if sorta correct, maybe, events in Iraq will cause them to re-think. Why not? There's a first time for everything.
But if I were a betting sort of person, I'd lay money on it. I suspect that's been their unswerving intention, all along.
Tin foil hat time? Could be. But the point of this diary is: we'd better fucking start talking about it NOW
Dontcha think?