I remember that dreary fall of 2002 when Jim Lehrer would have Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar and Joe Biden on about once a week to repeat again and again and again how the initial "defeat" of Iraq's "forces" could be and probably would be accomplished quite easily.
The problem, they practically shouted (I recall the very mellow Dick Lugar just bristle with disdain at some assbite from one of the neocon think-tanks) was Securing The Peace after our precision bombs had taken out the "valuable targets" they had.
It seems to me that the same "Americans" who are just so gosh darned fed up with this war while at the same time don't seem to know and/or care about what exactly it is that we've wrought over there, ought to think about all their bluster and bullshit and preoccupation with some missing little girl in Utah (Elizabeth Smart-remember her?) or Michael Jackson holding his kid over a balcony or how smooth and powerful that handsome Donald Rumsfeld looked yesterday at one of his wonderful press conferences....
"Gotcha" America was and is constantly preoccupied with the latest scandal and you can always count on Larry King to do a roundtable discussion about what exactly went wrong with Lindsey Anna Nicole Paris Hasselhoff; televise the bickering of parents Alec Balwin and Kim Bassinger or spend a week with wall-to-wall coverage of a bathroom misdemeanor setup...
GOTCHA! Britney is fat! GOTCHA!
I remember that there were many voices at that time, literally screaming about the dangers and pure folly of invading Iraq, including Muhammed El_Baradi, Hans Blix and Scott Ritter among others.
Chuck Hagel has always stuck in my mind because of his unwavering statements about the disaster this folly could produce.
But I can't get the image out of my mind of Congressman John Conyers trying to hold hearings on the "Downing Street Memos" back in June of 2005, when the Republicans were still stifling all dissent, and being relegated to the basement of the Capitol. (Longworth?)
For the last six years, Democrats tried to hold this Bush Administration accountable for a myriad of transgressions only to be obstructed at every turn.
Now the fickle American public, oblivious to the fact that we've probably killed a million Iraqis, just want to "get out of there" and scream at the Democrats to stop the war immediately. Those darned Democrats, that's the problem; or the classic: "It's both parties really" (Note: "No, it's the Republicans who created and cheer lead this beastly effort- you don't get to now, finally, start including the Dems in this mess)
Did you see the hissyfit that the Beltway mob threw about the Move On advertisement? Enough said.
Sheesh....
Chuck Hagel On Real Time With Bill Maher :: September 14, 2007 ::
Here's the rest of the show