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L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 343, October 30, 2005 Tenth Anniversary Edition, Part 5
I've Got a Little List...: No.2
Exclusive to TLE I've Got a Little List...: No 1: http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2000/libe87-20000828-03.html
Back in 2000, when the first edition of this article appeared, I thought the Clintonistas{2} were horrendously bad for America, that governmental respect for the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and everything this country is supposed to stand for had deteriorated to an all time low. Then along came Bush and his cronies and the respect slipped from that ultra low point, plunged over the ledge and into the abyss. These days, working up a roster of Devil's Disciples who are grossly polluting the political landscape and "whose loss would result in a distinct gain to society at-large"{3} is extremely easy. One need only turn one's head toward Washington D.C., eyeball a politician, a political appointee or one of the war- and fear-mongering Neocon whack-jobs{4} from the administration, the Project for the New American Century{5} or the American Enterprise Institute{6} and add their names to the list. Additionally, one could listen to any Conservative talk radio babbler and within a very short time—if he's talking about the Iraq mess—you will quickly have all the evidence you need to add their names to the list as well. {Is there one of these people anywhere, who believes that the Bush Administration's intentional military occupation of Iraq is a bad idea? Just one? Anywhere?} I hold, as an eternal verity, that the individual is responsible for his own reputation in life. If the following disgusting and revolting roster of low-life scumballs, some of which are criminally inclined, don't wish to be called a bunch of scumballs, then they should stop being so scummy! Unfortunately, it is much, much to late for a few. I feel no pity for these people. The smirking jackass and warmongerer
In the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon there was a minor character called Captain Peter Peachfuzz. Captain Peachfuzz never quite knew what was going on around him, couldn't tell port from starboard, or plot his position on a chart and he could always be depended upon to pilot his vessel up onto the reef. Next to Bush and his pals, Captain Peachfuzz is a towering genius. I'm not the only one to question Bush's I.Q. Local Libertarian radio talk show host Charles Goyette believes that Bush is an idiot. The late Jude Wanniski believed that Bush is effectively under 'house arrest'{7} by the Neocons. Personally, I believe both are true. He is a complete idiot and he is under control of the Neocons. After all, he has had at least 5 years now to free himself from intellectual dependence on his subordinates and he has the Secret Service to aid him if need be. Back when he first descended on D.C. the press did one of those 'get to know the new President' type interviews during which he was asked what types of books, articles and magazines he read. Bush stated that he didn't read anything. This means that he has little curiosity about the world around him. L.A. Weekly confirmed his willful ignorance in October 2003, once again demonstrating that Bush is completely dependent on his advisors, the Neocons.{8} As a practical matter the only thing he knows about foreign affairs is whatever crap he is told in the Daily Briefings. All this together means that he is little more than an empty suit. We now know as empirical fact, what was strongly suspected when Bush first infested the oval office 4 1/2 long, long years ago, that he fully intended to depose Saddam Hussein as soon as possible after becoming President. Russ Baker, after interviewing Houston Chronicle journalist Mickey Herskowitz, reports that Bush confessed to his Iraqi intentions as early as 1999. Herskowitz indicated that Bush believed that he would need a 'win' in a war in order to have a 'successful' Presidency. This would make it easier for him to push through his DOMESTIC agenda.{9} Further, former Treasury Paul O'Neil{10} has stated that Bush's first cabinet meeting was about the forthcoming invasion of Iraq. Thus from the get-go every top-level bureaucrat knew that Bush, without an official Congressional Declaration of War if need be, fully intended to make war against another country which was never a credible threat to us. His purpose was made clear. He needed only the rationales to make the invasion politically acceptable. And so, the lying, fear mongering and international belligerency began. Former CIA analyst, Ray McGovern in commentary on the Downing Street Memo has confirmed this as follows,
We also know, as reported in The Sunday Times—Britain, that,
It also appears that even though Bush is 59 years old, that he has yet to grow up. I say this because during the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner he showed slides of himself peering under the furniture and peeking into the cubbyholes in the Oval Office, referencing the administration's inability to find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, saying things like,
His power lust and idiotic decisions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary Iraqi and coalition deaths and casualties and this simpleton 'thinks' this is high comedy. I'm sure people who have had their family members killed or injured 'over there' are simply howling with laughter. Well, what else can you expect from someone whose scholastic aptitude is a 'Gentleman's 'C''?{14} Also, the recent flap over Cindy Sheehan and increasing public disapproval{15} and lack of enthusiasm for his Iraq policies is apparently bringing out the bully and vindictiveness in this overgrown child as this article illustrates:
This last from a guy who doesn't read anything. Recent speculation{17} on talk radio has suggested the possibility that he has started drinking again; just what we need, a president who is an admitted alcoholic and is surrounded by warmongering Neocons and who has his finger on the nuclear trigger. Now, everybody, let's impeach and prosecute this moron as the war criminal{18} he plainly is. The Refuse of Halliburton or War Criminal No. 2 As a condition, no doubt for public relations reasons, of being placed on the ticket as a candidate for Vice-President, Richard Cheney agreed to place all his Halliburton stock in a 'blind trust'. Supposedly, this was to remove the possibility of any taint of scandal from coloring his future decisions. Trouble with this line of thinking is that, as a former CEO of Halliburton and as a former Secretary of Defense, Cheney would naturally have all kinds of contacts among defense contractors and oil companies. When you have the power to arrange astronomically high, no-bid contracts for your former employer, guaranteeing high profits, it is not necessary to actively manage one's portfolio, now is it? As yet, there have been no investigations into the negotiations that took place during the 'behind closed doors' meetings between the oil companies and the administration early in the Bush Presidency. Hillary Clinton was skewered for pulling the same crap while attempting to implement her health care plans for the nation. Further, we know from Lt. Col. (Ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski, that early in the administration, an Office of Special Plans{19}, which would shortly become one of the administration's propaganda arms, was created and placed in the Chain-of-Command under Cheney. We also know that this office was created to cherry-pick intelligence data and to manufacture data to create the justifications needed to launch the war with Iraq. We also know that intelligence professionals who refused to play ball were either transferred or forcibly retired. Cheney does not have plausible deniability of the OSP and its operations or of the administrations war plans. Thus, he has allowed himself to become an accomplice to war crimes and must be impeached and prosecuted. Also, Cheney has announced that if America is attacked again in another 9-11 type incident, that Iran would be nuked, regardless of whether Iran was responsible or not. According to a column, which appeared in the August 1 of the American Conservative, the military is acting under orders of Cheney as follows: "The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites."{20,21} Even though Iran is in complete compliance with U.N. nuclear policies, the war-crazy Neocons continue to look for reasons to invade them.{22} In his column, Invading Iran: Who is to Stop Them? Joshua Frank had this to say:
Bush's Brain{23,24} When Bush needs a brain, it is painfully obvious that he does not rely on his own internal resources—no rugged individualism for this clod! No, he mindlessly follows current business practices and 'out-sources'his intellectual requirements. And the principle 'vendor' of those requirements is the amoral RP attack dog Karl Rove, the would-be 'chela' and admirer of Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince. The recent flap over former Ambassador Joe Wilson shows the Rove ethos and modus operandi in action. After the start of the latest Gulf War, Wilson wrote a piece for the New York Times in which he "lay{ed} out the facts of his trip and {said} he had "little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.""{25} Of course, this undercut the Administration's raison d'être for war sending Rove into action. And how does a man who lacks a moral compass deal with a Bush regime critic and non team player? His idea of going mano a mano with Wilson is to attack his wife, Valerie Plame, exposing her as a CIA operative. Rove has been a Republican Party attack dog for the last 30 years. All that needs to happen is for a top official to point to an opponent and say, "Sic 'em, Fido!" and the deviltry and skullduggery begins. It is vitally important for these people to be in power. Winning is everything. Ethics count for nothing. The Neocons—who let these animals out of their cages? Over the many years since I started paying attention to the world of politics, I've come by more than my share of what many would think of as 'wild, crazy, lunatic' ideas such as the following:
These dark thoughts are not improved by looking through the Neocon fantasy/manifesto Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New century{26}. Rebuilding is not a document that one should read whilst sober. It is rich in megalomania, paranoia and an unrealistic appraisal of the world. To understand the Neocon mentality, one must think of the game of football. In football, one is either on offense or defense—there is no middle ground; nothing between being a 'hawk' or a 'dove'. So the Neocons intend to be offensive, something they are completely successful at. They offend everyone on the planet! As Paul Craig Roberts has stated:
Why would they do this? Perhaps they have more loyalty to Israel than they do to America as their own document, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm{28} suggests. On they other hand, they might be profiting hugely from the war as two articles Bunny Bugs the War Profiteers{29} and Money for Nothing{30} contend. Then again, perhaps their shoulders swell up to Schwarzeneggerrian proportions at the thought of the United States as the lone, remaining superpower and they intend to keep that way. In any case, Rebuilding continually whines about how the U.S. forces are under equipped, under funded and unprepared for conflicts in the new century. In Rebuilding's worldview, America is responsible for the entire planet. One thing that Rebuilding makes clear: Neocons are proud advocates of military socialism{31} and a Global American empire. The Neocon desire to conquer the Middle-east predates the moron currently in the White House. The Neocons have long wanted to establish permanent military bases in Muslim lands to secure our oil supplies and to make the Middle-east safe for Israel. They begged Clinton to depose Saddam but were unsuccessful in their efforts. Nevertheless, they remain undeterred in their conquistador desires. The same type of lies that were used to sucker us into Iraq are now being trotted out to justify a possible future assault on Iran as illustrated in Like War?{32}
Who are these Neocons, anyway? I don't have an exhaustive list but a few are prominent in the Bush Administration: John Bolton, Richard Perle, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and others. Where are the guys with the lab coats, butterfly nets, straight jackets and hypodermic syringes when they are clearly so desperately needed? The war apologists When it comes to politics, what does it mean to bea person with integrity? Robert A. Heinlein gave us one answer, somewhere in his writings, when he stated that a man shoots his own rabid dog. He doesn't expect his neighbor to do the job for him. In other words, when your own man is clearly in the wrong, especially when he criminally in the wrong, a person with integrity demands his head on a platter. This last week, I spent an hour listening to Rush Limbaugh's show. As expected, he spent that hour defending the Neocons and attacking the Administration's critics averring that the State Department and intelligence agencies were swarming with 'liberals' and that these were people who were 'upset' that the Bush Administration was not following their advice and that these agencies must be cleaned out. Limbaugh is wrong. The fact is, intelligence operatives are professionals who believe that political decision makers should have all the facts before deciding. Political philosophy has nothing to do with it. The people who Limbaugh smears have more intellectual integrity than any of the Republican talk show hosts I've listened to. They are people who refused to go along with the Administration's lies. What about other Conservative media darlings: Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, and others {See Their War, Too by Harold Meyerson{33}}? Have they come around and started demanding U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, as it is now clear that it is our on-going occupation that is enticing more and more Muslims to become 'Insurgents'? No they have not. With their lips firmly attached to the hindquarters of the Bush Administration, it is difficult for oxygen to reach their brains. In conclusion, it is not necessary to name all the Devil's Disciples who belong on the list. Just remember, when it comes to a Neocon, a Conservative radio talk show host, pundit or Administration official,
1 The Bush Betrayal, James Bovard
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