there seems to be for many people some "inexorable" force that pulls them to misuse the trust and/or power they have garnered.... even when they know better ... Nonetheless, the "overreaching" of TeamBush has been a revelation.

Iraq has offered virtually a needlepoint sampler of rationalizations (self-defense, liberation of the oppressed, etc.) as well as the lingering and variously supported bulwarks of "regional interests" and the PNAC manifesto which declared that ensuring the security and availability of American energy resources was the #1 "national security priority" as America entered the new century, well before 09/11.

I have read quotes from people who have said, again explicitly, "what's the point of being #1 superpower in the world if you're not going to use it." I have heard people say that if OPEC refused to supply us with oil, we would have a right to attack them, in self-defense.

America (and American corporations and interests) have been attempting to reshape the world to conform to our will and our values (and our markets) for decades (we have also used treaties, the WTO, and the World Bank and the UN to push our agendas).... we are also, irrc, the #1 international munitions dealers (with a bullet) ... The military industrial complex as it invests in (and endows) university research, directs and funds reseach with vast earning potential. The "war machine" is a great engine of our economy ... not the only one ... but it controls a great deal of funding for eventual products for eventual export. [In much of the third world, fwiw, our multinationals simply create their own paramilitary forces beholden only to them, autonomous from and not always cooperative with the existing regime.]

My gut feeling, as I have said on other occasions, is that the "decision" to invade Iraq was the product of a cult-like white house, convinced of its righteousness and its rightness. Someday we may find out who knew better and deliberately deceived and who was genuinely duped and who just went along for the ride ... As with many suicide bombers and terrorists, I think the "romance" of noble struggles, crusades and a "greater good" is infectious and beat the hell out of regular life and "domestic agendas."

TeamBush and a lot of talking heads are conspicuous in their apparent belief in the "great man" theory of history, something I find baffling and almost mystical ...

Anticipation that the capture of Hussein, the death of Hussein, the death of Al-Zakarwi ... and bin Laden and Castro and Mao and Ghadaffi and Hitler and so on will somehow be some **magical** or **mystical** Excaliber from the rock - god smiled moment ... They also seem to endow such magical properties to "good" guys as well -- people like JFK or Gandhi or FDR ... rather than seeing the blood, sweat, tears and plain hard work involved, i.e. it's not endowed by GOD or genes or the stars...

baffling.

and it's hardly "fool proof" but it's in place for all sorts of public institutions ...

I think it's wise to recognize that the community of "middle east experts" in this country all know each other and had a good 10-plus years of incestuous think-tanking and cocktail parties and book reviewing and article writing on what to do about Iraq...

Chalabbi was here in the US along with the Johns Hopkins clan ... Allawi was in London. Like a long-gestating confidence game, Chalabbi became "our team" even as the CIA repeatedly warned he was unreliable ... Hindsight 20/20, backing Chalabbi appears absurd.

look for more of the same .... it has achieved it's main objective -- muting many critics and maintaining the status quo...

... meet the new boss, same as the old boss ...

"every day in every way, I am getting better and better."

they'll treat it sorta like knocking over the chess board... when, in fact, in a parliamentary system, it needn't be.... however, it will offer the opportunity to much confusion, power stuggles and new alliances ... none of which will be comprehensible to most americans .... except that we NEED to stay to keep Iraq from descending into "chaos" ... (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... etc.)

it's long and may destroy your appetite for a while but it's worth a glance and probably a print out ....

Staggering ... click my name for link ...

I guess "real life" Iraq differ some from that found in "counterinsurgency training manuals" ....

Wonder what and/or he'll blame when he writes HIS book.

in the latest installment of the Debbie Nathan/Kurt Eichenwald (NYT) story ... which had a chapter here on Salon (in which Salon published and then "ammended" and then black-hole-of-calcutta'd an article by Nathan on Child Porn in which Eichenwald was mentioned in the context of conversations Nathan has with Eichenwald which Eichenwald said were (a) misrepresent/interpreted and (b) given without knowning he was going to be used as source ... or something like that ... Nathan was under the impression that as Eichenwald was researching child porn his inadvertant contact with "child porn" (the felony) put him in legal jeopardy. (then it gets complicated ... but Eichenwald denied ever having unreported visits to child porn sites or something like that)

anyway ... Eichenwald's/NYT's lawyers were all over Salon ..

anyway... move along 18 months or so, and Eichenwald's under the journalistic ethics gun for failing to report ... an apparent "other" type of "improper contact"

story is on HuffPO with link to Nathan's original story in counterpunch ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/sex-checks-and-the-ne_b_60542.html

(Eichenwald's response seemed like overkill at the time ... Salon's response was to fold like a cheap tent.)