I have read some interesting articles referenced, and linked

to, at a blog called Deconsumption. It can be googled. (A program

upgrade to this Salon Letters feature that would let letter writers

plug in and pickably-highlight relevant URLs would be a very nice

feature). Anyway the articles make a very strong case that

the Bush group is not interested in solving the problem with

Iran. The Bush group is interested in widening the war to include

Iran, partly because Bush thinks another great victory will make

him look good personally, and partly because the Bush group hopes

to use the widened war to strengthen its Police State government

here at home. Also the Bush group hopes to use tactical nukes

in order to remove the no-nukes taboo, and normalize nuclear

war going forward. The articles note that Bush directly commands

the relevant field generals, and doesn't have to go through

the Joint Chiefs. The articles further speculate that the

Bush group will bomb Tehran as soon as Congress is in recess,

to avoid the slight chance that Congress would be so disobedient

as to try to raise legal roadblocks to bombing Iran.

Again, that blog is Deconsumption. (The most recent entry).

Bomb Tehran? I meant bomb Iran.

Mr. Bush has squandered out strength and credibility so that the only way we can use force on an incipient nuclear power like Iran or N. Korea is to use the atomic bomb.

Backed into a corner we are.

Either you are stupid, or you think we are stupid, and you are assisting the political machinery that manipulates all of mankind.

"What good are U.S. threats against Iran when the whole world has lost its trust in our government?"

First, what we know, otherwise referred to as "common knowledge" is generally anything but the truth. When dealing with power and finances of a universal scope, truth and disclosure become irrelevant. What is relevant to those who have the opportunity to tap into universal power and resources, is what manipulates the masses to conform to their wishes and plans. Knowing first hand that on a local scale, republicans and democrats deal and cooperate privately to mutual benefit, one would have to be truly retarded to think it does not happen at the global level.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I believe in the illuminati per se, but if you expect me to believe (or if you actually do for that matter), that the real steering mechanism of world circumstances operates in any way beholden to keeping us informed, you could not be more incorrect.

I said all that to say this: the "world" has no more and no less trust in "our" government now than it ever has. As Bush Sr. said repeatedly "There's a new world order", and in truth it's not new at all. "Our" government and the "whole world" are essentially (in the truest sense of the term) one and the same.

Stop writing this tripe. Stop being such a tool.

Poco

Polls, news, and office conversations all point to the same undeniable truth. Bush and his administration have lost any credibility they had. All one has to do is to look at the precipitous decline of Bush in virtually every poll in the U.S. that follows the parade of disclosures about how this administration uses and misuses intelligence. It's not hard to connect these dots to the growth of mistrust at home and abroad. Mr. Conason provides all of the evidence that anyone needs to reach the same conclusion. The evidence is there and the evidence supports the argument posited. It's a logical conclusion and to ignore it requires blind faith to a leader that has time and again not only shown a lack of leadership, but also a leader with a complete lack of integrity.

Thank you Mr. Conason. You've clearly stated what most of are talking about out there.

I think what is most disconcerting is that the administration acts as if it's original plan had actually succeeded.

They behave as if the underfunded, underequiped, undermanned force that was sent in at the start of the war acheived it's mission. Rummy's folly, which was to go light and have the war paid for by Iraqi oil has been a miserable failure. The Bush administation appears to be the only ones who can't see this.

helpfully objects -- not to Mr. Conason's particular opinion, but to the notion of having an opinion at all. Gosh, thanks -- and here I thought that our actions are chosen, matter, and have consequences. Could you do me a favor, poco? I have an itch that I can't quite reach -- maybe you could persuade that Invisible Hand of yours to scratch it for me?

Remember when Peter Finch in Network says, to those who want to be left alone with their microwave ovens and new dishwashers, "Well I'm not going to let you alone"? Joe Conason's article serves the same purpose, because just as I feel like throwing my hands up in the air and resigning, an article like this comes along to make me feel engaged. And enraged.

How did this happen? How have we not been able to reach accord or at least wary amity with the Iranian government 27 years after the Shah's overthrow? True, they have not been open to overtures, but I think that Mr Conason articulates the problem -- diplomatically, the US is so feared and loathed that we cannot get anything done. We cannot even convince other nations who do not want Iran to have nuclear arms to work with us. Allies obstruct us, our enemies list grows, and we continue to be the frustrated behemoth. We've managed to build a cage for ourselves that just barely holds us, with little room for maneuvering or shifting (i.e., the sine qua non of diplomacy).

President Bush may have many years after his term ends to ponder the effects of his squandering the diplomatic will needed to deal with a nuclear Iran on the continuing disaster that is Iraq.