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• Wednesday, March 28, 2007 09:29 AM

  Meanwhile, Back at the Gulf and in the Real World...

  Here is an alarmist Russian article on the U.S. buildup directed against Iran:

  http://en.rian.ru/...

  Here is an Indian journalist who reports that Sheik Khalifa of the UAE has just assured Iran that the UAE would not permit attacks to be launched from UAE territory against Iran. The UAE, by the way, is where the U.S. runs a theater air operations center out of Al Dhafra Air Base.

  http://www.indiaenews.com/...

  Note also Jim Hoagland's editorial in today's WaPo. Hoagland reports that Saudi King Abdullah has dissed Bush by declining an invitation to a White House Dinner in April and a state visit in September. Given the intertwined policy and business interests of the Bushes and the Saudi royals over the years, this signal is a very loud one.

  In the swirl of self-serving propaganda spewing from all sides, it is difficult for us mere citizens to puzzle our way through the chaff to make judgments. But such signals as the ones above do seem to demonstrate that our Boys in the Bunker are frightening the entire planet, including erstwhile "friends." The only lingering support for the Boys in the Bunker seems to be among their obedient Republican apparatchiks serving in the House and Senate.

  I would feel a lot better if there were some sign of adult supervision emanating from the bunker, but there is none. And each day both Bush and Cheney appear, in speech and appearance, to disintegrate further before our very eyes.

  The only thing standing between us and an accelerating geopolitical death spiral may be Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Although Gates carries some baggage as an ideologue not above "fitting the facts to the policy" and as a loyal Bush family retainer, he does seem to be tethered to reality. He seems even now, as he operates under constraints imposed on him by the Boys in the Bunker, to reflect the reality-based GOP faction of Brent Scowcroft and James Baker.

  Scrutinize every word Gates utters in coming days. Carefully.

  —FMArouet21st Read FMArouet21st's other letters
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