In the hour of the wolf, we progressive activists are sometimes visited
by nightmarish political scenarios. No doubt, dear reader, you
have your own scary visitations. Here are ten of mine:
1. MOVING CLOSER TO IRAN WAR
That some major false-flag terrorist attack, perhaps arranged by our own
black-op agencies, will be unloosed in an American city -- maybe a dirty
nuke, or some virulent toxin, or a bomb -- and the planted "evidence"
will seem to lead back to Iran. CheneyBush, perhaps in
coordination with Israel, will finally get their wished-for aerial
assault on that country.
An attack on Iran could happen very soon. The buildup of U.S.
forces in the region has proceeded apace in the past few months;
naval
preparations, according to Russian intelligence, are much the same
as just prior to CheneyBush's "shock&awe" attack on Iraq five years ago.
The Saudis seem to be preparing for
possible
nuclear fallout from an attack on Iran's reactors. Not a good
sign.
The result of a U.S. attack on Iran would be a catastrophic rise
in violence in the Greater Middle East, more hatred of America around
the world, the dollar heading into the toilet, various holders of
billions of U.S. notes calling them in, a possible anti-U.S.
economic embargo of essential resources, the economy in ruins, America a
pariah in international affairs.
2. ABOVE & BEYOND THE LAW
That there won't be an inauguration of a new president because Bush,
following some major incident (perhaps the false-flag operation noted
above or something similar), will declare martial law and rule by
decree. Which, not incidentally, is pretty close to what he's
doing right now with his signing statements and executive orders and his
refusal to obey decisions of the courts and Congress' subpoenas
requiring testimony and documents.
Under the cockamamie "unitary executive" theory, and hiding behind his
supposed wartime powers that assert that Bush can do anything he wishes
as long as he says it's done as "commander-in-chief" during "wartime,"
Bush has effectively put himself above and beyond the law. The
only hope for saving what remains of our democratic institutions lies in
impeachment, a rebellion in Congress and among the populace, a united
Supreme Court ruling against him, a refusal by the military to fire on
protesting civilians, or a sweeping, massive Democratic victory in
November. Probably most or all of these at the same time will be
required.
If none of these stop-gaps work during CheneyBush's residency in the
White House, it could be incarceration in FEMA camps for all manner of
protesters and resisters.
3. A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH
That Hillary Clinton's destructive campaign (praising McCain as fit to
be "commander-in-chief" while constantly demeaning Obama as unfit to
rule and unable to win the general election) will effectively result in
Bush being elected to a third term. That is, John McCain would
win.
McCain would be aided in this by Ralph Nader, who as a "spoiler" once
again would be financially supported by the Republicans, as happened in
2000 and 2004.
4. PILFERING AT THE POLLS
That the November 2008 election, assuming we actually have one, will be
stolen yet again by the GOP in enough key states to guarantee a
Republican presidential victory through a combination of manipulated
vote totals by the private, GOP-leaning companies that tabulate the
ballots, and by the host of dirty tricks that by now the Rove-ian forces
have down to a T, such as:
Culling the voting rolls of hundreds of thousands of likely Democratic
voters in minority precincts; robo-calling registered Dem voters again
and again and again, supposedly by Dem candidates, to irritate those
called into not voting for that candidate; telling poor voters that if
they have any unpaid traffic tickets, they are liable for arrest at
their voting precinct; distributing leaflets in minority communities
that voting this year will be on a Wednesday; etc. etc. (All
of these, and more, were vote-suppression techniques utilized by the GOP
in 2004 and 2006.)
5. DELUSIONAL THINKING IN IRAQ
That the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be unable to stop CheneyBush from
escalating the Iraq fighting yet again, getting the U.S. even more
deeply enmeshed in that country's civil war, and making it even more
difficult for a new administration to extricate America from that
immoral, multi-trillion-dollar sinkhole.
Bush remains lodged somewhere in cloud-cuckoo land, bragging about how
the current explosion of violence throughout Iraq is a sign of the
"success" of his policies. The only reasons the violence slowed a
bit post-"surge" was that Muqtada al-Sadr told his militia forces to
stand down and the U.S. paid off Sunni insurgents not to attack
U.S. troops. Now that the battles are being resumed, the
violence spikes will continue to rise.
CheneyBush, desperate for something that looks positive in Iraq, may
have leaned on Maliki to launch a major offensive against the al-Sadr
militias, or maybe it was the other way around, with Maliki using the
U.S. troops as shields as he attacked his major political foes.
But, whoever initiated the offense, it was way premature, as the Maliki
forces are not there yet, and may never be. (There have been
significant defections to the militias by forces supposedly loyal to the
central government.)
This is the same mistake made by the American forces moving into Iraq
five years ago -- that it would all be over quickly. We
"underestimated their capabilities," said an Iraqi government official.
Sound familiar?
6. LOCATING THE BODIES FOR MORE WAR
That given this recent turn of events, the effect of the Iraq government
offensive is to put American and British forces in the middle between
warring Shi'ite factions. I don't think the American public, or
the Pentagon chiefs, will support having U.S. troops in such an
untenable position for any length of time.
Sadr, after his forces humiliated Maliki by stalemating him on the
ground, has now called off his troops, but the militant cleric has made
his point: He can bring rack and ruin to the Iraq central government
whenever he wants, and there's not much Maliki can do about it.
And Sadr may want to release his militia force again before the American
election in November, which is precisely what the CheneyBush
Administration fears as another large Sadrist attack would once again
demonstrate the total ineffectiveness of U.S. policy in Iraq.
The big winner in all this, of course, is Shi'ite Iran. It
stepped in and helped separate Iraq's two warring Shi'ite factions.
Lots of egg on lots of Iraqi and U.S. faces.
Already, Bush has indicated there will be no draw-down of U.S.
forces this Spring. Eventually, there may have to be yet another
"surge" force dispatched to Iraq, just to "temporarily stabilize" the
situation. Can you spell (and smell) V-I-E-T-N-A-M and
Q-U-A-G-M-I-R-E?
And from where would the military, already stretched dangerously thin in
the Greater Middle East and around the globe, put their hands on 30,000
more bodies? The Reserves and National Guard and in-country troops about
to be "stop-lossed" yet again are close to the point of rebellion.
As much as CheneyBush do not wish to go there (because of the likelihood
of a mammoth opposition to the war in the American middle class), one
can feel a draft in the room.
7. NOBODY DID ANYTHING WRONG
That Bush will issue blanket presidential pardons to Karl Rove, Alberto
Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz,
Condoleezza Rice, David Addington, and Himself for all crimes they "may
have committed" during their tenure in the Administration.
Once again, nobody in the higher echelons is ever accountable in the
CheneyBush royal court. It must have been the pesky dog that ate
everybody's homework.
8. A DEPLETED WORLD LARDER
That the trend of various countries in the world running short of
essential commodities will result in even more horrendous resource-wars
between and inside nations over potable and irrigation water, oil,
wheat, rice, and so on. Starvation, dehydration, not even rice to
feed Asia, not enough grains with which to make pasta and bread in
Europe, not enough oil to run cars and machinery, etc. etc.
Another worldwide Great Depression, aided by an unfolding collapse of
the U.S. economy.
9. DENIAL ON A GLOBAL SCALE
That even with the ocean waters rising as a result of global warming and
the consequent faster melting of glaciers and ice shelves, with the
consequent disastrous effects on climate-change, the Republicans will
continue to downplay what they see in front of their eyes. Given
that state of denial means that the GOP will wind up doing nothing about
global warming; instead, they will continue to blame Bill Clinton,
abortion providers, and the "homosexual agenda." ("Let's see, today I'm
going to get my hair done, get married to my partner, and then take my
hair dryer and go melt some glaciers.")
10. CHENEY, THANK YOO
That Dick Cheney will be named chairman of John McCain's
vice-presidential selection committee. And that John Yoo will be
nominated by McCain for the next open seat on the U.S. Supreme
Court.
This is where we are after nearly eight years of CheneyBush rule: The
scariest thing about most of these nightmare visions is that, based on
CheneyBush's documented record of outrageous and illegal and reckless
governance, the above scenarios sound almost normal these days.
Which means they could easily happen.
All the more reason why we must redouble our oppositional energies:
organize, organize, organize; resist, resist, resist.
Copyright 2008 by Bernard Weiner
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations,
has taught at univerisities in California and Washington, worked as a
writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades, and
currenty serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
For comment:
crisispapers@comcast.net .
