November 22, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

SO MUCH FOR NEOCON "VISION"

The neocons who were part of a Project for a New American Century lusted to invade Iraq years ago. They were urging President Clinton invade Iraq, which he wisely did not do. They had a more pliable president in George W. Bush. The neocons painted the rosiest of scenarios. We would waltz into Iraq, liberate the people, plant democracy there, and democracy would flower across the Middle East. Establishing U. S. hegemony and getting the oil were major side benefits. Once again, we see that what passes for intellectualism on the right has disastrous consequences. We saw it with Reagan's supply side economics and we've seen it with Bush's horrific foreign policy. This article by Jesse Jackson is at www.commondreams.org:

The very neoconservative ideologues who lobbied for this war of choice even before Bush came to office, who wanted to invade Iraq even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, are bailing out. These are the zealots who eagerly promoted exiles like Ahmed Chalabi to propagate lies about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons programs. These are the pundits who filled the op-ed pages and radio and TV shows with lies about Hussein's connections with al-Qaida. They were so intent on launching this war that they were prepared to prey on American fears and mislead the country into war. It would be, as Kenneth Adelman said, a ''cakewalk.'' We would be greeted as liberators. Democracy would break out in what they painted as a secular Iraq, then sweep the region.

Now they rush to disavow any responsibility. Adelman is shocked to see that ''there are lots of lives that are lost.'' He now blames the leaders of the administration that he once adored: ''This didn't have to be managed this bad. It's just awful.'' Richard Perle, a leader of the Chalabi lobby, now says that he didn't realize the invasion would lead to an occupation. The occupation, he says, ''was a foolish thing to do.'' He apparently thought the troops could just overthrow a dictator and democracy would follow as dawn follows night. It's a problem of execution, according to Joshua Muravchik, the neocon publicist, who lays the blame on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Besides, he now writes, few neocons actually served in the Bush administration, and our ''woes in Iraq'' may be ''traced to the conduct of the war rather than the decision to undertake it.''