A view of the Big Picture

This morning I am reading that the U.S. is considering ramping up the naval presence in the Persian Gulf, under the veil of ‘deterring Iran’. This flies directly in the face of the Baker-Hamilton ISG and one of its key recommendations: Engage Iraq’s neighbors, especially Iran and Syria, in diplomatic efforts to begin the process of resolution. I’m not seeing Iran being diplomatically charmed at the point of a gun. Not going to win any hearts or minds in Syria, either.

The hallmark to the Bush II administration, starting with domestic programs pre-September 2001 and accelerating alarmingly since, has been to implement backwards, foolish policy, give it a name that means EXACTLY the opposite of what it is actually intended to accomplish, and then sell it to the public.

After six long years, the public is finally starting to wake up groggily and mumble “what the f…”, but unfortunately, the damage already done is catastrophic, to our country as well as the world at large. The ISG is the first tentative step in the right direction, but sadly, though not surprisingly, even its day-late, dollar-short proposals are quietly being swept aside.

Why? It’s hard not to simply attribute it to Shrubs’ well-known stubbornness, but while he does still exist in a bubble, it’s not a vacuum. U.S. policy has been ruthlessly molded around a warped philosophy, supported by various factions with their own warped needs.

Business wants the money. Neocons want global power solely in the hands of Washington. These folks have worked hand in hand to infiltrate, subvert, consolidate, and finally outright buy all of the major media outlets in the U.S., and quite a bit of media worldwide. The icing on this cake, of course, is the religious right, whose aims might be the most frightening of all.

When you stop and think about the fact that much of Western Christianity is focused on end-of-times philosophy, it’s not hard to see why many hard-line evangelicals resemble the very “extremists” they so vehemently denounce. I have always found the overwhelming support of Israel by these types to be profoundly troubling, not because I believe Israel has no right to exist, but because for too many of the far-right evangelicals, the only reason Israel must exist is to be destroyed according to prophesy, a proposed exercise in the worst sort of ultimate ethnic clensing. It boggles my mind that Tel Aviv plays along with these folks, but it keeps the munitions coming in. More short-sighted foolishness.

It does work rather neatly, though. The rich get richer, the power-hungry get their macho buzz, and the religious extremists anoint and bless it all, leaving Mom and Pop America, and their young 'uns, either conned by visions of Heaven or too busy trying to keep food on the table and the bills paid to have time to pay attention.

This all doesn’t change the fact that Cheney, Bush, and their backwards leadership are not the basic problem. It simply means that they ARE the means, and the muscle. By abusing the trust of the American people, and shamelessly using our military and our resources to further their own twisted visions, and incidentally their own pocketbooks, inadvertently or not they have put the world on a dangerous path.

Cheney and Bush themselves may not be intentionally pushing the world into Armageddon as their ultimate aim, although common sense says George has more than a nodding acquaintance with the concept; but their brutish push to impart their own visions of more wealth for the haves worldwide at the expense of everyone else, including their own fellow Americans, and the lies they have told to do so, rise far beyond “high crimes and misdemeanors”. They are not only guilty of treason against their own people, but against humankind itself.

What we already know as public record is enough to justify removal and imprisonment. The investigations are long past due, and shouldn’t require much time. Which is good; with Bush already making noises about sending more troops over, we don’t have much time.

Impeach Cheney. Impeach Bush. The world literally can’t wait. Neither can we.