Diatribune

The way the administration seems to be spinning things lately, if there is a particularly bloody month in Iraq, followed by a slightly less bloody month, they can claim that there is a positive trend and hence that it would be irresponsible to pull the soldiers out of Iraq. I think that's not only crazy talk, but utterly reckless crazy talk in the face of the fact that the invasion was never legitimate in the first place, and the occupation is now overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Iraq, the people of America, and the people of the World.

I guess there are two planets: the Beltway Bubble and the Rest of the World. No, make that three. There is the Beltway Bubble, the Emerald City (Wall Street) and the Rest of the World.

The Beltway Spinicism knows no end - and it doesn't just come from the Pubs (though mainly from them). Reportedly, Saudi Arabia is the external player that has been most involved in Iraq (other than us) and that has been responsible for the most American deaths, yet all we hear about is Iran. But that's just same-old, same-old. Most of the attackers on 911 were Saudis, yet nearly half of America still thinks, thanks to the deceptive administration song and dance and the media echoe chamber, that Saddam was behind it. I heard on the radio yesterday that Saudi schools continue to teach their children to hate Israel and the Jews, yet the monotone we hear is that Iran is a threat to Israel. In fact, we just made a deal to provide ramped up arms to the Saudis!! The Iranians must think that if they did more to harm Americans, they'd get arms deals and all kinds of loot - but more likely, in my opinion, the deciding factor is how closely tied they are or aren't to the Bush family and its cronies. If Iran went into business with the Bushes the way the Saudis have long done, they would probably be treated as though they walked on water.

But, that not being the case, Iran policy is a nexus of hypocrisy. We demand that Iran cease a nuclear weapons program that we're not even sure they have, and that may have been started under the Shah, with our help, while actively encouraging India to expand it's nuclear program, including presumably its weapons programs, while ignoring the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which at the same time we hold threateningly over Iran's head.

Dizzy yet?
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