Where we stand... or are stood on

A much bigger story is unfolding: the epic collapse of the Bush Administration.(...) When Bush came to office--installed by the Supreme Court after receiving fewer votes than Al Gore--I speculated that the new President would have to govern in a bipartisan manner to be successful. He chose the opposite path, and his hyper-partisanship has proved to be a travesty of governance and a comprehensive failure. I've tried to be respectful of the man and the office, but the three defining sins of the Bush Administration--arrogance, incompetence, cynicism--are congenital: they're part of his personality. They're not likely to change. And it is increasingly difficult to imagine yet another two years of slow bleed with a leader so clearly unfit to lead. Joe Klein - Time Magazine

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I was hunting around for an image to express the situation the United States finds itself in today, and I pulled up this surrealistic still from an ancient Laurel and Hardy masterwork. I think is speaks much more clearly than the Joe Klein clipping I've tacked underneath it.

America's situation, like the one Laurel and Hardy find themselves, is impossible. There is no way out. A gag writing genius came up with theirs, but one of the biggest jerks in the history of the United States has come up with ours. Truly a nightmare! Impeachment is out of the question... President Cheney? President Rice? President Pelosi? Who's on first? Like a mule in a hail storm we just have to stand here and take it till its over.

Perhaps the most painful part is that this wound is self inflicted. Knowing full well who they had as president the American people re-elected him.

I lived through the Spanish "transition" from Franco's dictatorial, fascist regime to a democracy. Most Spanish people were voting for the first time in their lives. It was beautiful... They were very careful with their votes. Franco had taken control by way of a coup d'etat followed by a bloody civil war. Franco was supported by a powerful minority: Church, army, landowners. A Spanish version of Bush's "base". The majority of Spaniards opposed Franco and fought him tooth and nail until they were overpowered. They gave it their best shot, lost and then they were put in front of firing squads, imprisoned, tortured, humiliated and oppressed for nearly forty years... But at least they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had never actually voted for Franco. DS

The essential Iraq

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The important things to keep in mind while following the political battle over Iraq in Washington is:

• The way the United States entered Iraq stinks

• The way the United States has acted in Iraq stinks

• The way the United States leaves Iraq, for sure, will... stink too. We've been through this before... The US always deserts its allies and leaves them holding the bag and then worries about its "syndrome". And Hollywood makes a lot of films about how we actually won... And people ask, "what would Jesus do?" as if Jesus would have ever gotten himself into such a mess.
  

The United States has destroyed its "brand" in Iraq. Nobody can take Americans seriously anymore except as shoppers.

What does that mean?

Imagine if Coca Cola had mysteriously poisoned several thousand people. "Great", you say, they go out of business.

Not so fast. What about all the jobs and the families that depend on them... Mortgages, health plans, pensions, children's education, etc, etc. As we saw with the Soviet Union, (and Enron) when a great structure collapses it is no joke. What would Coca Cola have to do to regain its lost prestige?

First, it would have to discover how the hypothetical poisoning happened, who and what was responsible. If there was criminal negligence or malice aforethought... people would have to go to jail, right up to the chairman and if the chairman's policies were responsible, especially the chairman. And then they would have to pay heavy reparations to all the victims and their families. Maybe then, only just maybe, people all over the world could hear again about how "things go better" or "the real thing" or about 'pauses that refresh' with out vomiting or running for the exits.

That is more or less where things are now. The world system ("really-existing-capitalism") depends to a great extent on America's credibility... even if we aren't in agreement with the system; like it or not we are all stakeholders and if it collapses we will suffer...

That credibility will not be restored by further martyrizing of the people of Iraq... There is no credibility to be gained in Iraq now if there ever was any to begin with. Credibility can only be restored by the USA, in the USA itself. How?

By holding public hearings, Nuremberg-type "show trials" if you will, publicly investigating how this war happened, punishing the offenders, especially Bush and Cheney... (Impeachment isn't good enough). And finally formal apologies to the people of Iraq and payments to the victims (not contracts for Halliburton to "reconstruct"). Cash they can spend any way they want, visas, scholarships, green cards, you name it. People everywhere would respect that and if they didn't respect it they could kiss our ass, because it would be the right thing to do. At least we could respect ourselves and that's a good place to start.

Is this possible? Well, America is a place where impossible things happen all the time and have been happening for hundreds of years... So, why not? The capacity to pleasantly surprise itself and others may be the only national characteristic that can save the USA now. DS

Surge: learn nothing, forget nothing

The Nightmare, 1781, Henry Fuseli

"Two months after Americans spoke decisively on Election Day, the president is determined to overrule them. Our long national nightmare in Iraq, far from being over, is about to get a second wind."
Frank Rich - New York Times

“They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing”
Charles M. de Talleyrand, 1754-1838

“It is easier to stay out than get out.”
Mark Twain, 1835-1910

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Impeachment... trying Bush, hanging Saddam

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A reader of this blog has asked me what I think about impeaching Bush. Frankly, I think it would be time consuming and a self-indulgent, feel-good, media circus. There are only two years left to his "reign". What I think would be useful, good for America's image, "healing", if you like that terminology, would be to remit Bush to the Hague to be tried for war crimes when his term is up. Political agitation for his trial by the international court, even if it wasn't successful, would be productive for progressive politics everywhere. The important thing is to clarify how and why this present situation came to be. Impeachment is a political circus whereby by politicians showboat, whereas something like the Milosevic treatment for Bush would really pull back the carpet. Trials can clarify or obscure. For example, there is a great hurry now to hang Saddam Hussein in order to keep him from talking about America's involvement with his regime in the 80s and its complicity with his use of poisonous gas. Obviously in Saddam's case the object of his trial is to silence him. DS