Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Dick Morris on George W. Bush (via Mahablog)

Bush has truly become the Republican equivalent of President Jimmy Carter, out of control, dropping in popularity, unable to resume command. He barely skated through 2004 using the issue of terrorism. But his very success in preventing further attacks has eroded the strength of the issue and has undermined its political importance.

I never thought the Bush Administration was complicit in 9/11. But I thought they knew something was going to happen, something run-of-the-mill like a hijacking or an attack on a military target such as the U.S.S. Cole, only in the U.S. I think they had a pretty good inkling something was about to go down, and they let it. They just didn't know it was going to be as huge as it was. Hell, Osama bin Laden didn't know the towers would come down.

I do not doubt the sociopaths in charge are capable of such callous indifference in the name of power. It's how they and their families have gotten so wealthy. It's why so many scandals surround them all. They are fundamentally flawed, and power, money, and sexual depravity (actually, the last two are also related to the power issue) are the only things that fill the hole. It's how, with a smile on their faces, they get up and lie to us all every day and continue to commit their atrocities, large and small.

That they've gotten so far in life with their scheming and dishonesty only bolstered their belief in the rightness of their positions. They didn't want to invade Iraq for oil, for revenge, for democracy, for safety. They wanted to invade Iraq for D) All of the above. It was a perfect scheme that had so many "upsides."

Their megalomaniacal dreams made them believe they could invade Iraq with little trouble, get revenge on Saddam, get the populace on their side, create a democratic Middle Eastern friend for ourselves and Israel, break Opec's hold on Middle Eastern oil, prevent the replacement of dollars for euros in oil trades thus shutting out Europe and making our Chinese friends continue saving our economy, etc.

Okay, that was a lot about oil. But still, not really. It's about power and megalomaniacal dreams of world dominance. Oil is merely a tool to that end. If we replace oil with another valuable energy source, or any commodity or resource that is valued worldwide, that will be the tool.

Their unswerving belief in their own abilities and purposes is continually revealed. From the small stuff -- like using whatever dirty or illegal tactics they can to win an election -- to the big stuff -- like cherry-picking intelligence to justify an unnecessary war, leaking the name of a NOC and destroying her intelligence network related to Iran's nuclear capabilities -- they will do whatever is necessary to get to their goal.

That's why I'm getting very afraid, and not just that there will probably be another terrorist attack before Bush's term ends. "The ends justify the means." Often, when this phrase is used, "the ends" refers to a good outcome. But I'm afraid that "the ends" as it relates to the neo-con fever dream, will be much worse than any of the means they used to get there.