WALKING ON THIN ICE

WEIRD WORLD

Just read some articles, “Lieberman Threatens War With Iran” and “Cheney’s Iran-Arms-to-Taliban Gambit Rebuffed“…

In the first article, Lieberman says Iranians are arming Taliban insurgents to come across the border into Iraq, and says we should bomb Iran.

The second article describes the media campaign that was inflicted upon US news sources recently. A number of articles have come out, attributed to anonymous alarmist sources, claiming that Iran is arming the Taliban. In one of the most striking articles, ABC reported that NATO officials said they’d caught Iran “red-handed” shipping arms and explosives to the Taliban.

Turns out this was propaganda. In a startling admission, Defense Secretary Gates and the commander of NATO in Afghanistan Gen. Dan McNeil said it was bunk. As a matter of fact, the Taliban and the Iran government are adversaries.

This is really really weird. It’s REALLY STRANGE when the MILITARY is protecting us! I mean, come ON… Robert Gates is the check against Cheney and Lieberman?!? It’s also really strange because at the same time these power goons (Cheney, Lieberman) advocate invading Iran ostensibly because of Iraq, Bush is considering using Iran as a broker in Iraq according the Baker Hamilton Report. Last week Bush said he’s supported the Baker Hamilton Report all along. Meanwhile, Cheney thinks Bush is going soft on the war, so rumor has it he’s going to try to “constrain Bush’s choices.”

I think the recent truth to power by official appointees is the result of what happened to Tenet and Libby. Smart appointees aren’t gonna take the fall for the big bad guys.

And remember Ashcroft? Turns out he wasn’t as terrible as he could’ve been. He refused (ailing from his hospital bed) to capitulate when Gonzales asked him to sign papers to unleash more wiretap offenses against US citizens. This was a weird middle-of-the-night intimidation visit over Ashcroft in his hospital bed, per Bush’s order. Fortunately, someone tipped him off, so Ashcroft called in some witnesses for the meeting. Maybe Gonzales’ goons woulda snuffed him otherwise?

Back to the media campaign against Iran: What’s terrible about this is that many people try to inform themselves by — for example –listening to NPR with innocent ears. They are channeled into buying into the propaganda machine.

Reality’s getting really really weird in a bizarrely hopeful way when people who are part of the machine turn against the masters. Good for them. Perhaps those who rise through military meritocracy are the only capable defense against draft dodging war monger plutocrats.

Now, if Gates could just stop envisioning a “North Korea” style occupation of Iraq (he wants us to be in Iraq in our 107 permanent bases there for fifty more years with a scaled-down force of 30,000 troops)…