“This rash grant of immunity,” wrote Rep. Henry Waxman (D. CA), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in a letter to Secretary of State Rice, “was an egregious misjudgment.” Indeed, Waxman wants to know “who conferred the immunity, who approved it at the State Department, and what their motives were.”

Immunity? Gee, I thought immunity was part of the pot sweetener. Paul Bremmer’s fabled Memorandum 17 guaranteed immunity from prosecution to US contractors operating in Iraq in 2003. US contractors in Iraq are governed by laws that are many, various, contradictory and as full of holes as Swiss cheese after the rats gorge themselves.

It seems everyone is equal under the law… however; some are more equal than others.

What was once a sick joke, Blackwater is morphing into a threat to American civil liberties. In addition to their 7,500-acre training facility in North Carolina, Blackwater now has designs on an 850-acre “base” in fire prone Potrero Canyon outside San Diego, California.

Under the direction of self-made billionaire Erik Prince, with his fundamentalist Christian beliefs and generous support of the Republican Party, has Blackwater USA bought the rights to be George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s Praetorian Guard?

Whatever the agenda, we know that “those two” prefer force to persuasion. And what can we expect in the coming year? Biblical Armageddon? An expanding military empire to control of the earth’s remaining fossil fuels? For the ruthless ideologues, the end justifies the means.

Just like the sagacious Richard Perle, I know you are asking yourself this question: “Aren't the real ‘ideologues’ the people who refuse to let hard facts and adverse experience alter their thinking or change their behavior?”

Well, that’s sound logic.

With one year left before Election 2008, you have to ask if there really will be an election. Joel Hirschhorn suggests that voting is “a political narcotic” that is now “used to legitimize a corrupt, two-party failed government.” Bush and Cheney are proof. Except for the sake of appearances, “those two” don’t need elections.

See, that’s the beauty of starting WW III: a nuclear holocaust might just get in the way of those League of Women Voters hosted debates, the busy workings of the national conventions, and of balloting on election day. Not one but two “Presidential Directives” signed by Bush give him dictatorial powers, if, “in his opinion,” a “national crisis” necessitates a postponement… Until when? The next Stone Age?

Any rational person looking at the United States today might claim that the “national crisis” was going on right now and that it has been caused by Bush’s dictatorial power grabs. Logically an impeachment of both Bush and Cheney seems imperative. But impeachment turns out to be the one option “off the table.”

And let us not forget the death of habeas corpus through the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in case our collective amnesia is acting up again.

That’s the fun and games at home.

What about the rest of the world? What do “those two” have in mind? Which brings us to Iran, a country that held 60,000 strong candle light vigils to honor the dead Americans in the wake of 9/11.

Long has it been since Iran and the United States maintained “overt” diplomatic relations. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the US covertly sold weapons to Iran. The murky tale of Iran-Contra makes one wonder if US-Iranian relations have been closer than we have been led to believe. And yet, peaceful overtures offered by Iranian leaders, as well as direct talks recommended by wiser Americans, have been repeatedly rejected by “those two.”

Never mind past history. It is more complicated than your child’s Everyday Math program and, it is as easily forgotten as last month’s Dancing With the Stars rejects. And now everybody wants to get into the act.

Today, Iran is bent on developing nuclear power for peaceful means. Or so they claim. With a better track record than US intelligence, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed El Baradei has found no evidence to the contrary. Bush/Cheney, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Israeli Hawks do not believe the Iranians despite assurances by the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, to prevent a nuclear Armageddon resulting from Iran using nuclear weapons, which they don’t have and may not be seeking, the United States looks ready to use nuclear weapons to start a nuclear Armageddon. More sound logic!

Nukes are ok… if it’s your Empire that owns and threatens to use them. According to the Neocon agenda, a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. But a nuclear-armed Pakistan is just fine and dandy. Nukes owned by the US and its friends are only for “peaceful” purposes… like starting a nuclear Armageddon.

Consider older and recent Bush/Cheney saber rattling. As plans for nuclear strikes on Iran have been drawn up Bush warns of WW III. Do “those two” intend to start WW III using the excuse of preventing WW III?

Miss Manners assure me that there are to be no RSVP cards in your invitation to World War III. The favor of a reply will not be required… just your “patriotic” sacrifice.

Last August, in what is another justification for attacking Iran, Congress declared that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force to be a “specially designated global terrorist” organization. Tit for tat: Tehran responded by declaring the C.I.A and the U.S Army to be terrorist organizations. Well, at least somebody is telling the truth.

In other news, Ian Bruce, Defense Correspondent of the Herald (Scotland), reports: “The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.” Bruce describes plans to utilize “experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete.”

But what if all the fuss over Iran’s nuclear program is just another excuse?

With a little more than one year “officially” remaining in the reign of Bush II, will “those two” bow out gracefully… if at all? Going out — or staying in — with a bang is much more in character. Bush revels in the role of Decider too much to retire to his ranch quietly as an… “Elder Statesman.” He’ll need a body double for that role. And I hear they’re sold out. The spidery Cheney has worked his entire career to obtain the reins of power. Do you think he’s going to relinquish them to go quail hunting with, or without, his lawyer?

All “those two” need is an excuse — Iran looks to be the one — to start WW III. Then they can remain in power, pursue their delusions of being the next Genghis Khan or Ottomans, and “conquer” the Middle East while they hire private “security contractors” like Blackwater to lockdown a belatedly outraged US citizenry.

We may have only one year left to cry in.

Elizabeth Gyllensvard contributed to and edited this story.

 

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