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November
1, 2006
George W. Bush's Other Civil War
Triumph
of the Petropublicans
By RICHARD W. BEHAN
Almost every morning we read about the
scores of Iraqis tortured and slaughtered or blown up in the
past 24 hours by other Iraqis. The civil war there escalates
in violence with each passing tragic day. This is George Bush's
civil war, unleashed by his unprovoked invasion four years ago.
He is fomenting another one,
here at home.
The invasions of both Afghanistan
and Iraq were undertaken, respectively, to secure the pipeline
route from the Caspian Basin and to guarantee access to the enormous
inventories of Iraqi crude--in both cases to the colossal benefit
of American and British oil companies--and the "Global War
on Terror" is merely an elegant and fraudulent smokescreen.
This is not just another timeworn,
trite, and impressionistic rant: it is now a matter of documented
fact.
The attacks on the World Trade
Towers and the Pentagon in September of 2001 provided the Bush
Administration, either by design (the conspiracy theories) or
default (the reality ), with the rationales for both invasions.
But the planning for each of them was underway long before the
9/11: months in the case of Afghanistan, years in the case of
Iraq.
This deception--this crime--is
so outlandish and monstrous as to be scarcely credible. That
is why, very likely, it isn't front-and-center in public consciousness.
It is appalling to think a
President could and would gamble the military might, the foreign
policy, the public treasury, the lives of American service men
and women, and the historic prestige of the United States for
the commercial benefit of oil companies--our own and a few favored
in Britain. Early in the war this was a vague, unsubstantiated
suspicion, verbalized in protest rallies. But now the facts are
inescapable--if you are willing to read widely: the records
have been combed, the treatises written, and the case is closed.
The story is all there. Not
in the newspapers, not on the nightly television news, not in
magazines at the checkout counter. The story is found mostly
in book-length treatments, and in the accumulation of topical
pieces appearing on the Internet.
Those who want to read widely
might start with an excellent book by a conservative journalist,
Paul Sperry:Crude
Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism.
Mr. Sperry is the Washington Bureau Chief for WorldNetDaily.com,
and in the polarized parlance of today's politics his credentials
are Hard Right. His book is a detailed expose of the "war
on terror" for what it truly is: Crude Politics in every
ambiguous sense of the term. Mr. Sperry is no doubt a Republican.
Those with Hard Left credentials
are writing in parallel. Joshua Holland on the AlterNet website
described in minute detail the administrative mechanisms for
capturing Iraqi crude. His reporting, "Bush's Petro-Cartel
Almost Has Iraq's Oil," ran recently as a two part series.
Mr. Holland is no doubt a Democrat.
The motivated reader might
go next to Amazon.com and search for authors Kevin Phillips;
Craig Unger; David Corn; Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber; Christopher
Scheer, Robert Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry; Chalmers Johnson;
John Perkins; Greg Palast; David Bollier; David Korten; Ted
Nace; James Risen; Robert Parry; Richard Clarke; Ron Suskind;
and so on and on. The literature of the war is large and rich,
and across the political spectrum, those who see with clarity
agree the "war on terror" is simply a cover for dominating
the hydrocarbon riches of the Middle East.
The case is closed. But not,
perhaps, the military aggression: North Korea has exploded a
nuclear device, but the Petropublicans seem intent, even anxious,
to bomb Iran instead. Iran's oil and gas resources are huge.
The Petropublicans--the Bush
Administration, its oil industry clients, its savvy financial
supporters, and its clenched-teeth sycophants in Congress--are
not conservatives at all, or even traditional Republicans. The
foreign, domestic, and fiscal policies of the last six years
have been as radical as anything in our history, and the violations
of decent political behavior at home and respected diplomacy
abroad are insults to Americans--thinking Americans--of every
political stripe.
The violations were made possible
for two interlocking reasons. In the normal hubbub of public
affairs, American people don't (and didn't) expect such radicalism.
Public policy typically takes incremental steps, not quantum
leaps. And the spin, the secrecy, the deception, and the lies
of the Bush Administration were both unprecedented and initially
successful. Polls now show, thankfully, the smoke is thinning
and the Petropublicans are no longer trusted by a majority of
Americans.
Indeed, traditional Republicans
are turning against the Petropublicans with increasing rancor,
and with good reason: no one has been more savagely victimized
by George Bush than honest conservatives and decent, trusting
Republicans. Evangelical Christians, sincerely worried about
the ecological health of God's Creation, are turning vigorously
against the Bush Administration's indifference to global warming.
Other conservative groups are aghast at the Bush Administration's
breathtaking budget deficits. Many Republicans valuing individual
liberty above all cannot abide the assault on the Bill of Rights
by the Patriot Act or, more egregiously yet, by the recently
signed War Commissions Act. Still others, Christians with unshakeable,
fundamental faith, resent being called "nuts" by Whitehouse
insiders.
All these Republicans are at
least disenchanted.
There is, however, a sizeable
block of Republican voters who have not yet seen the "war
on terror" for what it is: an obscene, indefensible smokescreen
killing American kids (and Iraqis) for the sake of Exxon-Mobil,
Chevron, BP/Amoco, and Royal Dutch Shell. They have not yet
seen the hypocrisy of George Bush, nor what his Administration
has done to the wholesome and honorable heritage of the Republican
party. They have an unshakeable, perhaps an unexamined faith
in George Bush.
Should they prevail in the
upcoming midterm elections, George Bush will continue to have
a compliant, lapdog Congress.
That would be dangerous in
the extreme. The Democrats, skeptical by definition and outraged
by today's circumstance, will be joined in bitter disappointment
by many true, thinking Republicans who are outraged as well.
Such a coalition of outrage is not likely to disappear, and
it would certainly represent a majority of the American people.
Retaining the Petropublicans
in power, some have argued, would cement a one-party system into
place, encouraging (or ratifying) a fascist dictatorship.
The efforts to create a one-party
state, at least, are well documented. The cabal of Karl Rove,
Grover Norquist, Jack Abramoff, Rick Santorum, and Tom DeLay,
and their "K Street Project" and other such hijinks,
have been daylighted. A Petropublican victory in November, in
spite of the exposed scandals, might sustain one-party dominance
for a few more years.
But stable dictatorships require
a complacent body politic, and the outraged coalition will render
that impossible.
No, retaining the Petropublicans
in power is more likely to spark a civil war.
You could say the war has already
begun in Washington, D.C.
The Rove cabal's early successes
ignited a firestorm of acrimony in the nation's capital. In
the U.S. Congress, Republicans locked Democrats out of conference
committee deliberations. Democrats retaliated, invoking obscure
parliamentary gimmicks to obstruct Republicans. Partisan language
and divisiveness became bitter and savage without precedent.
A fundamental loyalty to democracy,
and to our country, has always conditioned and constrained Congressional
debates, which might be lively, but were always civil and courteous.
All this has been overridden and displaced by the unwavering
bludgeoning of the Republicans and angry, vicious counterattacks
by the Democrats.
In referring to Democrats
President Bush speaks of the Cut and Run Party. Democrats use
the term Party of Corruption to describe Republicans. These
are vitriolic, not merely hyperbolic descriptions. And the vile
smearing and negativity in campaign advertising demolishes the
mutual respect and civility a healthy democracy demands.
The depth of animosity between
partisan citizens throughout the country as well is sobering,
troubling, even frightening. When the heated rhetoric of politics
might escalate into physical actions, or even violence in the
countryside, cannot be foretold, but the ingredients are in place
and the trigger could take either of two forms.
If there is ANY evidence of
voting fraud in the coming election, there will be protest demonstrations
at the very least. There will be deafening calls for redress.
There may well be violence. The bitter polarization apparent
today will only intensify, and proceed in directions that are
impossible to see.
CounterPunch
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