What is wrong with us?

This country is careening towards another ill-advised war, and Americans don't seem to really care.

Maybe it's not that they don't care (or maybe they don't realize how close we really are), but they are resigned to the fact that the Administration is going to make war when they want, and on who they want without any regard to Congress (and Congress certainly didn't help by giving them a blank check by designating the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization - I bet Dick Cheney cackled with glee like a mad man when he found that out), or any regard to the desires of the American people.

The President intimated that we were on the brink of WWIII (oh, right, sorry, that was just a "rhetorical flourish"). Then, in the speech below, the Vice President said there would be "serious consequences" if the Iranians continue on this course (reminds me of the movie A Few Good Men where there is the exchange with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson about "Grave Danger" and then he says "Is there any other kind")

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/21/cheney.iran.ap/index.html

The thing Americans seem to forget is that THIS IS NOT RHETORIC with the Vice President. He said what he meant before we went into Iraq, and he's saying what he's meaning now. These aren't idle threats or saber rattling.

They are carefully and meticulously building a case, then at some point they will say "we tried diplomacy and it didn't work" so now we have to take action.

It is absolutely amazing how closely this parallels the run up to the war in Iraq. For instance, the Vice President is sure that the Iranians are pursuing these weapons. He said the same thing about the Iraqi's pre-war (of course a lot of Conservatives believe the fiction that those weapons somehow disappeared into Syria - hey, maybe that's what the Israeli's were hitting last month? The missing WMD's?)

Well, they were wrong about Iraq - of course in their twisted logic, they were not wrong - true Saddam didn't actually have any weapons (except of course the ones that are now in Syria), but, you know he had the CAPABILITY to make the weapons. Even the capability was enough, and the VP said on several occasions (I have the quotes on this blog) that even if he knew then what he knew now, he'd STILL have done it (invaded Iraq).

WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE EVER TRUST ANYTHING THEY HAD TO SAY AGAIN???? Are there actually Americans who still believe the Administration?????

Let's project forward to when the attack happens. It will have to be a massive sustained campaign to make a difference. Dropping a few bombs on a few targets will do nothing to dissuade the Iranians from doing anything, and after it's over, they'll just go right back to whatever they are allegedly doing. So, the real issue, in my opinion is NOT about weapons at all, but about attempting regime change.

A lot of Neocons have this fantasy (much like we'd be welcomed as liberators in Iraq with wine and flowers), that if we attack Iran, the dissidents will rise up against the government. Right. What usually happens when your country is attacked? Usually, no matter what your political affiliation, when YOUR country is attacked by foreign forces you are going to usually rally to your country. This, incidentally is what's going on in Iraq too.

The economy will be a shambles. Remember, our economy is TOTALLY based on the idea of cheap, plentiful energy. That will change very quickly. If you can even get oil, it will be very expensive. But hey, what does the VP care? He won't have to wait in line (or endure the violence because of the scarcity), or scramble around for a few gallons of gas just to get to work. He gets chauffeured around, and someone buys all of his gas (actually, you do).

The scariest thing is what might happen to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bill Lind (and everyone should read Bill Lind at www.d-n-i.net, he is simply writing the best, most coherent analysis on the war, and has been for quite some time) has said that we could actually lose the ENTIRE Army in Iraq because of an inability to fight our way out through Shiite country. Shiites who are going to be plenty upset when you topple the government in Iran.

It is interesting how both Afghanistan and Iraq say all the time how the Iranians are a positive force in the region. You know that has to drive the Administration NUTS.

Is there anyone who can stop this war? Is there anything that can be said to stop it? I really believe literally that only God can stop it. And, according to the President, John Hagee and some of the other Left Behind believing characters, God is on our side, loves us more than all the worlds other peoples, and talks to the President and tells him what to do.

These are certainly scary times for rational thinking people.