No End in Sight

George W. Bush. Dick Cheney. Donald Rumsfeld. Paul Wolfowitz. Condoleezza Rice. If reading those names, if seeing those faces doesn’t make you feel vaguely like vomiting by now … there is no hope for you. You’ll be a fascist all your life. This movie unfolds like the main case for the prosecution in the trials for war crimes, corruption, and criminal incompetence that should be the first order of business for the new Democratic president in January of 2009. I kept thinking like this: Even if you take the most forgiving stance possible here, even if you believe that Saddam was in cahoots with Al Qaeda (and there’s never been a shred of evidence he was), even if you believe this war was necessary (and I totally disagree), even if you don’t concede that the main thing it has accomplished, geopolitically, is to empower Iran by plunging its ancient enemy into chaos from which it may never recover … even if you believe all these things (and I know some idiots do) … these people should still be prosecuted for the most inept handling of a war and its aftermath the world has ever seen. Not one of the chickenhawks who planned it and who, time and again, ignored the advice of military and State Department experts … not one of them had ever heard a shot fired in anger. Most of them had never even worn a uniform, not even in the National Guard. They have dishonored my country, sold it out, squandered centuries of respect, made it the most hated country in the world, and raped and pillaged it for a handful of companies who, at the moment, are bringing in profits they never dreamed possible (I mean you, Exxon-Mobil). All to bring you cheap oil … and have you checked the price at the pump and compared it to what you were paying before GWB and thugs stole the election? They couldn’t even get that right! The war was fought for cheap oil, and we don’t even have cheap oil! And they will leave a 10 trillion dollar debt for the next Democratic president to deal with, and your children and grandchildren. Friends, we’ve gone way beyond debating whether Bush has been the worst president this country has ever seen. We are now trying to answer the question “Can we survive what they’ve done?” And if the answer is yes (I’m far from sure), how long will it take to regain all the lost ground? I have to quit here, I think I’m going to puke …