by Molly Ivors
So, apparently we're going to war.
Again.
A British newspaper alleges that "the balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour [sic] of military action" before President George W. Bush leaves office.
The Manchester Guardian's "Washington source" said neither Bush or Vice President Cheney trust any future president -- Republican or Democrat -- to deal with Iran "decisively." They're also anxious about an Israeli attack, the paper reports.
Inside the Administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have come out against a military strike on Iran. Vice President Cheney, however, continues to push for military action, both according to the paper and previous reports by RAW STORY.
Last year, Bush came down in favor of Rice. Last month in a meeting with Pentagon and State Department officials, according to the Guardian, he favored Cheney -- who cites little progress in an ongoing standoff.
In a desperate attempt to save his legacy, Bush is going with the one person who has done the most to destroy it, and with it American stature and safety abroad, our ability to wage war on genuine Bad Guys, the economy here at home, and the numerous puppies and kittens he eats like popcorn: Dick Cheney.
When GWB was elected, I thought he'd be a bad president. Like, distracted bad. An amiable doofus, not really understanding that he was running the most powerful country in the world rather than the marketing department at his dad's wicket factory. And that would have sucked, because for all Clinton's flaws (and the difference between us and the wingnuts is that we can admit that even presidents we generally support have flaws), he was a smart, smart man who read up on things and thought about them and sometimes made bad decisions, but at least engaged all the options on the table before doing so. Having been accustomed to a thinking president, we were bracing ourselves for the effects of an unthinking one, elected by a minority of Americans based on his haveabeerability. And it would be bad, but bad by omission rather than commission, or at least, that's what I thought that summer, long ago. Not for a moment did I expect this administration to be the completely morally bankrupt and blood-soaked clusterfuck it has become.
When the history of this era is written, it will focus on Cheney, on his power grabs and score-settling and money-grubbing and pernicious hypocrisy.
And now he wants to go to Iran, and like a spoiled child, he might get what he wants. Fucking insane.
Look, George. I know you like dressing up and playing The Decider and you like the fact that Dick does all your work for you, leaving you free to drink or scrapbook or type in funny google searches or whatever the hell it is you do in your leisure time. But this guy is fucking crazy. He chose himself to be your number two because he knew you when you were a cokehead chickenhawk, the son of his hand-picked Chief of the CIA; he knew you were not too bright and always looking for the easy way out of difficulties. He probably fantasized then about what he might be able to do with your advantages of birth and money.
As he wormed his way into your confidence, gradually replacing even your most shallow and callow impulses with his own megalomaniacal warmongering, you felt like a big man, finally mixing it up with grownups. Dad's friends, at last letting you sit at the Big Table. But you've been had. and in being had, you've exposed us all to Dick.
You want to save your legacy? You want to win back the American people? Cut him loose. Listen to Condi and other people who expect to have a future: not to Scorched-Earth Dick. Appoint someone just as competent but slightly less evil to begin transitioning out out Iraq and saving your own scrawny, blotchy skin. Get someone like James Baker or Mike Duncan or even Karl to subtly suggest that maybe Cheney doesn't have it where it counts anymore, that supporting his impeachment, or even his voluntary removal to deal with his variety of health problems, won't necessarily cost you election funds in 2008. Because frankly, George, it's the only chance you've got.
Dick Cheney's imagination (artist's conception):