Thanks, Hubris 'R Us, is the problem, making all other problems (war profiteering, etc.) worse. Since Junior is a nullity, the piece is about the madarins, and says it well:
"the same group of supremely smug advisers still motors to the White House for Cabinet and other meetings. They still clutch their secrets away from prying eyes and invoke the war to reject inquiry. They pretend that they always knew what they were doing even though, manifestly, they did not."
What is going to make the investigations inevitable is the insistance that what happend, had to happen, and yet blame Clinton, and yet say everything is fine, now, with the current group... They think the public is stupid and easily manipulated. Their polls tell them. The polls are being misinterpreted.
I happen to meet LBJ when he was at the WH. His paw was the size of a dinner plate, shaking hands with that 11yr old Boy Scout. Later during Vietnam war I concluded he had been a typical Beltway politician, in every way, beholden to the WWII warrior mentality that took over under Truman. The movie didn't change my opinion.
It's a combination of hubris, alright, driven by a military mentality, when America did not demobilize after WWII as in prior wars, but continued to pursue Russia, and eventually many others. Truman didn't drop the atomic bomb to end that war, all his generals including LeMay were against it. He did it to warn Stalin. And off to the races we went.
The only way to reduce military dependence is find a fact pattern indicating it would be reasonable to do so, and if that exists, it isn't public. Before 9/11, the public was still hearing how we need to fund an unlimited number wars, even non-"terrorist" wars like Columbia. Until we can get full accountability of the $8 trillion spent since 1950, the argument will be moot, and expenditures will be in the hands of secretive warriors and their minions, and the oxymoronic "national security".
Now, of course, it's "all terror, all the time" in Washington, and you can cash that chip in for oil, weapons, and political capital. Unless you get caught lying about it, and if you don't come clean, you're done for.
Now, an series of major investigations is the only way forward, imo |
