Hi Lindy.
Since SUnday we have been posting about the theory of the Neocon's demise because they had not been honest about their intentions. They failed to explain the Neocon/Hegemony ideology as the reason for the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Rather, they repeatedly hyped Al Queda and WMD's every chance they got to trick the American Public.
I posted an article about their demise here:http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=19151856
You dissed it here:
Message 19151887
One of my points has been that I was surprise about how the Press seems to be turning against the Neocons (I think this is evidence of the beginning of the end.). This was plainly evident by the way Russert of NBC challenged Wolfie last SUnday Morning. Russert has been pitching soft balls to Wolfie, Cheney, Fried Rice and RUmmy all along. Last Sunday he was in Wolfie's face like Wolfie was a Democratic Presidential Nominee.
Continued confrontation by the mainstream press is the death knell for the Neocon Cabal.
For those who missed last Sunday mornings NBC-Russert-Wolfie Show, I provide a blow by blow :
"But... but... but... that Saddam was a torturer!"
Not two seconds after the program introduction, Tim immediately confronted Paul "Wolfie" Wolfowitz with the uptick in violence against Americans in Iraq after the killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein (five dead in 24 hours). Wolfie assiduously avoided discussion of the increasing death toll, instead trying to put the focus on the overthrow of the tyrannical Saddam Hussein.
We noticed a strange, gleeful glint in Tim's eye. He'd picked up on the vehemence of Wolfie's "We were goddamn justified in overthrowing that evil tyrant" spin, a bullet point Wolfie had deployed awfully early in the interview -- and we could tell we were in for some real fun.
We were not disappointed.
Tim thereupon smacked Wolfie around over that ill-conceived "mission accomplished" banner that had been prominently pinned across the aircraft carrier from which "Top Bum" Bush Jr. had declared an end to "major combat operations" against Saddam's inept armed forces. Wolfie was stupid enough to step right into the brown sauce, spinning the "mission accomplished" banner as saying the mission of the pilots on the carrier had been accomplished. (You mean Rove wasn't trying to send a message to the America people that "We won and we kicked his ass real good"?) And Wolfie again began talking about Iraq having been under a "criminal regime" (as if we don't know it -- and as if overthrowing a tin-pot tyrant somehow makes the bungled postwar planning forgivable). Tim said Gen. Tommy Franks had predicted that Saddam would be "captured" in 60 days -- when will he be captured? (And note that Tim is saying "captured" as opposed to "offed with a half dozen missiles in a showdown with a US force 100 times the size of his bodyguard entourage"). Wolfie complimented Franks before again turning to how evil Saddam was and calling Saddam, his kids and his top echelon of accomplices "rapists, torturers and murderers" (no duh, Wolfie).
Tim then quoted part of a Friday Boston Globe in which Sen. Dick Lugar slammed the sloppy planning for postwar Iraq and and the high cost of stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq. Wolfie tried to excuse himself and Little George as he whined on about the complexity of planning a postwar operation (oh, yes, Paulie War-nuts -- it's just too complicated to deal with, so it's better to skip it entirely and assume you can stabilize Iraq with "Operation Seat of Our Pants" -- which has quickly morphed into "Operation Hoist on Our Own Petard").
Tim then needled Wolfie about Lugar's assertion that the war planners had been "naive" about the resources needed to control Iraq after the war (you could see Wolfie starting to glare -- he was visibly enraged that "their" boy Russert seems now to have turned on the Department of Defense to the point where Rumsfeld may commission a deck of NBC News "enemies of the regime" playing cards) -- and then jumped down Wolfowitz' throat about criticizing Gen. Shinseki when in fact he had Wolfie himself underestimated the number of troops needed to stabilize postwar Iraq. You could see Wolfie's discomfort, but he managed to keep his voice calm as he said that debating the issue is "not productive (translation: it makes us look bad, so get off the goddamn subject, Russert) -- and that the estimates were "not wildly different" (of course, that's dependent on what the meaning of "wildly divergent" is).
Wolfie then tried to push his other big spin point: it is time to enlist Iraqis in the defense of their national and infrastructure. But it got knocked aside as Tim made it clear he was not through applying the big spank as he then brought up Wolfie's assertions that Iraq had WMDs, was supporting terrorism, and Saddam abused Iraq's citizens. Tim then undermined Wolfie's constant reminders about what an awful, awful human being Saddam is by pointing out that this last point alone is not enough to justify military action, and then dashed the first two points -- and even mentioned that Wolfie had said point three is not sufficient justification for war. Wolfie claimed that the justification was based on WMDs and Iraq's alleged nuclear program. So Tim jumped all over Wolfie using comments from a National Intelligence Estimate that said that there was insufficient evidence to show an ongoing nuclear program in Iraq. Wolfie's response? He unconvincingly parsed certain words in the estimate Tim quoted before saying that preemptive war is justified.
Finally, Tim quoted Rep. Porter Goss saying that there's no sign of a massive WMD program -- let alone weapons. Wolfie tried in vain to use Big Time Dick's recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute claiming that Iraq had WMD programs and claiming a president would be negligent not to act. (Oh, we see -- diplomacy is not an acceptable means of acting in Smirk World)
Tim suggested that the problem could have been solved without war. Wolfie talked about Khobar Towers -- and Tim jumped in: is Iraq tied to that attack? Wolfie slipped, answering, "Oh, yes" before suddenly realizing he'd made a boo-boo and saying, "No, no" -- and then slipped right back into his song and dance about how horrible Saddam was.
Tim said that former CIA director John Deutsch has told Congress that a failure to find WMDs would mean that there's been a "massive intelligence failure" (Tim underscored those three words -- knowing full well they'd be kicked around in the next segment and that they've been turning up with increasing frequency on the cable news outlets) and that there would have been no justification for war. The best Wolfie could do was say that the CIA under Deutsch thought those weapons were there, then groused about Deutsch talking about intelligence failures and mentioning that Saddam had kids tortured. Tim said that if WMDs are not located, the administration should admit that there was an intelligence failure. Wolfie talked about training Iraq's civilian police force and a woman who had talked to police recruits about being tortured by Saddam and Uday. "Think about it, Tim."
And in a follow-up, Wolfie was so stupid to claim that if the government had decided to go after Osama bin Laden to prevent Sept. 11, 2001, people would say, "You don't have proof!" This gave Tim a chance to slap Wolfie over the fact that things are not going well in Afghanistan.
Will our troops be going into Liberia? Wolfie gave no specific answer but suggested they'd be prepared to help evacuate Charles Taylor.
Tim reminded Wolfie that there is a second commission looking into the 9/11/01 failures, and Tom Kean has blasted the Department of Defense for obstructing the investigation. Will DOD take steps cooperate? Wolfie claimed they have -- and they will.
(We don't believe him.)
,b>Tim did manage to preempt Wolfie from being able to use a spin point he had made on FAUX News Sunday: "The nature of terrorism is that intelligence about terrorism is murky.... I think the lesson of 9/11 is that if you're not prepared to act on the basis of murky intelligence, then you're going to have to act after the fact, and after the fact now means after horrendous things have happened to this country."
It would've been fun to see Tim jump right down his throat about the nature of all that murky, selective "intelligence" about Iraq allegedly trying to buy uranium in Africa. That was pretty damn murky, along with all that intelligence that showed Iraq sitting on as much as 500 tons of chemical weapons. Tim would also have had a field day about all the "horrendous things have happened to this country" since our preemptive invasion of Iraq: mounting casualties, massive expenditures, and greatly reduced international prestige and trust
The press is turning on the Neocons. The free pass has been revoked. The cannons are turning. TIme line will tell.
Rascal @reasonsforhope.com |
