According to Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill the Dubya Administration began laying the groundwork for an invasion of Iraq just days after Dubya took office in January 2001.
That's "days" not "months" not "years".
9-11 had nothing to do with invading Iraq . Anybody with common sense and a fourth grade reading comprehension level knows that.
But there is something about finding out that this was in planning only days after his inauguration that tastes almost treasonous.
How many of you recall Dubya's plans to take us into war being mentioned in any of his campaign speeches during election 2000?
I didn't think so.
He didn't mention it because he wouldn't have been elected if he had.
He wouldn't have been elected because that's not what we wanted.
His speech writer, David Frum, the genius that came up with the "Axis of Evil" Legion of Doom cliché to describe Iraq, North Korea, and Iran wrote a book with Pentagon Advisor Richard Perle called "An End to Evil," which advocates the so-called neo-conservative use of military force to pacify the world.
If you haven't noticed Dubya seems to be an enthusiastic padawan.
According to O'Neil , Dubya entered office in January 2001 intent on invading Iraq and was in search of a way to go about it.
"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it," said O'Neill . "The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this."'
9-11 gave him his reason.
Suddenly we wanted it.
Someone on the message board opened my eyes the other day to something that I had honestly never thought of before.
It forever changed the way I will see politics in America .
When I think of a presidential candidates "credibility" I think of it in terms of credentials.
Has this person served in public office before?
Have they been in a position of leadership?
Have they spent time outside of this country for any period of time which might give them a clue regarding foreign affairs?
These are about three of about twenty I can think of.
I never understood why conservatives never seem to see credentials as important. They seem to hold this idea that you can be a fucking chimp, just surround yourself with people that know how to do their jobs.
Well this person on the message board explained to me why they feel this way using two words.
Alpha Male.
When all you are looking for is an Alpha Male he doesn't have to be personally qualified to do shit.
An Alpha Male is a term used in the animal kingdom to coin the top dog in species that organize themselves in a peeking order.
But don't get it twisted, a human Alpha male doesn't have to have to be able to run the fastest, leap the highest, howl the loudest, piss the furthest or have the biggest teeth.
All he has to do is look the part. Be as palatable to the American people as possible. Here I am getting into heated debates with conservatives that didn't know where to take the first step in coming up with a list of criteria that they should have to meet if they are interested in the office of President of the United States.
This was disturbing to me to say the least because was I to assume then that they don't have any criteria that they look for when they are going to the voting booth to select a presidential candidate?
" I can't imagine not voting for Bush ," said William Miller , a 66-year-old retiree from Hartsville , S.C. , who calls himself a political independent. " I'm very glad he was in office on 9-11. I feel like he's got a good handle on what we have to do in the international arena, and his economic polices seem to be coming around ."
Before a few days ago I was incapable of understanding that statement.
Well the Alpha Male theory explains this.
The president is the Alpha Male of the United States "pack" if you will.
I don't claim to be a forensic psychologist but Dubya, like most wanna-be dictators, they see themselves as "compassionate conservatives" if you will. None of them see themselves as cruel but rather they just know what's best for the people that they rule. Couple that with the desire to give them "what they need" whether they like it or not and you have the foundation of every dictator that has ever ruled anywhere on the earth.
Dubya just needs to give off the impression that he will kick ass (remember his statement to Iraqi resistance after Baghdad fell when he urged them to "bring them on?) and those that subscribe to the Alpha Male theory are satisfied.
Too many Americans think your propensity to use military strength to impose our will on others is the ultimate compliment to the Alpha Male.
Yet they claim to not understand dictators.
They point the finger at oppressive dictatorships in other countries all the while Dubya is signing into law through the Patriot Acts parts 1 and 2, the right for law enforcement to tap the phone in your house, look into your financial records or hold you in prison without being formally charged without you even being a suspect of a crime.
My definition of America is a nation based on the cultural acceptance in the inviolateness of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I believe the men and women in the U.S. military should be trained to give their lives to fight for our freedom of speech, press, assembly, the separation of Church and state, the right to bear arms and worship whatever God we choose without persecution or fear.
Not to secure oil reserves and lucrative government contracts for private businesses to make a fast buck or to get back at some towel head that tried to kill your daddy.
Unless I don't understand what being an American is about I don't believe that George W. Bush believes in American values.
He seems to believe in the values of imperialism or the desire expressed through policy to extend our nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations.
Which takes us back to the neo-conservative use of military force to pacify the world.
O'Neill who sat with Dubya during numerous meetings during the first 2 years after the Dubya administration's coup d'etat describes Dubya as a disengaged president who didn't encourage debate either at Cabinet meetings or in one-on-one meetings with his Cabinet secretaries.
"I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to engage ( Bush ) on. ... I was surprised it turned out me talking and the president just listening. It was mostly a monologue."
O'Neill said that he got the feeling that Bush "was like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people."
Dubya is not only "not my president" but he doesn't even represent, in my opinion, the values that make me proud to be an American.
In fact, I believe he misrepresents America and what we are supposed to stand for.
I am proud to be an American but ashamed of where he is turning America . And what frustrates me the most is that he is doing this with what appears to be the full complicity of a public that would make him a God as long as he continues to promise to protect them from terrorism.
"For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap," O'Neill said according to an excerpt of the interview that CBS released Saturday.
All jokes aside.
Dubya does want to take over the world. I honestly believe that.
Unfortunately for too many Americans that is exactly what makes him the most qualified man in America to run America .
Herd mentality at its finest.