Republicans in Self-Destruct Mode

May 23, 2007

Applauding Torture and Giuliani's Put Down of Ron Paul
Republicans in Self-Destruct Mode
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

As everyone except for a dwindling band of Bush supporters now knows, the US is in a terrible situation in Iraq from which it cannot extract itself. For Bush and Cheney, their own pride and delusion are more compelling than US casualties, the destruction of Iraq and its people, and the inflaming of sectarian strife and anti-American violence throughout the Middle East.


Congress is complicit in the great strategic blunder. Republican flag-wavers led Americans like lemmings into the abyss. The Democrats have already abandoned the electorate that gave them Control of Congress six months ago in the false hope that the Democrats would corral the White House Moron and lead America out of the abyss.

(MG) Do not forget this … the DEMOCRATS have abandoned the electorate that gave them Control of Congress

Like the Republicans, the Democrats serve the few special interest groups that benefit, or believe that they benefit, from the war. By now we all know who these groups are: the oil industry, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby, AIPAC. This contrived war, based on lies and deception, serves no other interest.

(MG) This is perhaps the single most important paragraph one needs to know in order to understand the present state of U.S. politics

There is no longer any question whatsoever, not a single sliver of doubt, that Americans were deceived into this disastrous war. The President of the United States lied to the American people, as did the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Undersecretary of Defense, as did every neoconservative in the Bush administration, think tanks, and media.

(MG) Especially the media … war mongering media, TV waiting with bated breath to show the video game war that led to the emergence of Ted Turner’s CNN news as a force to be reckoned with during the last BIG ONE that WE WON … Gulf War I

The fact that the American people were lied to and deceived does not absolve them from blame. The lie was transparent, the logic nonexistent, the true facts available and easy to discover.

(MG) Repeat after me … The lie was transparent
(MG) Repeat after me … the logic was nonexistent
(MG) Repeat after me … the true facts available and easy to discover
(MG) Yes, we the people get exactly what we deserve in the way of leadership


America failed, because the American people failed. The American people failed, because their self-righteousness and their hubris made them easy saps for deception.

(MG) Great smack down … perfect call, thank you so much Paul Craig Roberts

Even now after five years of a disastrous policy, Republicans cannot accept the facts about the US invasion and failed occupation of Iraq. At the recent "debate" between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, US Representative Ron Paul dared to tell the truth. Rep. Paul said that our difficulties in the Middle East are "blowback" from our government's determined attempts to exercise hegemony over the Middle East.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani, a person who sunk so low as to frame innocents while serving as US Attorney in order to boost his name recognition, played the self-righteous card to extreme. How dare Ron Paul suggest that US policy toward Muslims has anything whatsoever to do with attacks on the US! With all the outrage he could muster, Guiliani asked Rep. Paul "to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that."

The thunderous applause from the Republican audience to Guiliani's put-down of the only honest person present underlines that the Republican Party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war that under international standards is a war crime, an unprovoked naked aggression based entirely on lies, deception and a secret agenda.

(MG) well, uh, yes, the republican party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war, etc, etc, etc … sadly, if history has anything to offer … the democratic party may very well prove to also be so incapable ….

At other times, the Republican audience applauded in support of torture and greeted John McCain's protest against the practice with cold silence.

(MG) we all know how popular the TV show 24 is … and that indeed shows torture as a necessity against theurgency of all the bombs, nukes, chemo, bio threats just waiting around every corner for joe and jane 6-pack … that would be a 6-pack of wine spritzers, btw … beer drinkers I assure you are opposed to this invasion and occupation, still being spun as a “war”

In the opening years of the 21st century the Republicans have made it clear that they are willing to sacrifice the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in order to wage "war against terrorism." This willingness makes the Republican Party a more dangerous threat to Americans than Muslim terrorists. Muslim terrorists cannot destroy our country's reputation, trash our civil liberties and wreck our system of accountable government, but the Republican Party has done a thorough job of it.

(MG) Oh .. the almighty threat of Muslim terrorists … and, just how many of these are there? How many Muslim terrorists waiting to drop nuclear bombs on the US? How many Muslim terrorists waiting to drop lethal bio-chemical weapons in the US? How many Muslim terrorists waiting to fly their vast air force bomber fleet into US air space and punk the Midwest, the west, the east coast, the south, and Texas too? Just what exactly is the order of battle for these Muslim terrorists that are up against us? I REALLY want to know.

The Democratic Party is complicit in the Republican Party's crimes, but unlike the Republican electorate, the Democratic electorate does not support the occupation, the domestic police state measures, and the Bush administration's decision to send more combat troops to Iraq. Although none of the current frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination are independent of the special interests that benefit from the war, it might still be possible for a Democrat to emerge who will represent the Democratic electorate instead of the special interests.

(MG) This is my prayer … of the possible emergants, Kucinich is still my favored guy, but Mike Gavel and Bill Richardson offer hope … but Roberts is exactly spot on about the rest of the Dem’s .. the front runners … it’ll just be meet the new boss, same as the old boss ….

Republican support for Bush's contrived war against Iraq has diminished the Republican party. Intelligent and decent people have abandoned the party, which has morphed into a Brownshirt Party with which fewer people are willing to be associated. The diminished Republican ranks will make it difficult for the party to steal any more elections.

(MG) Why not a third political party? Why not indeed?

If we are fortunate, Republicans will complete their self-destruction before they extinguish the Constitution and destroy America.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com