Q & A

John Edwards says it's time for Congress to attach a timetable for troop withdrawals to future funding for the war in Iraq. Is he right?

Edwards is right, but Congress won't budge as long as its members believe that the GOP will call them cut-and-runners if they vote for such a timetable.
The Congress and the entire U.S. government (& the economy itself) depend upon this war (and other "conflicts").
Our Democracy is based upon corporate militarism.
Our nation has become a military corporation.
China provides the U.S. with its cheap goods.
China loans the U.S. money to continue the war so that you and I can continue to purchase our inexpensive goods.
The serpent is always eating its tail.

Our nation is a military-industrial "complex".
Undoing that fact will never happen.

This war will continue as long as our machines and factories depend upon that greasy dinosaur sludge.

And so it goes and will go ad infinitum.


Why would President Bush tell the Australian deputy prime minister, "We're kicking ass" in Iraq?

He is an ass.
He is kicking himself.
He just doesn't realize it.
The delusional Decider is a moron, even though he has read 97 books this year.
This president's mental I.Q. is not much higher than his moral I.Q.
"We're kicking ass in Iraq" are words that can be expected from the same person who said SMOKE 'EM OUT! and BRING IT ON!
Let's hope that Mr. Bush doesn't want to kick Iran's posterior.
Then it would be the world's ass being kicked.
This president is dangerous.

For pushing "terrorism" as a justification for waging war against Iran when the U.S. is just as guilty of even greater terrorism, Bush and Cheney must beyond question be impeached and convicted with all possible speed, so that they can never start that war.

He has made it clear that in this "War on Terror," victory means everything to him. He might also believe that a win in Iran could reverse current setbacks in Iraq and also bring victory closer for the U.S. and Israel in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. And he has already shown that he is willing to accept the killings of hundreds of thousands or even a million people in the hope of going down in history as a great commander-in-chief.

The people of the United States are the only ones with a chance of stopping him, and it can only happen if a powerful majority of voters will join in a maximum effort to impeach both Bush and Cheney right now. This has to happen before the U.S. and/or Israel undertake any expanded military efforts against Iran.

All of this will be difficult, and many will think it impossible. We citizens of the U.S. who do not want our country to become involved in a greater war with Iran will not have most of the print and TV media with us, nor the military-industrial complex that wants more wars. The Israel lobby will desperately oppose efforts to impeach Bush and Cheney, because it will recognize instantly that the two top U.S. leaders are the lobby's strongest backers of war with Iran. At the same time, most of the Democratic Party leadership and all but one or two of the Democratic presidential candidates will be reluctant to support impeachment because they are competing with the Republicans in an effort to show that each party supports Israel more strongly than the other.

By Bill Christison and Kathleen Christison

Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis.

Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.

What will the next American president have to do to improve relations with Europe?

Initiate more diplomacy.
Stop invading countries.
Stop starting pre-emptive wars.
Less imperialism---more humanism.