WAR

ROCKETS
DROP
BOMBS
AND
CAR
COMMERCIALS
GET
FILLED
WITH
BLOODY
CORPSES
AND
BLOODY
EYES
AND
BLOODY
BABIES
AND
BLOODY
WOMEN
WHO
DON’T
EVEN
DRIVE

CARS.

ON TIME

My grandfather lived in a tent with his collie dog next to a river.

Except for some raccoons, there were few intruders into his pine-treed paradise.

It was quiet and solitary until summers arrived.

Although my grandfather was able to take apart any clock or watch---and then able to put the clock or watch back together---I don’t remember ever seeing him wearing a watch, or watching a clock.

But he did have a sundial.

He didn’t pay much attention to this sundial or what time it might “say”.

He had become much like those wise “savages” who knew time by the location of the sun.

What time is it?

Look for the sun.

Is the sun Low or High in the sky?

Then you knew what time it was.

My favorite poetic lines about time are T.S. Eliot’s:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

[From Burnt Norton

No. 1 of Four Quartets]

And these lines from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair---

I’ve never liked the words “kill time”.

When I’m about ready to say them, I refrain, and say “wound time”.

(Thank you Maurice Maeterlinck)

It’s that time of year again to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new one.

As anyone who is past forty knows, the pages of time…

The hours…

The days…

And the years!

Go by much faster as we get older.

I find myself saying quite often, “It seems like yesterday” that this or that happened.

But it isn’t the clocks which have gotten faster.

It’s only our minds and bodies which are moving along on the winged feet of time.

Time seems to pass through us more than we do through it.

P.S.

I don’t use chalk anymore in my classroom, but I did many years ago.

I was always blowing chalk dust off of my wristwatch.

Finally, one of my students asked me (and she always prefaced every question that she asked with “Can I ask you a question?”):

“Why do you blow on your watch so much?”

What a wonderful question, I thought, and then after an abbreviated chuckle, I said to her:

“I’m just getting the chalk dust off of my watch.”

And she said, “Oh, I thought maybe you needed to blow on it to make it run…you know…with air.”

Another favorite anecdote is when I was tramping about and slept one night in a house with other strangers and stragglers.

I wrote about this timely experience in one of my poems.

Here it is:

TIME

I didn't sleep

I didn't snore

Inside

A house replete

With many feet

Spread out across

The living room floor.

I stayed inside the

Bathroom that was as

Yellow as the sun

And wrote poems ‘til

I thought I was done.

When the sleepy supine sleepers all awoke

Here is what to Jim the Space Cowboy I spoke:

"Jim", I said, "What time is it?"

He waved his hand

And asked me to follow him.

Jim the Space Cowboy took me to

The fridge and opened its white door;

Then he opened the freezer door

And took out an alarm clock that

He held in his hand.

Jim said:

“There is no time.

Time is frozen.”

P.S.

I went to the New Yorker magazine and read this poem. It strikes a similar chord on the theme of time:

Anterooms

by Richard Wilbur

January 5, 2009

Out of the snowdrift
Which covered it, this pillared
Sundial starts to lift,
Able now at last
To let its frozen hours
Melt into the past

In bright, ticking drops.
Time so often hastens by,
Time so often stops—

Still, it strains belief
How an instant can dilate,
Or long years be brief.

Dreams, which interweave
All our times and tenses, are
What we can believe:

Dark they are, yet plain,
Coming to us now as if
Through a cobwebbed pane

Where, before our eyes,
All the living and the dead
Meet without surprise.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND TIME!

JOSE JESUS AND MARIA

The digitally recreated face of Jesus.

POPULAR MECHANICS

This is a story about three illegal Mexican squirrels…Jose, Jesus and Maria.
A hidden microphone was there to record their words during their voyage to America.
Jose:
Jesus and Maria, it sure is getting stuffy inside these coat pockets.

Maria:
Si.

Jesus:
Si.

Jose:
I wonder where we are going?

Maria:
Maybe Disneyland?

Jesus:
Maybe the Holy Land…Or the place that’s called the Big Apple.

Jose:
Don't mention food. I'm starving!

Maria:
Yes, me too.

Jesus:
If I had a fish and some bread I’d make enough for all of us.

Jose:
Oh, come on Jesus, don't play that game again.

Maria:
Right. You aren't the messiah you think you are. You’re just another rodent.

Jesus:
O.K. I know I've got some hang ups, but getting hanged isn't one of them.

Jose:
Oh, now he's the comedian.

Maria:
Hey, be quiet. I hear something.

Jose:
Me too!

Jesus:
I think we're at the border crossing. Quick! Deeper into the pockets!

Immigration Official:
Hello, sir. Your nationality?

Man:
Mexican.

Immigration Official:
Anything to declare?

Man:
Yes. I have three striped squirrels.

Immigration Official:
What is the purpose of their visit?

Man:
Jose and Maria are going to Disneyland.
Jesus wants to visit the Holy Land and your Big Apple.

Immigration Official:
My Big Apple? Oh, you mean New York.

Man:
Si.

Immigration Official:
O.K. Welcome to the United States.

Jose, Jesus and Maria:
Gee, that was a breeze. How did you do it?

Man:
You forget. I’m God.



Merry Christmas!

TO SHAKE OR NOT TO SHAKE

Handshakes.

What do they mean?

I’m thinking about the quality of handshakes.

A good handshake for me means that there is a certain amount of pressure when another person shakes my hand.

Not a hard squeeze.

Just some firm squeezing.

We don’t actually “shake” our hands.

If we shook them, then there would not be this issue of how firmly or softly our hands shook…

I mean squeezed.

Can we judge a person on the basis of his or her handshake?

I personally dislike soft, limp (clammy?) handshakes….

From men or women.

But especially from men.

When the hand shaker gives me a limp shake, I think to myself:

“Excuse me, don’t you like me?”

Or

“Do you have a guilty conscience?”

Or

“If you don’t mean it, don’t shake it.”

I suppose that I am being a bit silly and hypersensitive.

But I’ve been wondering about this subject for some time now.

My own conclusions?

I don’t trust persons whose handshakes are soft and weak.

Why shake hands at all if your grip is going to be limp and weak?

Anyway, for hygienic reasons, I no longer shake hands.

I give fist bumps.

IT’S NOT THE SHEIKH STUPID!

CHIP AHOY!

RANDY:
I’m getting the chip put in today.

MARY: What "chip"?

RANDY:
The SEX CHIP.

MARY:
Aren’t you having enough sex?

RANDY:
Yeah, but I don’t want to spend any more time waiting for sex or seeking it out.

MARY:
What does the sex chip do?

RANDY:
It lets me turn on my zones of pleasure whenever and wherever I want.

MARY:
But what about the interaction with another human?

RANDY:
I can live without that part. I just want the physical pleasure part.

MARY:
That sounds so cold and mechanical.

RANDY:

I know, but it’s convenient.

MARY:

I guess you won’t need to see me anymore.

RANDY:

No, but I’ll call you...

If my chip doesn’t come in.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

***

Talk about wired! Scientists working on 'sex chip' for the brain
December 22, 3:01 PM
by Kevin Rook, Ph.D.,

Denver Technology Examiner

A 'sex chip' in the brain?

Scientists say it will soon be a reality.

The technology to stimulate different areas of the brain has been around for a while.
It's just never been this sexy.
Reports surfaced today that scientists in Britain are developing an electronic "sex chip," which could be implanted into the brains of those who don't derive pleasure from things like eating or making love.

The chip would stimulate an area in the orbitofrontal cortex, the place associated with feelings of pleasure.
The technology creates tiny shocks within the brain.

It's been previously used to treat Parkinson's disease.
When the technology is improved, we can use deep brain stimulation in many new areas.

It will be more subtle, with more control over the power so you may be able to turn the chip on and off when needed.

The research is being conducted by Morten Kringelbach at Oxford University.

It's being looked at to help people with anhedonia, which is an inability to experience pleasure from certain activities.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD AND DARK NIGHT OF THE SOLE

GWB:
I know I’m asleep and this is just a bad dream.

SHOE FAIRY:
You’re right, George.
And this dream is about you and your soul.

GWB:
Do you mean my shoe's sole and that shoe that was thrown at me?

SHOE FAIRY:
No George.
It is about the soul of you…the soul of your everlasting being.

GWB:
Does this mean that I might have a legacy after all.

SHOE FAIRY:
No George.
It means that your soul is going to be thrown at the throne of God.

GWB:
Don’t I have to be dead first?

SHOE FAIRY:
For some souls they do not have to wait that long.
The footwear of their inner being is already being sized up by God.

GWB:
Well, God’s my buddy….just like my dog Barney.
God told me I should invade Iraq.

SHOE FAIRY:
Yes, George, that’s what you keep telling yourself, but your soul knows better, and so does God.

GWB:
O.K. Here are my shoes.
All of them.
I’m sole less.
Now can I get some of that legacy?

SHOE FAIRY:
No George.
You’ll never get any.
You don’t have a soul or leg to stand on.
And get ready to duck again…because
GOD’S GETTING READY TO THROW HIS SHOES AT YOU!

IT WAS THE OIL STUPID!

THE SAME SHIP

If George W. Bush was detested and denounced for deeds designed by deception, then Barack Obama might become disliked and damned for his broken promises.

Mr. Obama seems to have kowtowed to the right-wing when it comes to the military.
His picks of Gates and Clinton for their cabinet posts are examples.

Hillary Clinton was for the Iraq war before she was against it. Barack was always against the Iraq war.

Adversaries can enable persons in power when they become advocates.
Barack may be shrewd to make sure that the mad (and angry) jihadists know that he is not completely jumping Bush’s ship and piloting a completely new one of his own.

Same ship---different captain.

Many “wrinkles” will need to be ironed out in the first year (and four years) of Obama’s reign.

Such wrinkles as:

War.

Recession.

Joblessness.

Health-care.

Schools.

Roads.

Alternative Energy.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

A SOULFUL MOMENT

One soul recently threw his sole (make that two) at President George W. Bush.
The thrower had a pretty good arm, but Bush had a better head, and was able to duck before getting hit on his presidential pate.
Most of us will watch the replay of this bizarre event and hear the comics tell their funny lines.
This soulful event may become the legacy that Bush didn’t want to have thrust---that is, thrown---upon him.
At this very terminal moment of Bush’s administration, not much can surprise or shock.
Bush has already shocked the world for eight long years.
But more than just one reporter in Iraq is angry at President Bush.
After having bombs thrown upon their heads, Iraqis would like to throw more than just shoes.
It will be a long time before we hear the last shoe drop.


IT WAS THE OIL STUPID!

On June 10, 2008, Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced H. Res 1258 which set forth articles of impeachment for President George W. Bush. His resolution stated that President Bush:(1) illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq; (2) misused intelligence reports to deceive Congress and the public about a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda and the the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; (3) mislead Congress and the public into believing that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat to the United States; (4) illegally misspent funds to begin a war in secret prior to congressional authorization; (5) invaded Iraq in violation of U.S. law, the United Nations Charter, and international criminal law and failed to obtain a declaration of war; (6) failed to protect U.S. troops in Iraq by not providing them with body and vehicle armor and promoted false stories about the deaths and injuries of members of the U.S. military; (7) used public funds to construct permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq; (8) invaded Iraq to obtain control of its oil resources; (9) created a secret task force to guide U.S. energy and military policy in usurpation of the role of Congress in legislating such policy; (10) misused classified intelligence information and conspired to identify a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); (11) established policies granting U.S. government contractors in Iraq immunity from prosecution; (12) recklessly misspent public dollars on private contractors in Iraq; (13) detained U.S. citizens and foreign captives indefinitely and without charge; (14) authorized torture of captives in Afghanistan and Iraq; (15) kidnapped and transported individuals to countries known to practice torture; (16) authorized the arrest and detention of at least 2,500 children as enemy combatants in violation of the Geneva Convention; (17) mislead Congress and the public about threats from Iran; (18) created secret laws through the issuance of legal opinions by the Department of Justice and violated the Posse Comitatus Act; (19) authorized warrantless electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens; (20) directed telecommunication companies to create databases of the private telephone numbers and emails of U.S. citizens; (21) used signing statements to claim the right to violate laws enacted by Congress; (22) failed to comply with congressional subpoenas and instructed former executive branch employees not to comply with such subpoenas; (23) tampered with the conduct of free and fair elections and corrupted the administration of justice; (24) conspired to violate the voting rights of U.S. citizens; (25) pursued policies calculated to destroy the Medicare program; (26) failed to prepare for the predictable disasters caused by Hurricane Katrina; (27) mislead Congress and the public in an effort to undermine efforts to address global climate change; and (28) failed to take proper steps to protect the United States against the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, obstructed investigations into such attacks, and recklessly endangered the health of first responders near the site of such attacks.

By a vote of 251 to 166, the House of Representatives agreed to refer the resolution to the House Committee on the Judiciary for further consideration.

On July 15, 2008, Rep. Kucinich re-introduced this legislation now known as H. Res 1345. This resolution included the same language as H. Res 1258 and was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Certainly I share your concerns about the actions of the current Administration, and I will monitor this legislation and take your comments into consideration. Please contact me or my staff if I can be of further assistance. Also, please visit my website, www.house.gov/reyes to sign up for my email newsletter, learn about my recent activities, and obtain information on federal programs.

Sincerely,

Silvestre Reyes

Member of Congress

IF NEANDERTHALS COULD TALK

I am not a Neanderthal
My brain is not so very small,
I prefer vegetables, tofu, beans and broth---
Not some saber tooth tiger or behemoth.





IT'S NOT THE MISSING LINK STUPID!




***

No Neanderthal Ancestors for Modern Humans

By Lauren Davis, 2:17 PM on Tue Dec 9 2008, 4,663 views

If ancient homo sapiens got it on with their Neanderthal cousins, there were no children to show for it. Researchers studying Neanderthal DNA have sequenced half of the Neanderthal genome, and shoot down the theory that European humans interbred with the now-extinct species. And the team says the genome has other things to teach us about Neanderthal life, including their sexual proclivities.

The research team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthology presented their findings last week at a human evolution conference. The researchers have compared the Neanderthal genome to that of modern humans of European and African descent. Because Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in Europe, researchers have theorized that European genomes would have more similarities with the Neanderthal genome than would African genomes. However, European and African genomes have a similar number of differences from the Neanderthal genome, suggesting that modern humans in Europe outbred rather than assimilated the Neanderthals.

Earlier comparisons of mitochondrial similarly cast doubt on the Neanderthal interbreeding theory, but recent research has revealed that Neanderthals do not possess the very genes some researchers believed modern humans had received from Neanderthals. Neanderthals possess neither the microcephalin gene, linked to bulging brains in humans, nor humans’ increased fertility gene.

The team is planning to publish a rough draft of the Neanderthal nuclear genome, and hopes that a closer study of the genome will reveal more about the Neanderthal history. They believe, for example, that further analysis of the available genome will reveal whether Neanderthal practiced polygyny, with fewer males breeding with proportionally more females. But the study is hampered by the poor quality and small sample of available genetic samples, and the researchers say it will be another year or two before an adequate sequencing is complete.

[New Scientist]

MONSTER OF WAR

Idealistic, gloomy-eyed, and dreamy peace persons.

I'm on your side.

But Time and History are not.

The Ugly and Ravenous Monster of War will be with us until there is no more oil, air, or water.

Barack Obama talked the good talk, but the Pentagon and Corporate Masters will continue to feed the Ugly and Ravenous Jaws of War.

WE MUST OBEY.

Don't want to be called Unpatriotic, do we?

But gloomy-eyed, dreamy, peace persons...

Don't stop being idealistic or hopeful.

It's not a movie...

Just a nightmare from which we'll always be waking up.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

Bush was always all hat and no cattle.
Bush turned the United States into an aggressor nation. He kicked off an orgy of violence in Iraq that has probably left a million dead. He destroyed entire cities. He left millions of widows and orphans, and millions more displaced. He lied, he destroyed habeas corpus at home and abroad, he tortured. It is too soon to know if American democracy will ever really recover from lawless regime.
Professor Juan Cole
December 6, 2008




Wounded and enraged by the atrocities of 9-11, America lashed out, first at Afghanistan and the al-Qaida source of the conspiracy, then at Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks. Thus did the Bush administration disunite its nation and forfeit its mandate.
Patrick J. Buchanan
December 2, 2008




Using government statistics, terrorism analysts have shown that terror attacks increased by a factor of seven after the invasion of Iraq. The most careful scholarship on the Jihadi movement has shown that the invasion of Iraq inspired the Jihadi movement, which originally had been highly skeptical and in fact quite critical of Osama bin Laden's adventurism, but that re-constructed it.
Noam Chomsky



***


President Bush Attends Saban Forum 2008
Newseum
Washington, D.C.
December 5, 2008

[NOTE: This a VERY edited and abbreviated version]


THE PRESIDENT:
Thank you very much. I thought for a minute you were going to say I was your favorite rabbi
[or rabbit].

Over the past eight years, I have had the privilege to see the Middle East up close.
[But so can you if you use the Internets]

I have stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and I've hiked the cliffs of Masada.
[I’ve got to give my speech writers a raise. This stuff is really good.]

I've enjoyed dinner in the desert of Abu Dhabi [Although it was gritty and hot], and prayed at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. I have looked into the eyes [and one Russian soul] of courageous elected leaders from Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. I have been convinced that no region is more fundamental to the security of America [Or for securing oil]
or the peace in the world
[Even though America is fighting two wars]
than the Middle East.

From our earliest days as a nation, the Middle East has played a central role in American foreign policy.
[Whether it was our support of the Shah in Iran or funding Osama bin Laden to fight the Russians in Afghanistan]

One of America's first military engagements as an independent nation was with the Barbary pirates.
And then came September the 11th, 2001, when 19 men from the Middle East carried out the worst attack on the United States since the strike on Pearl Harbor 67 years ago this weekend.
[Some have even called 9/11 another Pearl Harbor and false flag operation.]

We realized that we're in a struggle with fanatics pledged to our destruction. We saw that conditions of repression and despair on the other side of the world could bring suffering and death to our own streets.
[Just as a president could]

With these new realities in mind, America reshaped our approach to the Middle East. We made clear that we will defend our friends, our interests, and our people against any hostile attempt to dominate the Middle East---
[Or any attempts to stop our domination there]
whether by terror, blackmail, or the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

It is true, as I've said many times, that Saddam Hussein was not connected to the 9/11 attacks.
[Don’t any pay attention to what Dick says]

But the decision to remove Saddam from power cannot be viewed in isolation from 9/11.
[Because 9/11 provided an excuse for my shock-and-awe invasion of Iraq]

In a world where terrorists armed with box cutters had just killed nearly 3,000 of our people…
[Box cutters are easy to find---unlike WMD---and they are very effective for killing]

…we offered Saddam Hussein a final chance to comply with the demands of the world.
[They were my demands because I am the Decider]

And when he refused to resolve the issue peacefully… we liberated 25 million Iraqis.
[And ended their water, electricity, and jobs]

When Saddam regimes -- regimes fell -- when Saddam's regime fell, we refused to take the easy option and install a friendly strongman in his place.
[Instead, we got someone who was easy and friendly to our own intentions]

As with any large undertaking, these efforts have not always gone according to plan, and in some areas we've fallen short of our hopes.
[But not of undertakers]

For example, the fight in Iraq has been longer and more costly than expected.
[My MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech on board that ship was a premature propaganda ploy]

Those who ask what this future will look like need only look around.
[A fearful world with more and more ruthless killers who want to avenge what I have done]

We see the new story of the Middle East in Iraqis waving ink-stained fingers,
[And blood-soaked arms and heads]

These are striking images, and they do point the way to a brighter future. I believe the day will come when the map of the Middle East shows a peaceful, secure Israel beside a peaceful and democratic Palestine.
[And I believe these things without being under the influence of cocaine or alcohol]

Earlier this year, I laid out this vision in my address to the Israeli Knesset, and then in my address to the World Economic Forum in Egypt. It was not a Jewish vision, or an Arab vision, or an American vision. It is a universal vision.
[Not just another hallucinatory delusion concocted by my speechwriters]

It unites all who yearn for freedom and peace in the Middle East. And if we lead, [and invade] and if we persevere, [and bomb] and if we keep faith in our ideals, [and vital self-interests] that vision will become a reality someday.

Thanks for letting me come, and God bless.

(Applause.)


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!


***

The War Party's Imperial Plans

Patrick J. Buchanan

September 11 2002

The fires had not yet gone out at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a year ago, before the War Party had introduced its revised plans for American empire. What many saw as a horrific atrocity and tragedy, they saw instantly as an opportunity to achieve U.S. hegemony over an alienated Islamic world.

President Bush initially directed America's righteous wrath and military power at al-Qaida. But in his "axis-of-evil" address, he signed on to the War Party's agenda.

What lies ahead? When America invades Iraq, it will have to destroy Saddam and all his weapons of mass destruction. Else, the war will have been a failure. And to ensure destruction of those weapons, we must occupy Iraq. If you would see what follows, pull out a map.

With Americans controlling Iraq, Syria is virtually surrounded by hostile powers: Israel on the Golan, Turks and Kurds to the north, U.S. power to the west in Iraq and south in Jordan. Syrian President Assad will be forced to pull his army out of Lebanon, leaving Israel free to reinvade Lebanon to settle accounts with Hezbollah.

Now look to Iran. With Americans occupying Iraq, Iran is completely surrounded: Americans and Turks to the west, U.S. power in the Gulf and Arabian Sea to the south, in Afghanistan to the east and in the old Soviet republics to the north. U.S. warplanes will be positioned to interdict any flights to Lebanon to support Hezbollah.

Iraq is the key to the Middle East. As long as we occupy Iraq, we are the hegemonic power in the region. And after we occupy it, a window of opportunity will open – to attack Syria and Iran before they acquire weapons of mass destruction.

This is the vision that enthralls the War Party – "World War IV," as they call it – a series of "cakewalks," short sharp wars on Iraq, Syria and Iran to eliminate the Islamic terrorist threat to us and Israel for generations.

No wonder Ariel Sharon and his Amen Corner are exhilarated. They see America's war on Iraq as killing off one enemy and giving Israel freedom to deal summarily with two more: Hezbollah and the Palestinians. Two jumps ahead of us, the Israelis are already talking up the need for us to deal with Libya, as well.

Anyone who believes America can finish Saddam and go home deceives himself. With Iraq's military crushed, the country will come apart. Kurds in the north and Shi'ites in the south will try to break away, and Iraq will be at the mercy of its mortal enemy, Iran. U.S. troops will have to remain to hold Iraq together, to find and destroy those weapons, to democratize the regime, and to deter Iran from biting off a chunk and dominating the Gulf.

Recall: After we crushed Germany and Japan in World War II, both were powerless to reassume their historic roles of containing Russia and China. So, America, at a cost of 100,000 dead in Vietnam and Korea, had to assume those roles. With Iraq in ruins, America will have to assume the permanent role of Policeman of the Persian Gulf.

But is this not a splendid vision, asks the War Party. After all, is this not America's day in the sun, her moment in history? And is not the crushing of Islamism and the modernization of the Arab world a cause worthy of a superpower's investment of considerable treasure and blood?

What is wrong with the War Party's vision?

Just this: Pro-American regimes in Cairo, Amman and Riyadh will be shaken to their foundations by the cataclysm unleashed as Americans smash Iraq, while Israelis crush Palestinians. Nor is Iran likely to passively await encirclement. Terror attacks seem certain. Nor is a militant Islam that holds in thrall scores of millions of believers from Morocco to Indonesia likely to welcome infidel America and Israel dictating the destiny of the Muslim world.

As for the pro-American regimes in Kabul and Pakistan, they are but one bullet away from becoming anti-American. And should the Royal House of Saud come crashing down, as the War Party ardently hopes, do they seriously believe a Vermont-style democracy will arise?

Since Desert Storm, America has chopped its fleets, air wings and ground troops by near 50 percent, while adding military commitments in the Balkans, Afghanistan, the Gulf and Central Asia. Invading and occupying Iraq will require hundreds of thousands of more troops.

We are running out of army. And while Americans have shown they will back wars fought with no conscripts and few casualties, the day is not far off when they will be asked to draft their sons to fight for empire, and many of those sons will not be coming home. That day, Americans will tell us whether they really wish to pay the blood tax that is the price of policing the War Party's empire.