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Bob In Texas,

The Washington Compost as a fair reporting outfit? HAHA. It's another in a very long line of liberal rag's.

This is the first time I have read this blog,( wanted to see what the fuss was all about). There are really some intense people out there. It this the type of readers this fellow Arkin has?? I don't get the Washington Post down here and am I glad, doesn't sound like a fair reporting outfit to me. What do you people do for hard news??

No our military is not made up of mercenaires but if it weren't for the college scholarships offered so enthusiastically by recruiters a lot of kids - who really do care about our country - would not be lured into the miliatry services. The problem with having the largest military industrial complex in the world is that we have to use it. Which is why the myth persists that only the military guarantees our country's survival. People should read David Hackworth's books to get a better understanding of how our military and political machine really makes use of our soliders.

Hey, where did your "Ignorant and Intollerant" post go?

That this war has benefited Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, is hardly a refutation of the claim that this war was about getting control of Iraqi oil. The fact that they haven't been able to take their loot merely shows another aspect in which they have failed.

The Alex,

Well I am not the only one ranting apparently, you must not have heard the President admit to the problem of American's dependence on oil.

In life you cannot fix what you will not admit to.

The primary reason that America cannot fix problems, is because America will never admit to or own up to the part that that it plays in the problems in creating the problem. That is the reason that America usually ends up blowing things and people up, as opposed to solving anything!

It is hard for Americans, like you, who have been conditioned to never tell the truth about America to admit to America's wrongdoings. But the same Americans are very adept at pointing out the problems of every other nation.

We are a najor part of the problem of unrest that is in the world today! America wants resources and America will take resources under the guise of spreading Democracy or removing a bad dictator.

Did you hear the report that came out from the French government today. The rest of the world pretty much sees things just as the French do. Japan spoke out last week.

When will you people wake up? If we would have done what we were supposed to, we wouldn't need oil at .50 a barrel.

Alex, you are a dangerous young man!

Arkin wrote: "Let's see: We are in the fight of our lives, where failure isn't an option, and yet the PRIME ARCHITECT of the new, new strategy is already admitting that he made a mistake in the design....Gates is already at odds with the true believers, inside and outside the military...[whose] argument is that additional deployments should be open-ended and plans an 18-month window is needed to turn around the security situation."

Arent the true believers outside the military (Kagan at the AEI) the prime architects of the plan? The stories I've read are that the AEI pitched this plan to the President, that its not a military developed plan. Kagan merely used the already known troop rotations to Iraq (with some acceleration) to come up with the reinforcements and his plan indeed calls for an 18-24 month "hold" phase.

So the question I have for Mr. Arkin: who is the real architect here, the military or the neo-cons at the AEI?

Rev:"Because America failed to step up and take care of its responsibilities years ago, it does not then have the right to invade some other nation and to take, or control their resources simply to satiate the greedy American consumer. We are being irresponsible!"

well rev, you've got alot wrong again, not sure were to start but lets just look at this point. Last I read, oil exporting countries are making money hand over fist, that includes Iran, Russia, Venez etc. Oil is sold at market prices, any country that has it sells it on the open market. The "greedy" american consumer pays market prices. If the "greedy american consumer" was paying 50 cents a gallon because we stole the oil, I would see yr point, but as usual, yr more rant then logic or fact.

Listen fools--your just PEE-ONs. 911 was planned,put in motion and covered up by the Juice Zionists. Not one Arab took part.
This crap about Moslums being a bad religion is a B.S.
Name one war that Moslums killed millions as did Judo/ Christians ?--NONE !
Israel has been planted in the M.E. ,so that the west would have a den of blood thirsty wolves.
Here is a cure--make it a world law and punishable--all must convert to Judis'Um.
That will teach'um them Chosen devils.

For every essay like this in the WaPo, we're treated to six or seven Ignatius or Cohen or other Bought-Off Bobo of The Bourgeoisie columns talking about how STEWPID everyone else is for not seeing how RIGHT Bush is! I am not fooled, for one. Thanks, Bill, but the WaPo is not really interested in propagating your POV, just in making a little dab in that direction to satisfy a few fussers. They are in the pocket of BushCo, depend on it.

The idea that if we leave it alone, everything will settle down is ostrich like at best. We have allies there and oil is our interest, it drives all aspects of our economy.

Alex,

If a person did not work to bring the food and resources into his house that he or his family required, do they have the right to go a street or two over and take the resources that they require from their distant neighbors who cannot defend themselves.

American interests in the M-E are based on a farce. America has had the technology and the resources to stop its dependency on oil a long time ago.

Because America failed to step up and take care of its responsibilities years ago, it does not then have the right to invade some other nation and to take, or control their resources simply to satiate the greedy American consumer. We are being irresponsible!

And why do we have those allies in the M-E that you refer to? It is so that we can keep getting resources and keeping the supply lines open, given our failure to act as a responsible nation and reduce our dependency on some one else's oil.

Why is it that you never refer to fixing the problem that is at home in America, instead of supporting those who will kill people who will not acede to America's demands?

If science is to be our teacher then why don't we send more troops to Iraq and eliminate all of our problems. Would not that be "survival of the fittest." While you like bashing religion, society's moral conscience comes from religious belief. For all of religion's problems, the world would be a much worse place without it.

jlp

Religious people do not have a patent on morality. In fact there are non-religious people in the world who are more moral than many religious people tend to be.

Cain and Abel are excellent examples of what happens with religious people and their practices, the story depicts how the first person who was slain, was slain due to a belief about religious practices. Jesus was killed because of Religion. Apostle was going to kill people because of religion. St. Peter, sliced a man up because of religion. Moses and David, religious people, killed people!

The major religious groups of the world today , Muslims, Jews anc Christians are responsible for all of the major wars that are taking place right now on the planet.

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but if we are ever going to solve the world's problems, someone is going to have to be truthful, Americans are too patriotic, to ever tell the truth about America.

We must leave off the American invention of accusing people of 'bashing', when they tell the truth about something.

I am a Pastor of about 32 years now, and although I recognize the good that religion has done, I would be the first to point out all of the evil that it has done. In fact in many areas, just like nations like America have done, we do some good things, but we also do some abysmal things.

Science does not have to tell nations to fight, religious people are encouraging all of the fighting. It would appear that most scientists today are more interested in peaceful pursuits and seeking truth. Some are working on finding ways to cure diseases and extending the life cycle, while at the same time religious people are fixated on ending it (eschatology)!

All of us need to seek the truth and tone down 'our' self-serving religious beliefs, biases, inttolerance and practices. Religion is not looking very good in the world today!

I keep saying what I believe, that the last man or woman will die just as the first one apparently did, over something that has to do with religion.

Just consider born-again George Bush, the man is hell-bent on killing people, he it apparently without conscience, even though he has already admitted to misleading the American people. So why does he keep killing? Why won't he pursue a peaceful resolution to the problem?

Wouldn't you think that 'the religions' of the 3-major religious groups would have instructed them to sit down and make peace? Well, my point again, religion is not working - we must pursue truth. Religion is going to get a lot more people killed!

The American (public) majority is going to loose...!

Resilient dictator George Bush is seizing control of the narrative again. And the same Republican do-nothing Congressional Majority (now the minority) that permitted Bush to do what he has been doing in Iraq in the first place, are beginning to cave in and to fall back in line.

Republicans are in the process of transforming themselves, and falling back in step. Their goal is to stop the Democrats from assuming any real power by upstaging their Republican choice.

It would appear that the saying,
'the more things change, the more the stay the same', is about to ring true again. Politics is more important than verity in America, and I have said all along that Bush did not do this (Iraq) all by himself.

What is so sad about all of this is that the blame for the Iraqi fiasco will be succesfully shifted to the Democratic Party.

I pray that the American people will see through this smokescreen, for the American God-Head is still firmly in control. America's God-Head, 'Bush-Cheney and still Rumsfeld'. Cheney is the protege of Rumsfeld!

we have lots of business in the ME, we always have to protect our interests.

PJ,

If you were to buy in to Alex's logic, then the Middle-Easterners who attacked America on 9/11 were justified in doing so, in order to protect what they believed were their interests.

They also believed that they were protecting their interests, just as Alex and George Bush believe that they are protecting America's interests in the M-E by violating international Law.

Some of the 9/11 attackers said, we don't have bombs or warplanes, so we simply used American airplanes, turning them into bombs in order to attack America.

Alex believes like most Americans do that the American double-standard is acceptable. If we dispense with the rule of Law in ignoring territorial borders and nation's sovereignty, every other nation will believe that it is alright to emulate the practices of the United States of America.

Is that what we want? I hope not!

==Yr analogy is a bit off, we do buy it
and would like to keep the store open.==

Raaiight! Like the paizan says, we wanna help you keep the store open 24-7, you know what I mean, pops? What I'll do for you is put my boyz here and around the corner to watch out for dem neighborhood troublemakers, so the pillar of the community like yourself can keep working in re-la-tive safety. You get my drift, don't you pops?

Here sure does.

18 months huh? Gee that would cover
the Bushies asses well into the next
presidential election time frame and
then they could say that, because of the ongoing campaign, no changes in policy will be forthcoming and successfully leave their whole mess
to the next administration and spend
the rest of their lives telling anyone who will listen that they just needed a little more time to win in Iraq. All this surge is about is plausible deniability

I can only say that while all this debate continues, this so called mismanaged war goes forward with so little time to intersede. This whole thing from 9/11 for ward appears to be very well managed and thought out, proof being in the pudding, as it has continualy moved forward. Not one of theses reps has any intention of halting this genocide for oil, and a facism like no other. Since on a national level and international level all fall in line behind theses "great" leaders. Impeachment or war crimes to bring them down seems impossible. An international over throw can be the only solution. The words of both political parties are not to an immediate withdrawal or to pull the financial purse, they have said this option is off the table. Therefor one can only assume they are working for some one else. Their actions speak of nothing else. At the end of the State of the union speech Bush said he wanted 98,000 troops of which the volunteered ones would be used at home, why the volunteered ones here at home? More likely to carry out a police state objective is my uneducated guess. He says this as though a draft is already in. If volunteer ones are to be used here at home who are the others fighting over seas, if they are not volunteer soldiers, who are they? Whether these men are christian or religous or not they are pursueing others they claim to be are of a God fearing nature or not. So what ever side of the coin it still applies and with great enthusiasm on their part. They change fearless leaders as quickly as blood flows thru the viens. And it dose not matter how they put the oil at their disposal as long as it is done under the haze or fantasy of some illusive dream of a democracy ours or for theirs (M.E.), not unlike the kingdome of God. Just take me there. "Men never do evil with greater pleasure than when they do it with religous conviction". by Blaise Pascal. The number of times I have herd it said lately I can't be consumed by this I call my senators thats all I can do. Unfortunatly these other men, they are consumed with making this happen at our expense. Pressure will some how have to be applied with something more than just a turnicate. I believe as thru history it will be the brave common man that delivers the first deadly blow, on both sides of the battlefield. Both in the M.E. and here at home. For other reality based alternatives I encourage people to spend a moment at wsws.org . Doing the same things over and over and expecting differant results, only produces history repeating itself. The surge needs to happen not in the M.E., think about it!!! The passifying words of polititians and protests serve only to stop the real needed surge from building momentum. Waiting and following these traditionalist 2 party worshipers only emboldens them to proceed with their real unpublished plan. Steps taken in other directions will do more to have them show their true colors, and keep the people from loosing theirs. It is a time for a reversal of fortune, and not refering to oils. People must question and speak out more now than ever. Following the two party system with their sold out for greed and greed for the 08 election is their goal. Changing the course is not. End of my two cents worth. So let it begin with me.

Dimitry writes:"Why not just buy it then, mr. bidnessman? Stationing your soldiers in the store seem a bit unsporting, no? A bit like what the mafia does"

Yr analogy is a bit off, we do buy it
and would like to keep the store open.

CHE,

Just for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1oPEfa9Lws

==We have allies there and oil is our interest, it drives all aspects of our economy.==

Why not just buy it then, mr. bidnessman? Stationing your soldiers in the store seem a bit unsporting, no? A bit like what the mafia does - we gotta protect your goods, you never know when a fire can break out... this is a very dangerous neighborhood... just the other day a whole country got whacked... we wouldn't want that to happen to you.

Bush is pulling us unstoppable into the nuclear war with iran. it would seriously happen, if he is not dismissed ASAP. At the same time Hillary is fighting"big, evil men" sequentially, starting with her own husband impeachment, pertinent to the semantic definition of sex (aimed against Gore's presidency}, then Howard Dean, creating provocations with camera men at her disposal, and now Barack Obama, composing fully false information about his biography. this couple of "great rulers" would destroy any organic life on this planet in no time at all, if not stopped ASAP. Isn't it still fully obvious?

jlp writes:"For all of religion's problems, the world would be a much worse place without it."

Many seem to forget the worlds great secular murderers, Castro, Pol pot, mao , stalin, all had no religion , no morals and no problems with killing.

It was said that Roman empire feel because of the concentration of evil figures on the top. We have here Bush/Cheney who persistently pulling us into the war with Iran, which would be nuclear, no doubt about, and Hillary who is fighting sequentially "big evil men" one after the other, starting with her own husband (aiming against Gore's presidency)because of the definition of sex, then with Howard Dean because there were enough people with cameras at her disposal to create provocations, now at Barack Obama, fabricating falsifications and using her media "over party's lines" connections.
Dear people, this couple of "great" rulers-Bush, Hillary would pull us to the end of organic life on this planet in no time at all.

PJ writes:"We have no business in the Middle East, except al-Qaida"

no, we have lots of business in the ME, we always have to protect our interests. The idea that if we leave it alone, everything will settle down is ostrich like at best. We have allies there and oil is our interest, it drives all aspects of our economy.

If science is to be our teacher then why don't we send more troops to Iraq and eliminate all of our problems. Would not that be "survival of the fittest." While you like bashing religion, society's moral conscience comes from religious belief. For all of religion's problems, the world would be a much worse place without it.

The major religious problem is the divisions within Islam, and the fear, within each branch, that one branch wants to dominate the other branches.

PJ,

I do not disagree with you, religion in general has always been problematic. The first recorded death, that of Abel, had to do with religion. And just listen to all of the hate that spews from bloodthirsty Christian Americans. Born-again George Bush doesn't seem to have a problem at all with killing people.

Religion has always been a place to practice benign and sometimes outward hatred and bigotry, all in the name of God.

It's scarey isn't it. The brother who wrote the book, God Part of the Brain, appears to be on to something.

I suspect that all of us need to drop religion and pursue the understanding of what or how we got here; and it appears that science will be our teacher from hereon.

Most religions are stuck in 2 to 3,000 year old and more paradigms. They are stuck and cannot seem to escape.

I am reminded of a time when I focused on professional counseling. Oftentimes I would encounter married couples who would fight, curse and argue with each other. Ironically, neither one wanted to leave the marriage, both simply wanted the other party to submit.

I suspect that there will never be peace in the Middle-East, however, the dysfunctional Middle-East (from a western perspective) has been in existence a lot longer than America has, and I suspect that the marriage will continue to survive.

America should have known better than to interfere!

Gitmo was included in a list of detention camps injecting small amounts of swine blood into the water used by detainees to insure enemy combatants will never see Allah.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/a_feather_of_force_for_iraq.html

Bill White, President of the Intrepid Foundation, kicked off the ceremonies from the dais next to Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain.

Before the ceremony, McCain said more facilities like this would be needed.

"The government should do whatever is necessary, but I also think it's very appropriate that the American people make contributions, and all of us are very touched by that," McCain said of the privately-funded project.

"I'm not going to get into some sort of controversy today, my friend, over what should be funded by the government or not. I'm sorry but that's not what I'm here for," McCain said.

McCain did take issue with Clinton's assertion that Bush should withdraw all troops before end of his term.
"We need to accomplish the mission,"Americans would support an open-ended commitment, one perhaps running 5-10 more years if we can show success."

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/breaking/2007/01/dignitaries_open_center_for_th.html

A crowd of more than 3,000 broke into loud applause that ran for several minutes Monday as wounded veterans at Brooke Army Medical Center were introduced at the opening for the Center for the Intrepid.

The emotional outpouring began after the ceremony outside the 65,000 square-foot, $50 million rehabilitation facility began just before noon. ...

Bill White, President of the Intrepid Foundation, kicked off the ceremonies from the dais next to Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain.

Before the ceremony, McCain said more facilities like this would be needed.

"The government should do whatever is necessary, but I also think it's very appropriate that the American people make contributions, and all of us are very touched by that," McCain said of the privately-funded [sic] project.

"I'm not going to get into some sort of controversy today, my friend, over what should be funded by the government or not. I'm sorry but that's not what I'm here for," McCain said.

McCain did take issue with Clinton's assertion that Bush should withdraw all troops before end of his term.
"We need to accomplish the mission,"Americans would support an open-ended commitment, one perhaps running 5-10 more years if we can show success."

I don't think even the people of the Middle East can "fix" their problems. At best, they can mitigate problems, but not fix them. While Islam is color blind, the Middle East is too divided by tribe, ethnicity, and religion to solve their problems. Certainly, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a serious matter, but Christians and Jews are religious minorities in the larger Middle East. The major religious problem is the divisions within Islam, and the fear, within each branch, that one branch wants to dominate the other branches. In a way, Israel fits into this Middle Eastern pattern, in that it seeks to form a Jewish State that dominates a portion of the Middle East.
Along with religions , there are tribes and ethnic groups that cross "national" boundaries that threaten the dominance of one tribe, but more often, an ethnic group in a nation.
These are the kind of problems Americans fled Europe and other parts of the world to get away from, and through the separation of Church and State , we have avoided in our history. No religion can dominate another religion in this country.
We have no business in the Middle East, except al-Qaida, and we need to get out of Iraq. It will eventually settle down, and one religion or ethnic group, through a dictatorship will dominate other religions and ethnic groups, and the patch will be applied to "national" unity.

The former Republican majority in Congress is mutating from a do-nothing majority to an obstructionist minority in Congress.

The 2008 election is going to get more interesting, who knows Mr. Rumsfield might decide to run for President himself and complete the trilogy!

The former Republican majority in Congress is mutating from a do-nothing majority to an obstructionist minority in Congress.

The 2008 election is going to get more interesting, who knows Mr. Rumsfield might decide to run for President himself and complete the triloggy!

I have never seen a time when our constitution and fundamental rights as Americans were more threatened by their own government."

Great quotation:

When other nations behave in the same manner that our government is currently behaving in, America comes up with disparaging nicknames for those nations and their leaders.

I recall over the past two years, the Bush Administration critizing Mr. Putin of Russia for essentially doing the same thing that Bush began doing when he became President of the U.S.A. [Eat your heart out Putin and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, you guys can't do what George Bush can do and get away with it].

Thank God that the Supreme Court finally slowed Bush's quest to consolidate power in the USA and the world. Bush has neutralized the power of Congress for the past 6 years. And given his current tactical strategy, he is on the way to doing the same thing to the 110th Congress.

How? He is rallying his troops, and they are beginning to fall, slowly but surely, back into line. The Republican Congress is beginning to play an obstructionist role, some are already working to obfuscate any attempts by the congressional majority to check the power of the Presidency. They would not do their jobs and they are not going to allow the Dems to do their jobs!

The Republican majority is mutating from a do-nothing majority in Congress, to an obstructionist majority in Congress.

The young people who are taking political science classes in college today should take serious note of what is going on in American politics in this epochal period in American history.

If unchecked, what is happening now in our nation's capitol will have significant and long-term ramifications with respect to the way that things will be done in the future by American politicians. I would argue that business will never be the same in government and politics in the future, given the sleaze factor that has been introduced by the current administration.
The combination of Rove, Delay, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfool and others have changed the political landscape forever.

The stolid Mr. Cheney has never waivered, he has made it clear over and over that he does not care what the American people, the Allies or anyone else thinks, he is joined of course by Bush and Cheney.

Four years ago I was in a debate in the nation's capitol with members of the Green Party. The subject, Who Is The Most Dangerous: George Bush or Dick Cheney? I argued that Bush was more dangerous (regardless of what Cheney was doing behind the scenes), given that Cheney could not get elected).

So who is more powerful, the architect or the builder?

After reading Hadley, Kagan, and putting together bits of Bush Speak, I conclude that there is a communication problem between the administration and pretty much everyone else. Everyone else (henceforward the 'sane' for short) thinks the goal is some form of accommodation in Iraq (ranging from 'victory' to 'its not my problem anymore') followed by our exit as we turn our attention to the struggle with Al Qaeda and its immitators.

The president and the neocons think that the struggle with terrorists will be solved by transforming the Middle East into a group of modern liberal nation states with the rule of law (when it doesn't conflict with US interests) and capitalist economies. This is a long project, a generational project. They may have an interest in pacifying Iraq to make it a safer base for our operations, but they have no interest in leaving Iraq. R. Kagan says we're caught in a trap because that is what the neocons/PNAC crowd want us to believe - that we are obligated to stay in the Middle East and pursue their great crusade.

So the surge is a rhetorical tactic, symbolic action that is supposed to communicate that Bush is becoming more personally involved in planning and that we can win because we are taking more serious measures. They select a general who is on the outs with the powers at the Pentagon and who is reputedly to man to go to on counterterrorism and say "Here's your last and best chance - make it work". Good luck, Gen. Petraeus, and all those serving under you in Baghdad.

Hey Rev., *The love of money is the root of all evil*

Bill MacLeod, You are correct, and thank you for quoting the scripture properly. Most people will say that, "money is the root of all evil". Both could stand to be updated, given that evil was here long before money was invented.

We are long past this page "Of The Surge!"
There are more than the 21,000 either in position or enroute! This is a thing for Congressional debating! Bush IS positioning for Invasion of Iran! Then he can dump and run and blame someone else!
IMPEACHMENT NOW should be the topic of convincing Americans to ACT! American's pressure applied to Congressional Members to get them off this Bush Facade!

Hey Rev., *The love of money is the root of all evil*

For uncensored news please bookmark:

otherside123.blogspot.com
www.wsws.org
www.onlinejournal.com
www.takingaim.info

Observations on Washington-style democracy

By Barry Grey in Washington, D.C.
24 January 2007

Political life in the US capital is increasingly an exercise in deceit and self-delusion. It does not take long for an objective observer to discern that behind the traditional forms of parliamentary democracy--congressional debates, floor votes, hearings, etc.--the machinery of a presidential dictatorship is being consolidated and already operating in key areas of policy, both foreign and domestic.

The Bush administration has successfully asserted, due largely to the compliance of a complicit and cowardly Democratic Party and a corrupt media, a degree of unchecked and unaccountable power that is unprecedented in US history. On the basis of the pseudo-constitutional theory of the "unitary executive" and the supposed war-time powers of the commander-in-chief (in the undeclared, unlimited and phony "war on terror"), the right-wing clique around the White House routinely violates constitutional norms and legal statutes, snubs Congress and takes actions that flagrantly violate the democratic rights of the American people.

All those involved--administration officials, judges, congressmen, the Washington press corps--are well aware of the advanced state of decay of traditional democratic procedures and the buildup of police-state forms of rule. Yet the outer trappings of parliamentary process for the most part continue, by mutual consent of all involved, in what amounts to a democratic Potemkin Village, maintained in part to keep the people in the dark about the imperiled state of their democratic rights.

There are internal debates and conflicts, which can become heated at times, about the wisdom, legality and propriety of the administration's more brazen assertions of absolute power, but such disputes are never allowed to resonate in any significant way beyond the narrow confines of the Washington establishment.

Among themselves, in their offices, clubs and watering holes, the denizens of the capital engage in gallows humor about the latest administration outrage against democratic norms and the constitutional principle of "checks and balances" between coequal branches of government. But since they all have a stake in maintaining the existing two-party political monopoly, through which the financial-corporate elite asserts its basic interests, and they all share an allegiance to American capitalism and its imperialist aims around the world, they continue to play the game as though nothing much had changed.

Last Thursday's appearance by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee provided the latest example of administration stonewalling and contempt for Congress and the impotence of the legislators.

The day before the hearing, Gonzales notified the committee that the administration had obtained authorization from one anonymous member of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court to continue its National Security Agency program of electronic surveillance of Americans' phone calls and e-mails. It was patently obvious that this was a maneuver to provide a judicial fig leaf for an illegal and unconstitutional invasion of privacy, close down court challenges to the program, and provide Bush and other administration officials with legal cover in the event of future criminal action against them.

At the Senate hearing, Gonzales flatly refused to answer questions from committee members about the content of the authorization granted by the unnamed FISA judge or any aspect of the ongoing domestic spying program.

In the course of his remarks, Democratic Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy declared: "In the 32 years since I first came to the Senate, during the era of Watergate and Vietnam, I have never seen a time when our constitution and fundamental rights as Americans were more threatened by their own government."

For the rest please go to:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/wash-j24.shtml

The surge is exposed for what it has always been, a political sledgehammer to beat Congress and the American people into submission, while on the ground it is a feather of force, a symbol of change.

Mr. Arkin,

Your analysis, synopsis and conclusion is simply put, brilliant. I believe that it, 'the surge', is that and nothing more.

But what kind of mind would seemingly risk destroying more lives and the Congress of the United States, or further dividing the American people simply for nefarious personal gain?