One is reminded of Winston Churchill who wrote that the statesman "...who yields to war fever...is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." At last, what does "staying the course" and "getting the job done" mean? There is, in fact, no course to stay but mere "war fever" itself. Bush, moreover, has never defined what is meant by winning. Some 650,000 Iraqis are now dead as a result of the US invasion and the wave of civil war that spewed up in its wake. I believe that figure to be even higher than US civil war dead! Now Bush wants to send more troops to Iraq to achieve a "goal" that he cannot even articulate. Bush wants to aggravate an utterly failed strategy by repeating it. Bush wants to raise the stakes on a losing bet —and dares to call himself a "Texan"! Bush has made of us all mere slaves to uncontrollable events.

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

—Thomas Paine

What price have we paid for this appalling record of utter failure and ignominious defeat amid unapologetic idiocy and hubris? We have paid the highest price that a free nation can pay. We have paid with our freedom! We have indulged Bush's delusions with our very Constitution. We have suffered his hubris at the expense of Democratic ideals. We have sold our souls.

Even as we were told that the war was fought to preserve our American freedoms, Bush was at work destroying those freedoms more effectively than any terrorist could possibly have done.

"One bit of trivia that caught our eye was the elimination of habeas corpus, which apparently use to be the right of anyone who's tossed in prison to appear in court and say 'Hey, why am in prison?'"

—Keith Olbermann, quoted by the Washington Post

Bush also wants to steal Iraqi oil with impunity.

Bush has denounced charges that Iraqis were actually better off under Saddam. Denounce all you want, Bush, but the fact of the matter is this: the average Iraqi had a better chance of surviving Saddam than he has of surviving you and your criminal occupation of his country!

Saddam's regime seems benign compared to the Bush occupation now characterized by heinous torture (another war crime), the deaths of some 650,000 civilians, and a level of violence which Bob Woodward described in his new book and on CBS:

Getting to the point now where there are eight, 900 attacks a week. That’s more than 100 a day—that is four an hour. Attacking our forces.

—Bob Woodward, CBS 60 Minutes

Saddam, we were told, tortured people. So has the US.

Saddam, we are told, was a "bad man". Well —what makes Bush a good one, when, in fact, Bush has done everything and with more force and brutality than did Saddam.

Saddam, we are told, enslaved the people of Iraq. And Bush has not? And for oil? Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that one who believes himself the master of others —as Bush presumes to master Iraq —"...is a greater slave than they." If I were an Iraqi citizen, what difference would it make to me whether I am murdered or tortured by Saddam or by Bush? Bush and the mindless GOP cultists who follow him blindly seem to think that murder committed by "good" people is good but murder committed by "bad" people is bad. The cult of Bush believes that if done in the name of Democracy, America may enslave the world. In fact, murder is murder and people are defined by what they do. One who murders in cold blood is a cold blooded murderer. One who would enslave others is a tyrant. Bush does not get a pass. Bush must be held to account on both counts.

It was only recently that Bush tried —in bad faith —to link his "war on terrorism" with his abysmal quagmire in Iraq. At the time, Bush polled well only on the "terrorism" issue. Bush had hoped that linkage would pull his fat out of the Iraq fire. That strategy was undermined when some 16 US intelligence agencies linked the two issues in a more honest, straightforward and meaningful manner. They found that the continued US presence in Iraq inspires more terrorism, makes terrorism worse, and inflames the middles east.

If Bush's real goals are merely the theft of Iraqi oil for the benefit of his corporate base, then the war must not be won. But, in fact, the US war of naked aggression against the people of Iraq is already lost. Moreover, it is a heinous war crime that absolutely MUST be prosecuted at the Hague if the ideals of international justice are to be anything but the empty rhetoric and meaningless platitudes that Bush would have you believe that they already are.

Not merely the US but the world must make an existential choice. Our choice will determine the nature of human civilization over the next century; it may even decide if we will have one. Choose Bush and revert to a dark age of technological, fascist totalitarianism that would have made Hitler blush. Reject Bush and the horse he rode in on and we may yet survive to nurture the true ideals upon which our own nation was founded.

Some updates:

Olbermann on Bush - It is Unacceptable to Think?

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC comments on Bush's reaction on Friday to Colin Powell's letter of last week. He suggests that the President owes the nation an apology. Olbermann repeats both the question to the President at the Rose Garden press conference and Bush's response:

Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state feels this way, don’t you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you’re following a flawed strategy? BUSH: If there’s any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it’s flawed logic. It’s just — I simply can’t accept that. It’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.

And then, without missing a beat, Olbermann says:

Of course it’s acceptable to think that there’s "any kind of comparison."

And in this particular debate, it is not only acceptable, it is obviously necessary.

Some will think that our actions at Abu Ghraib, or in Guantanamo, or in secret prisons in Eastern Europe, are all too comparable to the actions of the extremists.

Some will think that there is no similarity, or, if there is one, it is to the slightest and most unavoidable of degrees.

What all of us will agree on, is that we have the right — we have the duty — to think about the comparison.

And, most importantly, that the other guy, whose opinion about this we cannot fathom, has exactly the same right as we do: to think — and say — what his mind and his heart and his conscience tell him, is right.

All of us agree about that.

Except, it seems, this President.

With increasing rage, he and his administration have begun to tell us, we are not permitted to disagree with them, that we cannot be right. That Colin Powell cannot be right.

Thank you, Mr. Olbermann, for continuing to point out out what is so clearly true.

Hat Tip to Jane at Firedoglake

Brent Budowsky -- Men And Women Of Faith: Google "Abramoff, Marianas, Rove, Republicans, Forced Abortion"

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Brent Budowsky

To men and women of faith, in my title I suggested a Google because I do not ask you to believe me, or anyone else, in this politically supercharged election. In this case the truth is more repugnant and immoral than any political comment could fully describe and I suggest you research this yourself and talk about the results with fellow believers.

Jack Abramoff made a fortune of money, then donated a fortune to Republicans, lobbying for the Marianas. These Islands in the Pacific are an American territory not subject to all US laws and on these islands, horrific, disgusting and sinful acts are committed especially against women and children.

This is no different than Mark Foley raising huge political money, then giving a hundred thousand to the Chairman for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, and be protected by Republican Leaders for so long. Congressman Reynolds may partially apologize, but when it mattered, Congressman Foley's money talked, because in Washington, if the abusers give more money than the young page, the abusers are protected and pages are endangered.

Same with Jack Abramoff, his money, the support it bought on the Marianas, the damage it did to abused children and women with forced abortions.

Please, do not believe me, check the facts independently and carefully yourself. Key words that will bring up volumes of objective stories include: Abramoff, Marianas, Rove, Republicans, forced abortion, and forced prostitution.

Rove’s October Surprise Is Still Out There

Posted by Jon Ponder | Oct. 12, 2006, 7:36 am

When will the other shoe drop?

This election is far from over, and Pres. Bush and his team are desperate. Their entire agenda — not to mention their freedom from investigation and perhaps indictment and even impeachment — rests on a Republican victory on Nov. 7.

On Sept. 21, Raw Story reported that Karl Rove was telling conservative groups that he had a surprise scheduled for the last two weeks of October that would turn the midterms in the Republicans’ favor.

Now, as mid-October approaches, we have to assume that Rove’s other shoe will drop within a week or so.

We have already seen how suddenly the narrative can change in an election. Eight days after the Raw Story report, Rove found the shoe on the other foot for once when an unnamed Republican operative outed GOP Rep. Mark Foley as chickenhawk who had been stalking Capitol Hill page boys for years. And worse, GOP leaders, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader John Boehner and others, have known about Foley’s predatory ways for months and years, and have been covering it up to keep Foley’s seat in GOP hands. The scandal has had Republicans on the defensive and off-message for two weeks. ...