"Then there was that general nutjob of a few years ago who wore his born-again extremism on his sleeve, and declared publically that Christ was a better God than Mohammed, or words to that effect. I bet that was news to the billions of Muslims around the world?"

Stonecutter, you're talking about Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, US Army, who is still on the job, no thanks to God. He was deputy under-secretary of defence for intelligence (that's right, intelligence) under Rummy, but I think I read somewhere he's been reposted on since then. Somehow I suspect Boykin probably knows as much about the Middle East as he knows about religion. (Hint to Jerry: Allah is the Hebrew Yahweh as well as the Old Testament God that he worships. They are all the same Supreme Being, and Jesus is even respected as a prophet by most Muslims.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3199212.stm

If Gates flops as SecDef, perhaps we'll see Jerry promoted to head the Defense Department. It would be consistent with BushCo's hiring practices.

BTW, "Seven Days in May" was a good allusion, but I think the Bush mistake is more like the movie version of Gore Vidal's play "The Best Man." (Dubya would be the Cliff Robertson character, only not quite as smart.)

The Best Man (1964): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057883/

"The American people, on average, are happy if they have their beer, their parties, Monday night football and a few laughs. They'll worry when it's too late. When the gestapo comes to their door, not their neighbor's."

You've got a good point, TC, but, with the slump in the housing market and the increase in foreclosures, many people will have no door for the gestapo to break down.

We're basically heading back to 1929 and the Great Depression, only this time around I think it will be worse. (Hoover was a better president than Bush will ever be and there are no FDR's on the horizon.)

If we're lucky, we'll come out better on the other side, hopefully without a world war.

Rick is right!

The American people, on average, are happy if they have their beer, their parties, Monday night football and a few laughs. They'll worry when it's too late. When the gestapo comes to their door, not their neighbor's.

TC

Look, if you watch the classic film "Seven Days in May", made more than 40 years ago, you'll see a scenario played out that we can only hope and even pray for in the modern, real-world extremism of this government and its fear-mongering, pre-emptive policies toward Iraq and Iran.

In that great, cathartic movie, an aide to the CJCS suspects the chairman of planning a coup, and with great reluctance, since he greatly admires his boss as a military hero, asks for and receives a secret meeting with the very liberal president to express his concerns. The rest would be a spoiler for those who haven't seen the film, so I won't continue.

Suffice it to say, it unfolds the way any rational, intelligent, loyal American would want it to, but not before there are the inevitable twists and turns that grow out of the profound tension between those who value above any perceived threat the Constitution and its inherent rule of law and due process, and those who favor the projection of raw power around the world and at home, especially toward perceived enemies in perceived perilous times, to hell with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

These are very complex, tough questions, but during this real-world administration, they have been jettisoned in favor of a near psychopathic allegiance to raw power at all costs, predicated on the "astroturfing" of neocon ideology and born-again religious purity of purpose ("astroturf" is propaganda jargon which refers to fronting some controversial political or policy action with bogus "principled" justifications, thereby concealing from the distracted masses multiple hidden agendas, usually of the self-serving or corrupted variety).

Since Bush talks to God every morning, and presumably God talks back, and he decided a while ago that God was his co-pilot when he landed on that "Mission Accomplished" carrier, no amount of incompetence, military failure, death and destruction or chronic hypocrisy has swayed him from his mission to save the Middle East for democracy, and if that doesn't work, at least prepare it for Armageddon and the biblical Rapture.

General Pace recently demonstrated his own predeliction for religious sanctimony when he commented on gays in the military. Then there was that general nutjob of a few years ago who wore his born-again extremism on his sleeve, and declared publically that Christ was a better God than Mohammed, or words to that effect. I bet that was news to the billions of Muslims around the world?

As much as I'd like to see the values in "Seven Days in May" transferred to the imaginary coup in this article, I'm inclined to expect the worst. The generals would all put their heads down and obey this criminal president without question, just as Colin Powell ate dirt for 4 years, and even agreed to sell Kool Aid to the world at the UN in early 2003.

Even though retired full general Tony Zinni made me stand up and take notice during his recent stint on "Meet the Press", where he spoke bluntly and eloquently about the disastrous policies of this administration, and their utter lack of strategic direction, understanding or even apparent concern, he was after all plugging his new book, he's retired and therefore out of the loop, and he may be too little too late. The active generals still seem to be kissing ass and forgetting names of anyone actually responsible for this nightmare back in the Pentagon or the White House. "Seven Days in May" it's not. We could end up with "2 days in August", followed by a remake of "On the Beach".

whoops...and gladly give up some freedoms to feel safe again. Then, for the next five years it will be yellow-ribbon bumper propaganda and getting fat on the couch. The sh$t will really have to hit the fan to get people to hit the streets but I will agree that it seems the likliest place for change to eventually come from.

This article is a pipedream (agree with PJD) but it got people talking. yakpsyche, you are right about Peters. However, the guy is a sociopath and a pawn for the fascist elite. He will be tossed aside the moment he is of no more use. Talk about overcompensation. PJD, interesting observations and the link was a good read that provided an example of a "iron fist in a velvet glove" mouthpiece. I think we are a long way from "real change will happen in the streets" because, while many people are feeling their oats and are speaking out about displeasure with the cost and execution of the war on terror another 911 will have most of them cowering and asking W to "go git the terrists"

Reading the madness of Ralph Peters puts me in mind of another Peter (but not in the Jeff Gannon sense).

I'm talking about Dr. Laurence J. Peter who wrote the brilliant book "The Peter Principle" (1969).

As well as his famous formula "Everyone rises to their level of incompetence," he also accurately pegged the Peters' neocons with "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to believe."

Ralph Peters' fervid belief in some kind of softshoe Wal-Mart-fascist world future has been proven wrong time and again, going back to the age of the Caesars, but he'll pursue it all the way over the cliff. Fortunately for us, his army will be standing back by then, if not actively helping by giving him a push. More wisdom from Dr. Larry: "Against logic there is no armor like ignorance."

Ralph is uparmored in that department like the Humvees in Iraq aren't, so to speak.

As Dr. Peter also said, "A man [or woman] convinced against his will is not convinced." We are seeing the truth of this daily in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The neocon mentality lends itself, in its pursuit of ideological delusion and denial of reality, to incompetence and violence -- "Kill that gnat with my .45! Ooops, sorry about your walls!" -- and shortly more-or-less sane people realize that, especially after their house is swarming with gnats from all the gaping holes in the walls. This is the stage we're at today in America.

Who would hire Monica Goodling as their lawyer (or Alberto Gonzales for that matter)? Would anyone hire George Bush to run their company? Would anyone besides the deranged Ralph Peters want Lt. Bush leading them into combat? The majority answer would be a resounding 'no'.

My only quibble with Mr. Campos' otherwise fine piece is the idea that by 5-4 the Supreme Court would decide against Bush. It would be nice to think so, but let's remember that it was an illegal 5-4 decision in 2000 by the high court that installed the Scourge from Midland.

Thanks for the update on Peters. But it is one thing to put this stuff in an op-ed in the hard-right WSJ and another thing to have it in an official US Army Academic Journal.

The issue is not that people like Peters are correct in their analysis or not - of course they're not. It is that sociopathic thugs like Peters patrol the planet toting around massive military power and using it on anyone who doesn't submit.

The link given by PJD has, among much else, this to say.

"Liberty always looks like weakness to those who fear it."

That is so true and it explains why the Bush administration is so adamant in its efforts to destroy our liberties (PATRIOT act, unwarranted wire taps, spying on the Quakers, destruction of habeus corpus, etc.). They basically feel that liberty is weakness and to be powerful, they have to destroy it. Thank you, all you who have enabled these totalitarians to destroy the foundations of my country.

Major Ralph Peters has an extensive vocabulary and an eloquent writing style but his assumptions are flawed, making his conclusions romantic folly.

He speaks of a second industrial revolution happening in the US... not hardly. Has he looked recently at where the jobs have gone? Check outside the US border.

He speaks of information and how the US military is superior based on its command of information. Duh? We had all the right information about Iraq, right? WMD's, welcoming us with flowers, speaking their language, understanding the difference between Shiites and Sunnis..... right? Not.

He speaks about freedom and how other countries are intolerant of our freedoms. Yet, his commander in chief is doing everything possible to strip us of our freedoms. No Habeus Corpus, no posse committitas, no representation in government unless you're a billion dollar corporation, no truly accurate and representational election system, whether due to gerrymandering of districts or fraud in the vote counting.... electronic or otherwise. No real investigation of 911 (wouldn't want to reveal who really did it, would they), no actual information sharing with the public. Therefore, no openness to debate and no ability to actually make that information accurate. Our so called command of information is simply emotionally based confidence in our own folly. Gee, look at the vast command of information displayed by the government in regards to global warming. Right?

Freedom and Democracy are emotionally charged words used by the propaganda machine to distract our attention, but in reality our freedoms are being stripped and our democracy is being gutted. In case you haven't noticed the so called patriot act was all written and ready to submit immediately after 911. Usually it takes months to put these words together. Gosh, they must have burned a lot of midnight oil to get it ready, eh? Or was it already there, just waiting to be brought out once the emotions of the country had been whipped into a frenzy?

The so called war on terrorism is actually an assault on the American Constitution. Why? Because its intolerable to the monied elite. They don't want democracy, they want, and are getting, fascism, which means government by the corporate monied powers, not the people.

Paul Campos' article reflects a real possibility because in spite of the distortions and propaganda there are some people in high places who do have a greater respect for the fundamental principle of government by, of and for the people. There are people with integrity who are willing to stake their honor, their career and their reputation on this principle of democracy over and above the tyranny of the monied power-and-war-mongers who would trample on the constitution.

America is and can continue to be a great country. But, not if we use our power to trample on everyone else. We can instead be world leaders in justice and fairness, creating a dynamically balanced garden-like world and global society. This involves sacrifices, for sure, but it is not likely to be achieved by embracing a militaristic approach. The human spirit is not to be suppressed but to be developed and celebrated!

The supreme irony of the times in which we live is the coexistence of the expanding tide of fascism in the "land of the free" and elsewhere, with the presence of the world-wide internet. As time goes on, I predict that these two forces will vie with each other for complete control in an increasingly bitter battle. This has already been the case in the last couple of years. Since these two powers are mutually exclusive, I predict that only one will win. What I can not predict is which one that will be, because it depends upon how everyone else reading this responds.

www.raycarlson.com

To fully appreciate Campos' article it would be helpful to get a copy of Edward Bellamy's 'Looking Backward" which serves as a model for this much shorter piece. Campos isn't being pollyannish any more than was Bellamy. He is using a form of story-telling that well fits those who can see beyond the ends of their nose where we are headed.

namvet67 and expatincebu, add another expat to the "thinking outside the bubble" group of sad onlookers. Sometimes it takes living in a country that's been more recently (more recently than 230 years ago) put through such crap to be able to get beyond the disbelief and denial and admit that yes, it could happen again. God forbid the crooks engineer another Repugnant theft and put John McCain in stumbling distance of the big red button. Keep an eye on Sarko in France over the next year or so to see if the world has yet learned its lesson about tyranny.

I agree with namvet67. I left the U.S. last year. Moved my family to the Philippines. I now live in a third world country and my standard of living is BETTER.

I disagree with the story. The more likely scenario is that a "terrorist attack" takes place in the U.S. "Intelligence" says it was perpetrated by Iran. Martial law is declared and a new war begun. Any dissenters, both military and civilian, are quickly rounded up and put in internment camps. Most Americans are to afraid to do anything. The U.S. economy then collapses leaving the rest of the world to pick up the pieces.

About the 1997 Ralph Peters article -- Peters is well-known for his arrogance, extreme nationalism, & sociopathic bloodthirstiness. In this piece, for instance, this sentence is vintage Peters: "The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing." That's very characteristic.

In the 11/13/2001 WSJ, he wrote in an OpEd on the Afghan invasion: "This is a killing hour, and we must rise to it."

In the 11/4/2004 NY Post, Peters wrote: "We need to demonstrate that the US military cannot be deterred or defeated. If that means widespread destruction, we must accept the price. Most of Fallujah's residents—those who wish to live in peace—have already fled. Those who remain have made their choice. We need to pursue the terrorists remorselessly...

"That means killing. While we strive to obey the internationally recognised laws of war (though our enemies do not), our goal should be to target the terrorists and insurgents so forcefully that few survive to raise their hands in surrender. We don't need more complaints about our treatment of prisoners from the global forces of appeasement. We need terrorists dead in the dust. And the world needs to see their corpses...

"Even if Fallujah has to go the way of Carthage, reduced to shards, the price will be worth it. We need to demonstrate our strength of will to the world, to show that there is only one possible result when madmen take on America."

A small coincidence: today's Buzzflash headlines an item about a Republican Congressman who quoted the founder of the KKK, Nathan Bedford Forrest, on the floor of the House. Peter's 1997 article also has a reference to Forrest -- he uses the image admiringly, to describe the US military "at our military best"!!

Calling Uncle Thomas Sowell an "intellectual" is like calling a sewer "drinking water."

OFF-TOPIC, BUT VERY IMPORTANT:
http://nationalinitiative.us/

PJD your link was great, everyone should read it. It really does get better with age!

Did not know that about Colin Powell, although he plays the good boy to the tee for his team ..

"I remember wondering at one point in 2002 if Colin Powell would step up to the plate and put a stop to the madness; as for a while I thought he had integrity."

Colin Powell would have never done that. Colin Powell always very much believed in the imperialist project, he just filled the role of "good cop", that's all. Most people seem to be unaware that in Colin Powell was a key player in the cover up of the Mi Lai Massacre in Vietnam.

Interested,

Actually this article, now almost 10 years old, is becoming more fascinating with age.

You are right about his diabolical smarts. His remark that the internet would corral dissent into ineffective corners of cyberspace, just as the UN General Assembly ended up becoming for small nations, was very prescient.

If you are familiar with Tom Friedman's (NY times) columns and books, you will recognize Peters paper as largely military expression of that elite movement of neoliberal, Capitalist triumphalism called "Globalization". In 1997, under Clinton, this "philosophy" was at it's near-euphoric peak, and Freidman wrote in "The Lexus and the Olive Tree":

"The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas... And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."

The mass protest actions in Seattle, Goteborg and Genova, and the dot-com bust would knock some wind out of their sails starting in December 1999. Creating the conditions for the rise of the neoconservatives.

And, the Peters paper also echoes the same themes as the the neoconservatives after Bush's election. In fact after reading this paper, it should be apparent that the neoconservatism represented by the Republicans, is just the capitalist neoliberalism, represented by the democrats, with the gloves taken off. Or, just a good cop-bad cop routine. Since I realized this in 1996, I gave up on the two party duopoly.

Real change will happen in the streets.

Ahh .... so often have I had very similar fantasies in my wishes for a better result to this situation.
I remember wondering at one point in 2002 if Colin Powell would step up to the plate and put a stop to the madness; as for a while I thought he had integrity.

PJD,

That was an chilling link. It also dispels what I know that many (including myself) like to think; that all in the military are not terrible bright. We must recognize that we are up against some formidable foes even on that front.

We really are at a crossroads. David Korten summed it up very well when he said, "Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy." The sheep have followed obediently. The slaughter has come incrementally, to some, even being imperceptive. I suppose, unless it slaps them in the face, they'll accept and tolerate the slow erosion of their natural born rights until one day, they're gone. I wonder, even then, will they realize the grand injustices that played upon their heads? Probably not.

I wonder what we will look back upon in ten years. Will we (continue to) be appalled, or will we see this time was the turning point for this country to come to its collective senses? I hope for the latter.

A third or forth party would be great but the ability to be heard is the problem. When the so called "debate" that used to allow most contenders to exchange tit for tat was taken from the League of Women Voters the third party concept was crushed.
As Rick May in his comment above noted (and I paraphrase)Americans are lazy and do not want to be pulled away from "entertainment" and noise long enough to think.

kathyodat wrote:

"after kival's comment, I'm almost afraid to look at your link."

But please do! It was published (in 1997 yet) in the official scholarly journal of the Army War College!

The article's scenario is plenty timely & thought-provoking, but probably wishful thinking. Not just because (as PJD points out) many officers are even more bellicose than Bush, but because the scenario depends on 2 powerful institutions (here, the Joint Chiefs & the Supreme Court) having the integrity to stand up to Bush to save the Constitution. The sad truth is, we haven't even got ONE powerful institution left, that isn't rotten & corrupt to the core.

We'd be lucky to get out of this mess in the way suggested by the article.

I'm glad I married a foreigner. At least I have family to move away to when the @#$* hits the fan.

What will you do?

The time for the Third Party has arrived . . . Any vote for a Republican or Democrat is from a voter that hasn't been paying attention. More yet . . . Has been asleep the last 6 years . . . And the fantasy that is portrayed in the above article is just that . . . Wishful thinking . . . and we all know what that will get you . . . Fairy Tales were made to put children to sleep. Believe in this and go to sleep . . . Everything will be alright in the morning . . . Trust Me!

Vote with your feet. Leave the sinking ship. Living outside America is good for your health.
Hoa Binh

I have to agree to some extent with Rick. The majority who don't vote still aren't paying attention. BUT - among those who do vote, there is a change. My neighbor's father has always been fiercely conservative Republican. And now he's boiling mad at the Republicans. He's changed his party affiliation to Democratic and when she told him about my IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST bumper sticker he laughed his head off. Of course, it's too bad that he, as well as almost everyone in this country is so ignorant about the reality of the power structure.

I don't know what this next election will bring, but I do know the Repubs won't go down without a fight, and if the Dems don't get busy with some real voting reform, they just may succeed in stealing it. And what is with John Conyers? Two years ago he couldn't wait to investigate Ohio.

PJD, after kival's comment, I'm almost afraid to look at your link.

PJD,

Your link sure does provide insight into the mind of one arrogant, overconfident, simple-minded, and frightening criminal.

Sorry to say, but this is a very unlikely scenario. The degree of dissent among the military chain of command is overblown. Most officers I'm aquainted with, from a Colonel who headed the Corps of Engineers District where I worked, to a brother who is a recently retired Rear Admiral, are more bellicose than Bush - if you can imagine that...

Ther are still plenty of officers with views like this one here:

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/USAWC/parameters/97summer/peters.htm

If we feel like winners in the end then all is well that ends well.

It was the opposite situation during the Cuban Missile Crisis--the Joint Chiefs were crazily pushing for bombing Cuba and JFK wisely refused (rent the film "Thirteen Days" for more about this). I don't see any indication that the current Joint Chiefs would behave any differently if an order came down in 2007. Come to think of it, who are the current Joint Chiefs and what in their histories would lead one to believe that they would disobey the president if he were to order such a strike?

But the sad truth is, I don't believe the majority of the American people have either the understanding of how grave the threat to our democracy the current situation is, or the will to fight if they became aware..
They are simply fat and lazy. And they like it that way.
They are like lamps to the slaughter.
I have tried to talked so many about it and they simply have no interest.
They know more about the current reality show, then about the dire condition of their democracy.
They simply don't care!

namvet67 is a prophet.