The White House, isolated and reviled at home and abroad, believes it is on a higher mission to save the world from itself.

I can't help being reminded of the cartoon cat Sylvester pleading with his son, who had just clobbered the lion's jaws shut on his poor old dad, to please not save him again.

With a crazed man running the White House and a Congress that has sold out it would be nice for Lt. Watada to be the conscience of the military.
Hoa binh

Does the Winograd petition address the invasion of Iraq? Or does it imply that that invasion was somehow different from an invasion of Iran? The Iraqi war crime is ongoing - does the petiton "remind" the generals of that fact?

Hedges states: The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military. The Democratic Congress, cowed by the Israel lobby and terrified of appearing weak on defense before the presidential elections, will do nothing to halt an attack.

This is the heart of the matter. Stop AIPAC shine the light of day on them and their unamerican activities along with Hagee Christian Zionist fascists. Stop them and we stop WWIII.

It is time for all the stones and bones of Arlington Cemetary to rise up in mutiny! If only they could.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

~W.B. Yeats

And Bush tells Musharaf to take off the uniform, while Bush is the commander in chief and dismissing the generals that know but won't follow. How many have been replaced now?

People think I'm a complete nut-job when I suggest that Bush won't leave office at the end of his term, declaring marshall law and saying it's far too important that we don't change horses mid-stream -- especially if a nuclear attacks insues. When they tell me I'm crazy I follow with this: "Even if he does leave office like a good president should, he'll leave his legacy of war for generations to come to deal with and clean up, and whatever president takes over will be forced to continue with his mess in some way."

The generals know that extending troops this thin leaves us at a chance of actual defeat, with the world wanting to hold us accountable, and they know what the decisions of Nuremburg would bring to them. We need to put that in the ear of any replacement generals that Bush offers up next.

Chimpy will put on his flight suit and pull a Musharref

" As President, I say we need to attack Iran...but this letter from my Daddy says I don't have to go..hehehe"

Grim stuff, and true. Like the Crosby Stills and Nash song says, "we're finally on our own". But it can't be just the military:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoCVP7sRq_8

It's got to be lots and lots of regular everyday people who can look into the Black-Hole-Heart-of-Darkness, and still find some way to maintain hope and take action.

I gotta face it, 'We the People' are just too comfortable to rise to the challenge that is facing us. Any respectable 3rd World country can put 100,000's of thousands into the streets at the drop of a hat, we are Americans though....it's just too much damn trouble.

Veteran '66-68

the military is still convinced of it's superiority. they think they can successfully prosecute a victory over iran by using overwhelming air, missile, and remote control devices. shock and awe without troops. as if we have troops to put on the ground in iran. in this respect, hedges is right. the military can stop this war.

Unfortunately, as Hedges writes, the military may have nothing to do with it. The war could be started by Israel, by Iran, or a skirmish.

Potentially the most dangerous element is that time is running out both for the Bush gang (remaining in power) and for Israel if the latter wants to be sure of setting back the clock for Iran to have the capability to produce nuclear weapons. For that the attack must come within roughly the next year. After that, Iran still won't have the bomb, but they will be within months of getting it if they decide to do so, and an attack after that time will be much riskier.

This shouldn't have been a PDA-only thing. They should have created a non-partisan umbrella organization and had signatories from a much larger spectrum. Stamping it PDA is a sure-fire way to get it dismissed as partisan showmanship.

If the petititon had signers on the left, right, center, political and non-political, etc. it would have been a more difficult thing to dismiss.

Good article. I wonder if "cowed" and "terrified" are the correct terms, though. The Dems are a full-fledged player in the m.i.c. since at least LBJ/Vietnam. And in other threads here, we find that the crypto-neocons among the Dems aren't "afraid" of AIPAC so much as supporters of it in some cases. Though in Liebermann's case it cost him the Democratic endorsement (but not his ability to get elected, interestingly). Some things trump even partisanship.

The Dems are arguably players/partners in these interests, not afraid of them.

Until this country stops looking to the military for solutions, there will be no end to war.

.
.
The military looks to the civilian leadership for its marching orders. Generals in an all volunteer military are not inclined to mutiny.

I came across a wikipedia entry listing Jewish senators and representatives and it didn't seem all that extraordinarily large in size. Perhaps a little larger than their percentage of the population of the whole, but not wildly larger.

"The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military." The last, best hope for saving what's left of the Constitution and Bill of Rights may lie with our military as well - bout time Powell went for total redemption by launching a coup against America's domestic enemies still holding our country hostage from our White House.

"We will be saved or doomed by our generals." Or... maybe we can start convincing the actual soldiers to draw the fuggin line by refusing to obey illegal orders... "Article 92, that states: "A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the law of the United States." That goes for the bullet magnets too, right?

Dick Cheney may be the anti-Christ.

The author refers to our "deteriorating democracy".
I do wonder if that's an accurate description or a scary term used for lack of faith and courage in what has worked in America for over two centuries. Seems to me if democracies are usually dominated by "parties" and one party has swung out of control, the fix is to elect the other party at the first opportunity, 2008.

I do not believe Cheney will convince Bush to bomb anything extra in the next 12 months. Hope I'm right.

I wished to post a comment on this article; but for what purpose? Chris Hedges has said it all.

I'm a leftist and a pacifist, an anti-imperialist christian, and no fan of the military. but it's not quite accurate to say "The military, needless to say, is a generally reactionary social force." It's a complicated picture. Military schools for kids of soldiers are actually very progressive compared to their public school counterparts, and inherently integrated. The army became an integrated force in 1948 (with issues, of course). Women and people of color have suffered much harassment and even abuse, but have also risen faster than in corresponding civilian institutions.

Additionally, my experience with active military people has shown me that they are very diverse politically, especially when you are talking about those who have seen active duty. Some cling to ideologies of force and authority really hard, and many others become students of the failures of foreign policy and militarism.

It's a small thing, and I mean no disrespect to the poster I quoted, but I believe it's important that we maintain a nuanced understanding of the military, particularly as our national life becomes more and more wrapped up with it... many thousands of severely disabled and traumatized vets are coming home. This tragedy is not their fault as a body, though some may have bought in to the cruelty at work in parts of the deployed forces.

I have no doubt that Bush will commence bombing Iran before election day 2008 or at least encourage the Israelis to bomb Iran.

Starting a war with Iran will help the Republican Party win the election.

The country always becomes nationalistic and rallies around the flag in times of war.

Karl Rove understood the demented mind of the electorate and when he stole the election in 2000 he immediately set out to start a war and increase the popularity of Bush, even before 911.

Papa Bush had a 90% rating during his desert storm war with Iraq, his only mistake was to end that war before the 1992 election.

Baby Bush would not make that mistake and made certain that the war on terrorism and the war with Iraq were in full swing for the election of 2004.

It is very easy to instill fear into the electorate and war seems to favor the republicans at least the voters in 2004 thought Bush would be stronger against the terrorists.

I think he will try to help the Republican Party in 2008 by giving them another war that they can run on.

We must remember that the man is a psychopathic killer and has no scruples and will act irrationally again if he feels it will perpetuate his policies.

Chris, you are usually very insightful but you miss the point of the American public.

"The American public is complacent" is the wrong analysis. The American public is irrelevant should be your thesis.

The US military is not monolithic. Did anyone think that maybe destroying the ability of ground forces to fight leaves the door open for the Air Force - that same USAF that is on an evangelical crusade to exterminate Muslims? (Or even Christians, if they don't adopt their neo-Nazi dogma.) Before you start hoping the MIC will falter, you'd better take a good look at just what is left of the US military - and who is running it. The USAF academy is churning out crusaders at an obscene rate - and they're all True Believers that will bomb and kill you just as easily as their arch-enemies (and theological doubles) who have absolutely no tolerance for any other perspectives. As for the troops discarded in war - that's the way it's always been. The only time that didn't happen was when some 6 million vets came home from WWII - trained to fight fascism. We have no such army today - just a lot of lily-livered civilians crying for their latte... and let's not forget that the US military uses up about half of our oil - why do you think they want Iraqi (and Iranian) oil in the first place?

I don't see any hope on the horizon - just look at how long the Nazis held out in WWII - even as they were bombed into rubble and conscripted children and old men as cannon-fodder. Fight or die - that's the only choice, and until Americans are faced with that choice, nothing is going to change.

The only hope - a flimsy one at that - is what became of Germany after their total defeat: generations of rejection of militarism. But they're not exactly a model society either - militarism is in their blood, and in the blood of those Anglos who descended from their Saxon invasion of Britain. It's been one long bloody history since before the Roman legions defeated Germania - or the Landens finally converted them to Christianity by exterminating the most violent elements. Military historians know what I'm talking about...

What use does Bush have with his regular military (disposable Generals...), when he has his privatized military which still operates largely with impunity, and also which has large parts of which are outsourced, with mercenary wage slaves brought in from other countries- and now , just what kind of sh!t is that, placing outsiders in one's insider military? Defies logic, or what my brain can handle- anybody understand this?
Bush apparently can't conjure up a willing contingent of US citizens for his private war dogs, or regular service. Still, seems a risky tactic- I mean, doesn't Bush always refer to all those terrorists, from *elsewhere*? That's a part of his administration's overall scare tactic, created to induce panic in the masses, which is that we are under this oppressive imminent threat from foreign terrorists, so trust in Bush & Co. to save the day, while their unspoken, yet in practice, ideology accepts outsiders (from a lot of different countries) to carry out their heinous killings, etc. (these are low-paid killers whom enjoy the job, and the opportunity to work for wages less than regular US military military members will accept). Yep, it would suck to be an appointed general in today's military- you know you are a dispoable pawn, and out you go if you dare exhibit any integrity.

Daniel David; With all due respect for your unswerving allegiance to the Democratic Party, you are entitled to your opinions. There is not much difference between the Republicans and Democrats these days. ( I will admit as an ex'Democrat, at one time there was a bigger difference between them. )

Look at Feinstein and Schumer's vote for US Attorny General last week, for instance. In fact, look at the voting record of all Democrats in office since 2000, and determine for yourself which ones are worthy of our votes.

What the Democrats in DC have let the Bush/Cheney Republican Crime Family get away with these past seven years is tantamount to treason against the American people.

Men and women in the US armed forces have the right and obligation to disobey unlawful and immoral orders.
Otherwise, our government owes apologies and financial reparations to the families of Japanese and Germans that we convicted and either imprisioned and or executed after the Second World War, because we have done the things they were accused of doing.

With the exception of Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel, the other Dems support Bush/Cheney and their rhetoric about bombing Iran. How would you and the rest of the Democratic Party zealots feel if you were an Iranian citizen, not knowing if the United States was going to start another holocaust as they are presently doing in Iraq?

I have said it before and I'll say it again. I'd love to hear Putin tell Bush...if you bomb Iran, we'll bomb Israel, bomb for bomb. The phones will be ringing off the hook to get the Coward-in-Chief and the cowardly VP impeached, indicted, and thrown out of office, if that scenario took place.

I served proudly in the military for many years but I am not proud of our military anymore. Too many of them have brought shame and dishonor among themselves and our country for "only following orders".

As always, in my opinion, Chris Hedges has written another important article.

All thats left to be asked is, what do we do in the event these criminals, republicans as well as democrats, do attack Iran?

One thing: We go to Washington to personally evict these people. What else ya gonna do -- vote them out?

Eviction '08

ARMY BRAT: You raise extremely important points.

If we presume that the urge to preserve life, their own that is, has not been programmed out of servicemen & women in Iraq, they would have a good case to mutiny knowing they'd be right next door... i.e. within harm's reach, if the kettle boils over more stridently into Iran.

Isn't it beyond amazing that with all the ruin of Iraq, without a damned morsel of anything remotely resembling constructive outcomes, this illegitimate regime ploughs on as if the entire world is theirs, like a fruit for the picking.

Oh, I'd like to see the karmic tabulation for these trespassers... for all that history has taught us, that individuals can behave as if there has BEEN no progress, no basis for humanity, no realization of the fundamental unity of all tribes (this conclusion forming the wisest basest for a shared survival strategy, as opposed to its antithesis which all but promises WW III, a/k/a Armageddon)... it's like they're souls have been asleep or atrophying all these long centuries!

Thank you Twister22, somber times we live in. Remember, Cheney and Bush are stone killers: millions of dead are "just statistics." Cheney is already ordering troop movements from his "Fuhrer Bunker." Stay tuned for the bleeting of the Pelosi's in Congress when the missles fly.

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is as primitive, inept and paranoid as George Bush."

The inevitable, pro forma disavowal of Ahmadinejad, just in case we doubt Hedges' anti-Ahmadinejad credentials. Admadinejad is a fanatical Muslim and misogynist, radicalized by America's terrorist stooge, Shah Reza Pahlevi. Blowback personified. But when was the last time Ahmadinejad murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians to steal their oil and defend apartheid? Besides, we all know that Ahmadinejad isn't really the issue, because he doesn't even control Iran's military.

Our primitive, inept and paranoid president is the issue, because he controls the most powerful military in the world, and uses it to plunder and murder innocents, not for defense. Plus he has millions of primitive, inept and paranoid followers who fantasize about a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East.

Anyway, Hedges is grasping at straws. The military's not going to save us. Americans will have to draw the line. Surely we're not as bad as the Germans with their Aryan master race mythology? Oh, but wait, I'm forgetting about American exceptionalism, and Zionism, each with their own master race mythology. As if one weren't enough.

Just a point of view, guys...from the UK again...how it seems to a lot of us here....

AUTUMN IS ON FIRE.

Did you feel the white hot flash as it lit up the sky
Do you think its an attack, do you think we will die
Is there anywhere to run
Is it worth a final try

Did you feel the searing pain as the heat burned your brain
Is it just another warning or the Americans again
Have they launched a nuclear strike
Would they be that insane

Autumn skies are crimson
The code word is Expire
And the ground is molten hot

Cos Autumn
is on fire

Did you bounce around like a stone crashin on the shore
Were you taken by surprise, no declaration of this war
They came out of the darkness
Babylon's unleashed the whore

Autumn skies are crimson
The stakes have risen higher
Smell of burning everywhere

Cos autumn
is on fire

© roger antony carter 2007

The American public is complacent, unsure of what to believe, knocked off balance by fear and passive. We will be saved or doomed by our generals.

True progressives strongly disagree. We will be saved or doomed by own own individual actions taken or not taken in our individual better interests (which happen be the society's better interests as well). The power and responsibility are the people's, always. When the media, including the so-called progressive media, get hip to this truth, then "the whole capitalist shithouse will finally go up in flames" as it should, and we can start over and build a society based on universal equity and justice.

The link to PDA in this article does not work.

When you are disillusioned with your civilian leaders, it's so easy to say that your military leaders offer some sort of alternative. But what makes you think that the USA is different from all the other countries that have tried military rule? Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Pakistan, Burma, Iraq, Libya, Greece, Nigeria, and many, many more. Do you really wish to join that club?

Everybody should watch the early 1960's version (the original) of "Seven Days in May". There is no particular connection to the current (and apparent) tug of war between the Pentagon and Bubble Boy's administration, but the movie does a masterful job of showing the competing interests at play in the halls of "big government", the internal conflicts suffered by the people in charge, and the perversion of the bureaucracy by those who should know better. And before anyone gets too convinced that the Pentagon will find a way to do the "right thing", read up on your history, and recall the sad, sorry and detestable figure that was Major General Edwin Anderson Walker. If that nut could make it to the top of the pile, just imagine what else is floating around up there. Sadly, there are no Washingtons, Jeffersons, or Lincolns in the White House, and there are no Greens, Grants, or Eisenhowers in the Pentagon these days.

Comparing Bush to Ahmadinejad is like comparing Hitler to Mussolini.
El Duce, much like Ahmajinedad, was a clownish 'bad-boy'.
Hitler, like Bush, was the real deal; malevolence matched with peerless military might.It does no good to dismiss Bush as a half-wit: his actions result in devastation and death to millions.
I'll take the current clown anyday...

I'm with qbaldsmoove!

I think the current situation in Pakistan is a Beta test for our country in 2008.

Falsely claim that we have homegrown terrorists and then round up all the Moslems being tracked by local police departments and any known dissenters, followed by/concurrently shutting down the press and putting the courts and department of justice under the Pentagon.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if we have fair and open elections in 2008.

Chris is absolutely right, tho'.

If not for Admiral Fallon, CENTCOM commander, we would have already attacked Iran. I wonder how long he can hold out against the exec branch.

I could be wrong, but the subject does deserve airing.

heavyrunner: In the URL string, just lop off the "%20" at the end, and it'll work. Someone's rough editing job, I think.

In any case, there's a severe cultural/political crisis in this country when we're asking the military to use its better judgment, to override civilians who are supposed to be in charge.

But I'm of the opinion that it doesn't really matter where good ideas come from, so long as they are sensible, fair, etc.

America: we had good run!
1776-2009?

The world is paused on Pakistan.

Blackwater guards have just surrounded the Pentagon, and it looks like their cover support is coming from Israeli gunships.

Hedges, as always, has hit the nail on the head.

"And in other threads here, we find that the crypto-neocons among the Dems aren't "afraid" of AIPAC so much as supporters of it in some cases."

You don't have to go to other threads to find them, Paul.

"I gotta face it, 'We the People' are just too comfortable to rise to the challenge that is facing us."

I think that will change soon, John.

Putting down the American people seems to be a specialty, a kind of common theme on this discussion board. Maybe the military staff will save us from this war for a while, maybe they won't; but if there is no hope for the American people the game is truly up and y'all should stop wasting your time and energy on politics. Go root for the Patriots or the Bulls or something where you have a chance of winning, and where you won't be earning a ticket to a concentration camp by speaking up!

I for one have not lost hope in the people, and won't while I live and breathe. I admit that their performance recently is not inspiring, but I see many reasons to hope, not least of which is the widespread evidence that our ruling class is still very much afraid of them/us. How else do you explain the blatant, coordinated and comprehensive effort by the corporate media to black out news of Kucinich and his campaign and to muffle his voice? If you watched him working the crowd at the AFL_CIO meet at Soldiers Field in Chicago, bringing them roaring to their feet time and again, you know what I'm talking about. It is not Kucinich that they are afraid of, it is an awakened people with leadership and a voice that they fear.

If you have sat in working peoples' kitchens and talked with them lately you can't help but see how confused, distracted, cynical and self-desparaging they are, like you all, as a matter of fact. But people know more and are more clear about what they need and who is doing what to them than you think. There is a great deal of potential energy for change there, and it takes a hyge and multi-faceted effort to keep the process from getting well started. But the peoples' needs are not being met and it keeps getting worse and the seemingly so stable and permanent state of things we see around us grows ever more unstable.

It was the same during the Vietnam War. During the Nixon Wage Freeze and bombing campaign on Cambodia, while I was in Illinois, the State AFL-CIO was holding a convention in Springfield. A measure was introduced from the floor calling for a one-day general strike of all the workers in Illinois to protest both, and it was passed in an overwhelming and tumultuous voice vote. This was big news by anyone's standard! Everyone knows that American workers don't do things like that! Yet, not one commercial or public newspaper, radio station or TV network reported on this event. The next day the AFL-CIO leadership frontloaded the day's events with speakers who had been scheduled for later in the week, and then rushed through a motion to adjourn the meeting, before an implementation resolution could reach the floor. As far as the world, or anyone who wasn't there or their circles of friends, was concerned, it never happened. But it did.

Keeping the lid on is a job that never ends, and one of these days, as the people get ever angrier and more clear that they're getting screwed and as rank and file activists keep up with their work, that effort to keep the lid on will fail and we will hear the authentic voice of the people again.

As for ending wars, far too little is known about the role of the active sedrvicemen in Vietnam in ending that war. Friends have described to me how in Saigon in the early 70's there were almost daily mass protests and acts of disobedience by fed-up servicemen. It was not the generals who gave up on that war first, it was the troops.

So, terrible times may be ahead, but they will certainly be interesting and full of surprises, and they may well be exhillarating times too.

Never give up.

Until Cheney is removed from power there is a continuing danger of "Compliant generals can always be found to carry out the Dr. Strangelove designs of a mad White House".
I think one of these incidents was derailed in the end of August this year, with that flight of Nukes stalled on the apron at Barksdale, that "Mistake". Someone was paying attention and stopped Darth's plan.
It's not a good idea for US to call for our military to disobey their civilian command. However, orders to perform War Crimes, to begin unprovoked war, frinstance, are not legitimate orders and refusing them is proper. But it's better for all of US if those cooler heads keep it under their hats.

The war with Iran is a forgone conclusion. The best thing one can now do is safeguard your financial and personal interests and generally stay out of the way.

Siouxrose, Sometimes I consider that those who have brought us to this point serve to provide such a glaring contrast that the masses have to choose. They can no longer fence-sit.

Things become clear and polorized because of the scale and scope of the darkness and sinister nature of those who have chosen to epitomize the left handed path of "service to self" and exactly how far into the dark that will take them. Many people, with help, will come to see in this, that following these masters of darkness is suicide, because theose masters commit matricide on Mother Earth of which we are a part.

For those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, there is a choice to be made, and a new age to be birthed. But each much choose which path to follow---the path of service to others, or the path of service to self. I know which one looks like a winner to me....

I have a cat who loves to chase the spot of light from my laser pointer on the floor. We are all chasing the neocon controlled spot of light.

More than ever I'm convinced that Bush is not crazy. He has an agenda and he's right on target and on schedule.

Ask yourself these questions:

Why is he not worried about the US deficit, the disfunctional economy of consumers and the staggering national debt? My answer is that he does not expect that the debt will ever have to be repaid because very soon the US economy as we know it won't exist any more.

Why does he not worry about population control and world overpopulation? A nuclear holocaust, with Iran as the flint that sets off the powder, especially if it succeeds at involving Russia and China, will take care of that.

Why does he not worry about Global Warming? A nuclear winter will take care of that.

Did you all see his smirk when he talked about WWIII?

He'll have his war before next November and use Blackwater, his concentration camps, "loyal elements" of military and national guard, and his self-ordained power as the ultimate chief to subdue, decimate and control what's left of the once great nations of North America.

Getting rid of Cheney and Bush will achieve nothing as long as their puppet masters, their waiting-in-the-wings, foaming-at-the-mouth supporters in Congress, and their opportunistic administrative spittle-lickers remain at large.

Collectively, we may well deserve what's coming.
Pity the children.

Hedges has pointed out how far we have fallen. When I considered Colin Powell to be a man of integrity and realized that he had presented lies to the world in to his speech at the UN his only course of action to avert the crime of war against Iraq was to burn himself in front of the Pentagon as the monks had done in the 1960's. Their act of bravery is seared in my soul.

There is really no alternative for us. The military will not resist this president any more that the congress has. The only responsible course is massive civil disobedience. Immolation in the face of US actions against humanity.

I am a Vietnam veteran myself and see that the last vestiges of democracy have been swept from our land.