So if Bush actually bombs Iran, what are we going to do about it?

[Cyrano]

Call, write and fax our congresspersons?

Sign more petitions?

Hit the streets with protest marches?

Put up on-line posts about how pissed we are?

The real answer is that if Bush bombs Iran, there's not one, single, solitary damn thing we can do about it. For almost seven years now, we've watched these thugs dismantle our government, our laws and our Constitution. And we are now at the point where we are totally helpless. They can literally do anything they want to and we can't stop them.

What if Bush or Cheney went on TV today and announced that they needed to bomb San Francisco to "stop a secret terrorist plot"? Aside from getting as far as possible from San Francisco, what could anyone do to stop them?

How the hell did we let the situation get this far? And does anyone have any practical idea of how to put an end to this administration ASAP?

[valerief]

1. Support the troops who'll be told to point their guns at us if we storm the WH?

Maybe the troops will disobey and point the guns at the real enemies.

[Cyrano]

4. Maybe. After all, they did take an oath to protect the Constitution against

"... all enemies, foreign and domestic."

[valerief]

8. That old piece of toilet paper? Bush probably signed a signing statement that invalidated it. nt

[atreides1]

9. Yes They Did

They also swore allegiance to the Constitution, but after Patriot Act I and II, and the Spy on Americans Act that was just passed by the Congress, I don't think the military will ever uphold its oath to the Constitution!

One of the reasons that I fail to believe that the military has any credibility left, because they sure don't have much honor or integrity!!!!

[HughBeaumont]

14. Won't be THOSE troops . . .

It'll be THEIR troops - Blackwater USA. And the police. Police have always viewed protestors as enemy combatants no matter how peaceful and wouldn't hesitate to crack their skulls or open fire.

[valerief]

16. Good point. Wonder where they dredge up the Blackwater scum. nt

[seemslikeadream]

2. That's the problem now, isn't it?

[Waya]

3. Given .........

..the track record of the population as a whole in the last 6 years - NOTHING....except whine, bitch, complain and gripe....that's it.

[Bennyboy]

5. Drive to walmart in our SUV's and

Cheer for US victory!

[Virginia Dare]

6. Buy more yellow ribbons made in China?..

At any rate, I don't think we need to be worrying about what Bush is going to do anymore, it's Cheney that's got me shaking in my shoes. I think we need to get that bastard out of there first and foremost.

[marmar]

7. I fear that you're right.....

When what we really should do is shut the country down. Don't go to work or school, cease economic activity, stay home. That would end it quickly.

[Faux pas]

10. Duck and Cover?

We've been helpless since boosh illegally ensconced himself in the white house. since the dems gained the majority on capital hill, we have found out they could give a rats ass what happens to this country either. we have now reached def-con 4. We are either targets or slave labor, beyond those two things, we mean NOTHING.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Years ago the Left, I think, had a chance of doing battle on equal...

...terms with the administration. As time went on, though, Bush kept stacking the deck more in his favor (court appointments, purging generals, etc.). Now, I can't say it's too late, but it's too late to exercise the Left's traditional mechanisms (which I don't really perceive as having evolved enough to defend us anyway) to stop this fascist bullshit.

  It's like a bad movie where a bunch of criminals come to rob a bank and the customers (through the suspension of disbelief) are expected to defend themselves against guns with staple removers, ink pens and wastepaper baskets.

  And most pointedly, it's not so much that the Left can't do more but isn't willing to. When the largest marches against the war are from a small organization like ANSWER, you have to wonder what the larger (Progressive) organizations, the Democratic Party, etc. are doing to address this issue with the level of verve it deserves.

  I almost entirely agree with every one of your statements but I'm still baffled as to how we wound up at this point in time with the situation the way it is.

PB

[kestrel91316]

12. I have a response in mind. But it's private.

[Cyrano]

13. It's probably best to keep it that way. After all, Gitmo is still in business.

[marions ghost]

15. Which do you mean

Bush bombs Iran with -or without- the approval of congress that he had in the case of Iraq? I can't see him getting approval from Congress so if he did it, wouldn't it be a tipping point for Congress to just get rid of him?

At any rate I don't think Americans will stand idly by if it happens.

[Cyrano]

19. Sorry to disagree, but exactly what do you see Americans doing other

than bitching, moaning and standing idly by?

[marions ghost]

21. Well

Some would bitch & moan louder than ever.
Some who never bitched before would finally bitch.
Some who are tired of bitching would recharge.
Protests of every kind you can think of would ratchet up.
Big pressure on Congress.

I wouldn't underestimate those who appear to be standing idly by. Not many Americans except the war profiteers are happy with the war that has been conducted in Iraq at this point.

Bombing of Iran would be a tipping point IMO.

Hey no problem in disagreeing. Good topic for discussion--what would we do? I'm not sure anybody really knows the answer. It's a volatile situation. Certainly worth speculating on. We'd better be ready for anything IMO.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. If he's going to bomb Iran what the hell is he waiting for?

If we was going to bomb Iran, he would've done it by now.

[sakkatta]

18. same as last time

sit around complaining and whining and expecting politicians to do what we are too cowardly to do.

[Cyrano]

20. Exactly what is it we are too cowardly to do? Are Americans supposed to

attack the White House with hand guns and hunting rifles? There's a name for that. It's called suicide.

So if my guess is wrong, I again ask, what is it that Americans are too cowardly to do?

[HughBeaumont]

22. This is what would happen, should we storm the White House -

(posted/paraphrased from an earlier thread)

138 million of us could rise up, abandon our livelihoods, financial situation be damned, and storm the White House and the homes of the uber-wealthy plutocrats like Lee Raymond, Dick Cheney, Larry Ellison, the China Mart Family, etc. The nation as well as the entire world's economy (especially our major trading partners, THANKS to said rich people, China and India) would be thrown into mass upheaval. Thousands upon thousands of us can get nuked and dusted by Blackwater, button-pusher Cheney and the police, all of whom would protect the interests of the "betters". Those that succeed somehow in getting past them and onto the homes of the rich and fascist will find them either suicided or fled to Paraguay. We wouldn't have a nation's capital because it'd be radiated or blood-drenched, as would our major cities.

And then what happens?

Would someone in the population know how to rebuild everything from scratch again? How long would that take? What sort of government would arise? What would stop it from being as predatory as the last one? How do we know that the same cycle of exploitation/unfairness/economic inequality wouldn't rear it's ugly head the second time around?

A "blood in the streets" vision would have consequences none of us could even imagine. You think you're dealing with a Nixonesque bunch here? Those guys are long, LONG gone. This is an authoritarian by any means necessary corporatocracy now. They couldn't care less about our voice. They couldn't care LESS about our future. Time value of money models and mercenary economics are how they own and operate. 3-4 million people around the world were in the street protesting the war in 2003. They went to occupy anyway.

At least Nixon, shitty of a president as he was, had a sense of country and legacy. These people don't care about popularity. They never have.

"Spare me the hyperbole" all you want . . . I want to know how, when we elected a democratic congress to stop funding this war, that it is somehow OUR fault that they instead gave the Failure Fuhrer blank checks?

I want to know how, when I voice my opinion in protest in DC, it's my fault for not being disobedient enough to get an arrest record and a felony tacked to my ass?

We TRIED caring. I guess we failed because we chose to go through life trying simply to pay our bills and raise our children right, which is difficult enough as it is. I guess we failed because the US isn't passionate enough to want to turn DC into a gorewash. Frog-march politicians and you still have the corporations, the people that REALLY run this country.

Who deals with THEM? Are they gonna be burned at the stake or forced to abandon their greedy tendencies?