Several DUers have asked me to re-post this piece for wider discussion. Originally it was my comment (#23) on Grassy Knoll's post...
"Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4638267#4640147It also appeared here, with many comments:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x302923#303036My comment was aimed at trying to understand why the Obama administration would help cover up Bush Junta war crimes--which they have clearly been trying to do, and which many people find disturbing. My wish is that people will get beyond feeling "disturbed" and start thinking more strategically: How do we insure that our elected leaders stay accountable to "the People"? In what mechanism does our sovereign power chiefly reside, and what is the condition of that mechanism of "people power"? To get there--to effective action--we need to form some notion of what is going on in our nation's political power structure, especially the parts of it that we can't see very well. We are forced to guess. That, and the remedy (or the beginning of a remedy) are what this post is about.
Here is my original comment, as is. I'm going to add more at the bottom:
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You want my theory? Here it is...
Circa 2006: Constant talk of a possible U.S. nuclear strike on Iran. But also serious rumblings in the military brass opposing it. (Too dangerous--Iran no pushover like Iraq was; and nuke powers China and Russia threatening to come into it, on Iran's side--potential Armageddon). Junior in deep doo-doo with the CIA over the outing of its entire WMD counter-proliferation project--not just Valerie Plame--they outed the whole network run under the Brewster-Jennings front company, endangering CIA agents/contacts throughout the world and probably getting some of them killed.** Rumsfeld and Cheney did it, but Junior signed off/went along. Fitzgerald puts Libby behind bars, says he was obstructed, points at Cheney (but says it's a political problem). 2005 had been all about this--who would take the fall? And Iraq is a mess--bloody, corrupt, chaotic. Early 2006, Daddy Bush forms his Iraq Study Group (ISG) to rescue Junior from CIA retribution and forms a coalition with military brass and others to stop the nuking of Iran, which Rumsfeld/Cheney are determined to do, and save Junior's skin. Take note: Leon Panetta (old CIA) is a member of Daddy Bush's ISG. They put a deal to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld: No nuking of Iran. Rumsfeld has to resign. And Junior and Cheney will go quietly when the time comes. In exchange for, no impeachment or further investigation/prosecution for their many, many crimes.
The Democrats are permitted to win the 2006 Congressional elections (with lots of "Blue Dogs"). Nancy Pelosi announces that "Impeachment is off the table." (WHAT "table"?) Rumsfeld resigns, apropos of nothing (to appearances). (The "Blue Dog" Congress almost immediately funds the "surge" he wanted.) All talk of nuking Iran goes away. Pelosi travels to the Middle East to give the news to Israel and other allies. In the pre-arranged 'Gulf of Tonkin'-type incident to trigger the strike on Iran--British sailors caught in Iranian waters--Iran smilingly gives the sailors back.
The next problem is vetting the 2008 presidential candidates to insure that whoever enters the White House agrees to "the Deal." It is also decided that a weak "liberal" would be a good idea, to start taking the blame for the Bush Junta horrors and induced Depression. (The Bush Cartel and the far right billionaires running things have the power to do this. See below--my evaluation of Obama.) Ultimately, Obama passes the vetting (agrees to "the Deal") and gets elected--which I think he really was--and is also permitted to be elected, and very nearly the first thing out of his mouth is "we need to look forward not backward" on Bush Junta crimes. (They teach that at Harvard Law School?) And nobody gets prosecuted, or even investigated. Nada. Nothing.
Obama appoints ISG member Leon Panetta as CIA Director. There is a brief flutter of 'he ain't qualified/he's a civilian.' That goes away very quickly and he sails through Congress without another peep. One of his jobs was to stop the war between the Pentagon and the CIA--to heal the wounds that Rumsfeld (and Cheney) had inflicted--and another is to clean up after Junior. I could tell you a whole story about what I think the Bush Junta was doing in Colombia and why the Obama administration/Panetta are coddling and protecting the spying-connected, death-squad-connected, drug trafficking-connected recently ex-pResident of Colombia, Bush Jr pal Alvaro Uribe, but I won't go into it here, and you get the idea. Any loose ends around the world, that might attach to Junior, are being taken care of, with the Obama administration aiding and abetting Panetta (in the case of Colombia, involving serious sabotage of the Colombian justice system).
What do I think of Obama, if this scenario is true? He was probably well-intended and thought that he could do more good in the White House, even with very limited powers, than not in the White House. And "the Deal" and his agreement to it, if these things are true, would be no surprise to me at all. This is what we are now, not a democracy but the highly controlled and propagandized peons of an Empire over which we have no control. My investigations into our election system--how our votes are counted and by whom--were very shocking to me, especially that the Democratic Party leadership let it happen. Basically, one, private, far rightwing corporation--ES&S, which just bought out Diebold--owns and controls 80% of the voting machines in the country, which are run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY code, with virtually no audit/controls. This ultimate control mechanism makes it possible--makes it EASY--for the far rightwing and their allies to play our system like a piano. I think Obama actually won, by a bigger margin than we know, on the hopes of the American people for peace and social justice but he has no power to deliver either. And until we rectify this situation--get rid of these machines and restore vote counting to the PUBLIC VENUE--there will not be, and cannot be, any serious reform.
What do I think of Obama now? I think he's going to have bad dreams in his retirement. A good man, sucked in by "the Powers," with terrible things being laid on his conscience.
Items like U.S. interference in Spain's justice system (the Wikileak OP) are best understood, in my opinion, as the inevitable result of "the Deal" that I have described or some similar Deal. Our candidates--besides being pre-selected by corporate money and corporate media--are NOT FREE to say what they think and do what is best. No free agent--a real representative of the People--will ever make it to the White House. No FDR, for instance, could ever be elected now. Things are VERY controlled, and if you want power within this Imperial system, you MUST agree to the controls. That is the price. You have to put a lid on your mind and your heart.
It doesn't do to just rail against Obama or Clinton or the Bushites. We need to understand what is going on. We must open our eyes and look for the strategies by which we can get our power back, as a People. I offer this theory--this scenario--in that spirit. It may be true. It may not be. It may be partly true. But it tries to go deep and also to come up with solutions.
And you WILL find me voting for Obama in 2012! I will never, ever, ever give up my right to vote. But I don't have the power to make them count it in public view. Only the collective will of all of us can accomplish that. And only when we accomplish that, as a People, will we begin to have real choices and real debate again and the chance at real reform.
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**(Sub-theory. Rumsfeld/Cheney's plan was to seque the Iraq War into Iran, then and there, soon after the invasion, and they had nukes in route to be planted in Iraq that were traceable to Iran or would be put in route to Iran. SOMEBODY foiled this plan--stopped the shipment. Rumsfeld/Cheney were furious. They were counting on the planted WMDs in Iraq for so many things (political narrative, expanded war). They suspected the CIA's counter-proliferation network. They suspected UN weapons expert David Kelly. They had Kelly offed and outed the entire CIA c/p network. Those two events--Kelly's murder and the CIA outings--happened within four days of each other in July 2003.)------------------------------------
I discuss our vote counting system and explain my reference to Colombia in further comments at Grassy Knoll's thread. Here I'm going to provide a note on the "sub-theory," a bit of discussion about "evidence" and more on the remedy.
1. Note on the sub-theory: Cheney-Rumsfeld were frustrated as to expanding the war into Iran in 2003, but continued with that goal through 2006, until Rumsfeld resigned in late 2006. After that, all talk of nuking Iran went way, and Cheney's power seemed considerably curtailed. Someone commented on this post that saber-rattling toward Iran has continued. But the threat of an imminent strike
did "go away" for a considerable period after Rumsfeld resigned. My guess: political/diplomatic work needed to be done to neuter China/Russia opposition. U.S. threats have picked up recently but concern about "Armageddon" seems to be allayed, and it's possible that Rumsfeld/Cheney's insane notion of invading/occupying Iran has been dropped in favor of other methods of control.
2. "Evidence": I cannot possibly provide all the links necessary to back up individual points in this "theory of everything." I have tried to be faithful to the "facts" in so far as we know them (the succession of events around Rumsfeld's resignation, for instance) The rest is my educated guesses as to what lay behind the bits that we are permitted see. (Someone also commented that it's not really a "theory of everything" and I agree. I meant that title sort of "tongue in cheek.")
I assure you that the theory is based on a lot of years of careful reading of both corpo-fascist and alternative news sources and considerable thought. It is not idle speculation. It is meant to address a particular problem that we U.S. citizens and voters are faced with: That we seem to have no in-put into vital decisions of our elected leaders, such as prosecuting war crimes.
I think we do need thoughtful theories about the power structure in our country just to stay sane amidst its 'Alice in Wonderland' aspects, but, more than this, to be able to identify specific areas of vital importance to our power as a People--such as the corporate takeover of our vote counting system.
3. As to that, I want to add one more fact here, and more information on our election system.
The complete take-over of our election system by corporate entities, using 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls, occurred by act of the Anthrax Congress--a $3.9 billion e-voting boondoggle with no controls on this system--passed in the same month as the Iraq War Resolution (Oct. '02). Around that time, nearly 60% of the American people opposed the Iraq War. Bush-Cheney's "re-election" in 2004 insured the continuation of that war--with all its horrors and tortures and massive looting--for four more years. The non-transparent vote counting system is now locked in, in every state. In my opinion, this is the final method of control for continuation of the Forever War and other gross injustices.
Here are three good sources on our election system: www.bradblog.com, www.richardcharnin.com and www.markcrispinmiller.com. I recommend Charnin's book,
Proving Election Fraud, Miller's book,
Fooled Again and Stephen Freeman's book,
Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count for those who want to get into the details. Freeman's is probably the easiest read, but all three are compelling and informative.
http://www.amazon.com/Was-2004-Presidential-Election-Stolen/dp/1583226877http://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Again-Real-Electoral-Reform/dp/B003IWYJC2/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291506761&sr=1-2http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=%22Proving+Election+Fraud%22&x=13&y=17But really all you have to do is ask your local election officials to prove to you that your vote was counted in public view and made it all the way to CNN's election "results" as one of many provable, verified, concrete actions by you and others on Election Day. They can't do it. And that's where we should start. We must make them prove it to us.
That proof is precisely what ES&S/Diebold will not yield up and does not want you to have. Corporations have
no rightful place between you and that proof. They need to be ousted from that position, and replaced by the old-fashioned paper ballot count or by OPEN SOURCE electronics with the code
owned and controlled by the public and with a very substantial audit (hand-count of ballots vs machine totals).
Bottom-line. It's that or it isn't democracy.
Our political leaders surely know that they have been vetted and "chosen" and that ES&S/Diebold, for instance, is a far rightwing corporation with democracy-killing power. Those who "make it" also choose to be part of this system--with good, bad or mixed motives. A few might be muddled stupids. Most are not. Our job as citizens is to be
practical--to not let our anger or disgust, or disillusionment get the better of us, but to hang in there on the best system of government ever devised--democracy--and put our democracy back together.
How do we do that? Passivity is no solution. Not voting is no solution. (Never, never, never give up your right to vote!) Simply venting is no solution. Even activism is no solution if all our election work can be undone by a keystroke of some techie in ES&S's basement.
We have to look at the actual mechanisms of power--and of our power as a collective entity: We the People. And we really can't do that if we think that everything is
basically okay in the U.S. It is not. The most basic thing of all has now been taken away. Privatized vote counting is both a cause and symptom of everything else. It's my opinion that whatever "deals" went down--and it's pretty clear that
something went down--"We the People" were
not at that "table." And the main
reason we were not there is that we've lost control of the vote counting--our main power and very nearly the definition of our sovereignty.
We give power to
them, to run the country in our interest. That equation needs to be restored, beginning with vote counting in the PUBLIC venue.
It
can be done. There is
no federal law requiring 'TRADE SECRET' code vote counting (yet). Local/state jurisdictions still hold the power to choose voting systems. And that's where the fight can and must be won. It will be difficult. It is a must-do.
I wish Barack Obama all the good fortune and prayers in the world! I think he's a well-intentioned, very intelligent man caught in a vise partly of his own making. But we are all colluders in this system in different ways. Don't focus on Obama--neither with anger nor defensiveness. Focus on yourself and your community and what your chosen role should be in reviving our democracy. This is a great and historic task and it is going to be amazing when we succeed and I feel quite confident that we will.
Peace :patriot:
(edited for typos)