As speakingcorpse accurately points out below, we are fucked.

In an environment where there was some conceivable social or spiritual cost to my actions I would forbear pointing out the following. However, since there is quite literally no hope at all in the present situation, I will take a moment to cast my last shred of dignity away.

Over a year ago I wrote:

Gonzales will be confirmed. Torture will be essentially legalized in the US. America will attack Iran before 2008 either directly or by proxy.

Events have borne me out on all counts.

I was right.

They were wrong.

I told everyone so.

I take this to my imminent grave as a consolation. A pathetic pleasure surely, roughly on par with a feeble ejaculation during a wet dream about a relative. Nevertheless it is something. Something is better than nothing.

But Nothing is on the march.

It is important to eliminate any residual confusion about what is now going on.

Bush is quite actually and truly an emotionally and intellectually handicapped person who, because he was neglected by his ineffectual father and abused by his brutal bloodthirsty mother, can only understand anything in terms of "me winning" or "me losing." Thus all politics is a game, and all international conflicts require war. People aren't real. Death doesn't matter. We'll all be dead soon anyway.

Those are the unadorned facts. I don't expect many people would, at this point, contest them. But there are other facts which I've only just begun to recognize as such--as simple and uncontestable, as the starting-point for any future "thought" that might be had about the current geopolitical reality.

1) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an Islamic fundamentalist. But he is not a suicidal apocalpytic madman who will sacrifice tens of millions of his own citizens in order to nuke Israel. This idea of Ahmadinejad is what is being promulgated constantly in AIPAC/Christofascist/death-cult circles (which, sadly, include the residences of both of my parents--but which, not surprisingly, does NOT include the homes of my many Israeli relatives, who have more incentive than most Americans to cling to sanity and to avoid self-aggrandizing fantasy).

That in the 1980's Iranians sent hundreds of thousands of children into Iraqi minefields, sacrificing their lives in order to clear a path for the Iranian army, is neither here nor there. Yes, it is evidence of blood-curdling fanaticism. But people who cite this history as proof of Ahmadinejad's willingness to nuke Israel and then to suffer the Israeli retaliation always conveniently forget two related points: a) In the 1980's the Iranians were defending themselves against an aggressive invasion perpetrated by a bloodthirsty murderer who was fighting with American encouragement and weaponry; b) Hundreds of thousands of dead children are, yes, not as bad as millions of dead people, multiple radioactive craters, radiation sickness, melting flesh, cancer, birth defects, etc.

2) More important--the reason for this post--is the second major fact which we should all now recognize: Cheney and Rumsfeld control American foreign policy, and while they may have hoped for and even expected an easy occupation of Iraq, they nonetheless must also have considered, and cannot be at all surprised by, the current situation. While civil war was not the best result for Cheney and Rumsfeld, it is still a good result. Why? Because it sets the stage for what we are going to see this summer: war with Iran. And what is the goal of the war with Iran? Regional conflagration.

This is not conspiracy-mongering, nor is it even informed speculation. This is the simple application of logic. The bombing of Iran, which has been in preparation for at least 2 years, is going to happen. This will, at the very least, lead to a massive re-invigoration of Hezbollah activity worldwide and in northern Israel. Most likely, it will also lead to missile strikes against Israel from Iran. It will also, without question, bring Hezbollah into the ascendancy in Syria, forcing Syria and Iran into a close alliance. At the same time, the Iraqi civil war will become more violent, with the Shiites under al-Sadr working ever more closely with Iran.

It's really quite obvious that these are the likely consequences of the war on Iran. Cheney and Rumsfeld, unlike Bush, know this. They know it. Just as they must have known that the Iraq invasion had at least the potential to set the stage for precisely this sort of regional conflagration.

Why do they want it? And why, as I asked a couple of days ago, would Israel want it? Does Ehud Olmert want Israel to be hit by Iranian missiles?

Yes. Olmert and his Sharonista thugs (not the Israeli citizenry) want this, and for the same reason Cheney and Rumsfeld want region-wide chaos and death. War gives power to people who are willing to kill. Olmert wants protracted non-negotiation with the Palestinians. He wants to proceed with the wall-building, with the annexations, with the construction of a prison on 40% of the West Bank. Most Israelis want peace. The Labor Party shows signs of re-invigoration. Israelis aren't just going to let Olmert continue Sharon's annexation plans unless they are convinced there is no alternative. Regional chaos and death will, for the umpteenth time, allow the U.S. and Israel to put the Palestinians "to one side," even as Israel continues its long-term annexation and imprisonment policies.

And Cheney and Rumsfeld's motives are quite similar. There is nothing better for the Republicans than war, chaos, violence, terrorism, and death. Period. War is what you pursue when you have no agenda other than your own power. How can Americans vote against the Republicans when we're at war? Especially if the Democrats refuse to take a position for or against the war, thereby confiriming that there is in fact no alternative?

I'm sure Cheney and Rumsfeld have ordered secret position papers outlining their strategic plans in terms more complex than "regional conflagration." They probably prefer something like "short-term regional instability followed by regional peace conference."

But it should be clear now: they want to bomb Iran; they aren't, like Bush, too stupid to consider, and too infantile to accept, the consequences; and the consequences are obvious. Therefore, they want the consequences.

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All of the above is by way of introducing this nauseating story, mentioned in an important post by Kevin Drum. The story, sourced to former employees of the NSA and State Department, explains how the U.S. refused even to consider an invitation from the Iranians to enter into comprehensive nuclear negotiations in 2003. I actually remember reading about this back then. But of course I'd forgotten all about it.

This shit MUST cease to amaze, or we're all going to die.

Why am I STILL surprised by the fact that the media are playing to Rove's script like wooden toys (or trained dogs, or zombies, or diahhroetic intestines, etc., etc., etc....)?

Huge front page stories all day Wednesday at the Times and Post websites, all about Rove being "demoted." Does anyone think that if Rove were in 24-hour lockdown at Sing-Sing, he would be the LEAST bit less involved in daily management of the syndicate's operations?

But he hasn't even been fired, or really "demoted" at all. He has given up his "policy" job to focus exclusively on the mid-term elections. Wow. That's going to take some getting used to.

In his response to the Post headline announcing, "Karl Rove quits policy position to focus on midterm elections," Billmon had it right:

"This is like reading that Jack the Ripper has given up his medical practice to concentrate on his night job."

That is exactly the quality of "reporting" currently being provided by "our" "media."

Great! Awesome! New York Senator Charles Schumer is showing imagination and initiative:

Senator calls for gasoline price fix probe as prices soar.

New York Senator Charles Schumer, speaking in front of a Hess station in Manhattan, called Tuesday for a federal investigation to see if oil companies and refiners are deliberately withholding gasoline production, taking advantage of the normal switch from winter gas to summer gas in an attempt to bid up prices.

"The bottom line is they are producing at 85 percent capacity when they should be producing over 90 percent," said Schumer. "Are they scaling back production? Only by subpoenaing the companies and looking in their books will we get that answer."

I'm sure the aide who put him in front of the Hess station will be promoted.

As each passing day reveals a new level of personal involvement on the part of Bush and Cheney in the effort to destroy Valerie Plame's counter-proliferation work at the CIA, and exposes still more of their pre-war statements as criminally prosecutable lies, I begin to wonder whether it's really a "canny political strategy" to keep on trying to "seize the economic high ground" by attempting to change the "subject" and to remind "Americans" that Bush-Cheney policies are "hitting" them where it "hurts"--their proverbial pocketbooks. Hey, "it's the economy, stupid!" Right? Brilliant.

Given that it would be "politically unfeasible" to protest the preparations for the upcoming national suicide-bombing of Iran, couldn't Charles Schumer at least make some hay out of the daily revelations of Bush and Cheney's spectacular mendacity and incompetence?

Charles Schumer is trying to shit after the toilet draining our "national discourse" has already flushed.

I think Al Gore is the only plausible Democratic candidate for president in 2008, period.

And fuck everyone.

The article linked below is just one indication that the attacks are planned and already in the early operational phases. Also note: Hersh was reporting in February 2005 about plans to bomb Iran; the "revolt" of the generals against Rumsfeld is clearly an attempt to rest control of the military from Rumsfeld in order to prevent an attack on Iran--but Rumsfeld cannot be removed, even if Bush wanted to, because he is already running the early phases of the current war on Iran; today Joseph "the Jew" Lieberman told the Jerusalem Post that we may well have to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. And: by floating possibility of "pre-emptive" nuclear strikes (did Bush order at least some leaks to Hersh?) the administration has set the boundaries of debate; now the question is not whether but with what degree of massive insane murderous violence we will attack the "mad mullahs."

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Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror'

UNITED NATIONS Apr 17, 2006 (AP)— Israel warned Monday that a new "axis of terror" Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government is sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. The Palestinians accused Israel of an escalating military campaign using indiscriminate force to kill civilians and entrench its occupation.

The Israeli and Palestinian envoys traded charges at an open Security Council meeting held in response to the recent upsurge in Israeli attacks in Gaza. It took place on a day that a Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant in Tel Aviv, killing nine people in the deadliest bombing in more than a year.

Recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran and Syria, including one by Hamas on Monday defending the suicide bombing, "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value," said Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman.

"A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," Gillerman warned.

The Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, condemned Monday's suicide bombing and the loss of innocent civilians on both sides, but attacked Israel for trying to portray its latest military escalation which killed 21 Palestinians from April 7-9 as a response to violence from the Palestinian territories.

"Israel, the occupying power has been relentless in its grave breaches of international law, including the willful killing and injury of civilians and the practice of extrajudicial executions," he said. "What the Israeli government is doing and what it has been doing throughout its nearly 39-year-old military occupation is clearly intended to serve its clear political objectives of inflicting maximum pain, suffering and loss on the Palestinian people while it entrenches its occupation."

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Questions: why do people like watching other people die SO MUCH that they are happy to risk death in order to ensure that a significant number of murders are televised?

What can be done to avoid the cascade of blood that Bush is currently pouring down above all of us? Or are our heads--and those of our children, and our children's children--already drenched?

Can anything be done?