I really believe this of the Cheney/Rove merged mind: when the Bush imperialists have thieving on their minds, they will create and welcome a newsworthy conflict while they proceed to the theft under the media radar.
The lying hype about WMD in Iraq and about Saddam drones that could reach America, the lies about freeing the Iraqis and creating a stable Iraq……in the news and in our faces…..all the while these resource thieves are pursuing a permanent control of Iraq, which oily idea was probably hatched and fine-tuned [right down to the invasion's first priority of protecting the oil ministry] in Cheney’s secret energy task force meetings.

It is easy to understand that continuing conflict in Iraq has served the goal of having time to fully establish permanent bases and control in Iraq. It is not hard to opine that thieves who need time to carry out a heist would applaud or even encourage a continuing conflict so that head-line grabbing stories of atrocities will divert attention from the ….. background activities.

What makes my statements hard to stomach is that Americans believe we are only as ‘good’ and ’strong’ as our leaders, never realizing that true national goodness and enduring strength comes from being honest about motives and actions. And it is very difficult for most to comprehend that, just as in a terrorist’s psyche, there are those among our leaders who don’t give a hoot about people dying in Iraq or New Orleans, or from chronic poverty……

Which brings me back to Hayden. Try to imagine the very same Cheney/Rove merged mind as wishing to do a little thieving while the media focuses on what likely will be months of headlines about Hayden, all neatly dividing the country on issues purportedly related to national security……all between now and the ‘06 elections.

The first potential ‘background theft’ that occurs to me is the matter of making permanent the tax cuts for the wealthy……in a time of record deficits, mind you….at a juncture when the minimum wage for those who work with their hands has not risen in years. To extend the tax cuts for the well-off in that context is another theft of a tax base needed for programs that serve all of us.

Uh, oh….time to do some gardening. I just wanted to open up a discussion of the political storm possibilities over Hayden that would grab headlines while the Repugs try to steal more of our future before we oust them from office.