The Unbearable Chutzpah of the U.S. Reactionary Elite

The current “crisis” in Iraq is directly a result of the acts of the regime of Bush the Younger. Yet not only have elected politicians and media mouthpieces of the political party of that regime, the Republican Party, been shamelessly attacking (and blaming) the Democratic Party president of the U.S. for the teetering regime of sectarian dictator Nuri al-Maliki, but amazingly, actual architects of the current “crisis” are making the rounds of reactionary media (and that includes ALL the major media organs in the U.S., in whole or in large part) to beat their chests and attack Obama.

So for example the sinister Richard Cheney, Bush the Younger’s Vice President and eminense grise, has been on television to opine. Of course it was the U.S. invasion of Iraq, masterminded by Cheney and War Secretary Donald “The Infallible” Rumsfeld, that destabilized Iraq and brought the ethnic and religious fissures to the fore. It was also the Bush regime that anointed Maliki boss of Iraq, an absolutely absurd choice. (Although no more absurd than their original choice, the embezzler, con man, and peddler of disinformation Ahmed Chalabi- whose name is now being bruited about as a replacement for Maliki! Never mind the past, never mind U.S. accusations that he was an Iranian agent, after they eventually fell out with him.) [1]

Then we’ve also been treated by the arch-reactionary Wall Street Journal (the main ideological organ of finance capital in the U.S.) to the opinions of L. Paul Bremer, invited to have an op-ed piece under his name in that rag. Bremer is the Bush family crony and spoiled rich boy who was made proconsul of Iraq with absolute powers after the U.S. conquest and occupation. In that role, he was unfailingly unable to make a correct decision. One of his biggest blunders, which went against the advice of even the U.S. military, was the total disbandment of the Iraqi army. That led to much grief in the following years and is cited today by experts as a reason for the current mess. (Peter Dale Scott cites an author who claims that Cheney ordered Bremer to disband the Iraqi army.)

For good measure, Bush’s Poodle, the loathsome, oleaginous Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of (not) “Great” Britain, immediately popped up like a Jack-in-the-Box to insist that “we” don’t “blame ourselves” for the breakdown in Iraq. (“We” meaning him.) The British propaganda system dutifully did its part, broadcasting his crudely self-serving exhortation while ignoring how he was exposed and totally discredited as a man who “fixed” the “intel” (Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Tenet-style) to lie his country into war as the loyal parrot on the shoulder of the U.S. pirate. (Is there any country the U.S. would invade that the British, the Australians, and the Canadians won’t contribute troops to? The Canadians did beg off in the Vietnam war, but still...) Blair is now piling up millions of dollars (or pounds or euros or whatever he’s paid in) flacking and shilling for various awful dictators, why cynically spouting off about “human rights” and “freedom” and “democracy,” all the buzzwords of Western politician-hustlers, assiduously debasing the language by rendering the meaning of those words hollow.

How do they get away with it? Because the U.S. media (and this is largely true in Europe and in Latin America too) is overwhelmingly reactionary, to such an extent that these sleazy, dishonest, immoral criminals are treated with respect and allowed to make absurd claims and have their numerous lies go unchallenged. In fact, it’s so bad in the U.S. that Bush himself is allowed to get away with the outrageous lie that Saddam Hussein “wouldn’t allow [UN weapons’ inspectors] into Iraq.” In fact the inspectors returned to Iraq, and Bush forced them out and then attacked and invaded the country. But the corporate propaganda system would like as many people as possible to have false history planted in their brains. Yet they insist on pretending they are “news” organizations and their propagandists are “objective journalists” who report “facts” and seek “truth.” Sorry, when you transmit blatant lies to millions of people without pointing out the falsity, you are “journalists” and that isn’t “news.” It is propaganda and brainwashing.

What one sees in Bushies is a dangerous combination of the following traits: mediocrity, utter lack of modesty, overweening self-confidence, inability to experience shame or remorse. You can see how those traits are linked and mutually-reinforcing.

The explanation for the existence of these malign character traits is “breeding.” That is, the life experience of these members of the power-controlling class is that they are born into great wealth and privilege. They are the spawn of a self-perpetuating class of oligarchs.

Chris Hedges gave an interesting description of the psychology of these creatures in an interview with Paul Jay. Here’s the excerpt from the interview:

                                                                         

The full interview is “The Pathology of the Rich - Chris Hedges on Reality Asserts Itself (1/2)” on youtube.com.

1] And just to make sure we don’t forget, Cheney became vice president after Bush appointed him to head a “search committee” to find the “best person” to be vice president, and Cheney reported back to Bush that the best man for the job was none other than Cheney himself! And Bush agreed!!

Cheney of course never stopped considering Nelson Mandela a “terrorist.” Cheney is a lifelong operative of the U.S. fascist deep state, and as such is a conspirator in many dark crimes and plots, including the demolition by nano-thermite explosives of the three (not two) buildings that suddenly collapsed at the World Trade Center in New York City This is not my opinion. This is the finding of over 1,000 architects, structural engineers, demolition experts, and others. And there were numerous witnesses who heard the explosions. See “9/11: Explosive Evidence -- Experts Speak Out (Full),” on youtube.com. 

Cheney, in addition to the 9/11 plot and the invasion of Iraq conspiracy, is a key figure in the covert military-police state euphemistically called “Continuity Of Government,” or COG for short. Peter Dale Scott has a number of talks and interviews on this topic. See for example “Peter Dale Scott 2010 ‘Continuity of Government,’" on youtube.com.