Death Follows Cheney While Destruction Follows Bush

Dick Cheney’s visit to Afghanistan was met with a suicide bomber sent by the Taliban to the main gate of the American base there. Thank goodness the Vice President wasn’t hurt in the blast, but unfortunately 23 others lost their lives and 20 more were wounded. It seems no one is safe around Mr. Cheney, whether it be his friends who risk getting shot in the face or strangers who happen to find themselves in the Vice President’s vicinity when the rage he’s inspired in others comes to a head. No one is safe as long as this man remains in power.

The attack on the US base in Afghanistan highlights the growing violence and danger in that country. When we broke our promise to the Afghani people and abandoned them for the ill fated folly of attacking Iraq, we left a power vacuum that has allowed the Taliban to re-emerge as a powerful force and that has also resulted in a stronger and more virulent al Qaeda network in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Too bad General Schoomaker doesn’t think capturing Bin Laden is all that important, but that’s been the clear message out of this administration almost from the very beginning. The American people may think that bin Laden and al Qaeda are the targets of the “war on terror”, but not so the Bush administration. Iraq and now Iran are the targets and we, the American people, are the victims of this rogue administration’s crazy theories about how the world should work.

While the administration is being warned (yet again) that al Qaeda poses a serious threat to US security, the policies implemented by the Bush administration only further the agenda of al Qaeda and drive more and more people toward radical Islam (and radical Christianity and radical Zionism) at the same time they help silence more moderate voices. The clash of civilizations that Bush loves to talk about seems to be his goal to create. Conflicts are resolved by meeting in the middle, negotiating with an honest desire for resolution and by parties smart enough to understand the situation and the consequences of failure. It should come as no surprise then that this President is leading us further and further into chaos, creating more and more problems and conflicts that we may never be able to untangle once he’s gone. Ask a simple man to do a complicated job and you end up with a mess.

Our simple President is busy denying any plans to attack Iran (just like he denied his plans to attack Iraq) but who could possibly believe him? Conventional wisdom is being spewed by a myriad of "reporters" that goes something like, "Bush isn't crazy enough to attack Iran. It simply can't be done, it must be posturing." I don't know what in the last six years has given them that impression, but the fact that Generals are coming forward to say that they will quit in protest if the Bush administration does launch an attack on Iran should tell us that those in the know find Bush's craziness, if not probable, at least plausible. That should scare the hell out of all of us.