Dancing With the Stars: Cheney Edition

Cheney zips into Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (above) to confer with his oil allies on what to do next in Iraq. Or something. Meanwhile, as Glenn Greenwald writes:

Seeking input from the neocons on how to solve the Iraq disaster would be like consulting the serial arsonist who started a deadly, raging fire on how to extinguish it. That actually might make sense if the arsonist were repentant and wanted to help reverse what he unleashed. But if the arsonist were proud of the fire he started and actually wanted to see it rage forever, even more strongly -- and, worse, if he were intent on starting whole new fires just like the one destroying everything and everyone in its path-- it would be the height of irrationality for those wanting to extinguish the fire to listen to what he has to say.

... Back in 2002, when the U.S. was debating whether to invade Iraq, those who opposed the invasion were, for that reason alone, dismissed as unserious morons and demonized as anti-American subversive hippies. Despite the fact that subsequent events have largely proven them to have been right, and that those who did the demonizing were the frivolous, unserious, know-nothing extremists, this narrative persists, so that -- even now, when most Americans have turned against this war -- the only way to avoid being an "extremist," and to be rewarded with the "centrist" mantle, is to support the continuation of this war in one form or another.

Who cares anyway? Seems most Americans are content to fixate on joining the mob scenes at mall sales and fuggedaboutit as far as Iraq goes. 'Tis the season. I just can't wait to see what the Iraq Study Group's "solution" to this civil war is all about and what George himself will recommend in that department to save his sterling "legacy." I think Repub Senator Chuck Hagel is more on target than most in his recent column in the Washington Post, although even he seems to be more hopeful than realities on the ground indicate.

A profound sense of unending tragedy emanates from the Middle East these days, and from the hearts of all who are open to seeing the handwriting on the wall about the horrors spawned by Bush, Cheney, Rummy and the rest of the neocon death squad.