Neocons on the brink by Madsen

[Domitan]

http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen06042004.html

Between the Yalie death cultists, Christian evangelical end timers, neo-conservative global hegemonists, and those with IQs lower than George W. Bush (91), the rest of us (the good news is that we are still a majority), including a number with one or more stars on their military uniforms, are becoming irritated to the point where something is going to break. Some quotes recently picked up from two and three-star generals and bird colonels: "I took an oath to the Constitution, not Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld;" "If the Pentagon were being overrun by the enemy and I had one bullet left, I'd use it on Stephen Cambone" (the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence); "Too bad they missed Wolfowitz!" (a reference to the October 2003 Iraqi insurgent bombing of the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad where Wolfowitz was staying). And this from a National Guard Colonel, "The Governors are ready to revolt if any more of their Guardsmen are sent to Iraq."

If Bush, Cheney, and Rove interfere with the election process, either by postponing the November 2 election because of an unspecified "terrorist" threat or other concocted reason, many in the senior levels of the military are prepared to honor their oath to the Constitution and protect our nation from enemies "domestic." That includes presidents and their staff who want to overturn the Constitution process for their own nefarious purposes.

A long time colleague, a well-known constitutional lawyer, told me that he would support the military taking such unprecedented action against an out-of-control executive branch. A seasoned Washington political observer, well known to television audiences, echoed the lawyer's sentiment ­ he even called for military trials of Bush, Cheney, and their henchmen after their ouster. Yes, the outrage factor is at an all time fever pitch. In my lifetime, I've seen nothing like it. Yet, it is wholly understandable. Every day the Bush regime outrages us and the world, the gulf widens between the reasoned masses and the perception managers and ideologues who surround the pathetic one in the White House.

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If the military does have to purge the Executive Branch of nut cases and les démagogues très dangereux, they will find support from Gore, who somehow wound up on a "check baggage" alert list at Reagan National Airport when he was boarding a flight to Wisconsin. Candidates for the Green Party and the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate have been similarly placed on passenger watch lists in what has become a Soviet-style system of internal travel controls and checkpoints. Across the political spectrum, people want their Constitution protected and if the military steps up to the plate, they will have widespread support.

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Let's pray that if Bush and co try to run shod over USA's constitution and people's rights, that there shall be intervention to slam them.

[amber dog democrat]

1. We are in uncharted waters.

In American history , when has there been a situation like this?
And the sad thing is I can not put it past the bush admin to try something in a desperate attempt to retain power.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. How sad it's mainly another Kerry-bashing article

The Counterpunch contingent seem to put more into the fight against Kerry than most of the Republicans do.

--bkl

[Domitan]

3. I don't know about that

It seems to have a hopeful tone regarding Kerry but notes that he needs to divest himself of ties with the blue-blood kingmakers who don't care about people...in order to be a more effective leader of the people. Basically it's like this: Bush=get that dangerous spoiled rich dog the hell out of there; Kerry=still part of the elite but has potential.

[charlyvi]

4. From a Rhodes Scholar to....

a man with an IQ of 91....How did it happen????? Are we the only people who realize this??? When did intelligence, genuine intelligence, become elitism? Our country is in deep trouble.

[PhuLoi]

5. Glad to read there are high ranking officers that remember

the oath they took.

[CheshireCat]

6. The true enemy

is at home. May true patriots save the day.

Maybe there is hope.

[CheshireCat]

7. bump for the Sunday crowd.

This article contains some interesting concepts. We all need to be thinking about what happens if W stops the election.

[grasswire]

8. two thoughts

1. I believe the Bush IQ of 91 has been debunked. Check Snopes before using that number.

2. I am not in favor of military removal of any POTUS. The precedent is anti-Constitutional and extremely dangerous. The best scenario would be for Republicans to force Bush and Cheney to resign, and to make some kind of bipartisan agreement for governance under the succession of powers until the election.

[NNadir]

9. Side note: IQ is slightly more meaningful that astrological sign.

According to IQ mythology, 91 is in any case, a fairly normal average IQ.

Of course, it is my opinion that those who continuously reference IQ are rather poor thinkers themselves. The acceptance of the notion that human ability should or can be reduced to a single integer should on its face be completely absurd, almost as absurd as the notion that the date of one's birth (3 integers) determines one's personal attributes and future.

[struggle4progress]

10. Be careful about wishing for a military coup:

it is unlikely to revive democracy.

[indepat]

11. And were the oaths of office of other high-ranking Federal officials

to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld or to the Constitution? Just how many high-ranking Federal officials of the three main branches of government have broken their oaths of office by serving individuals whose actions were in conflict with the Constitution? Is this still a Republic or do we now have something tantamount to a second-rate dictatorship?

[tom_paine]

12. Something tantamount to a second-rate dictatorship.

That doesn't mean it cannot be stopped or reversed.