What Is To Be Done?

Okay, we have all been denouncing the war in Iraq for ages now, and criticizing Bush for being a fraud. The time has come for a solution and this is it.

Now that we know Karl Rove and Scooter Libby have been lying through their teeth, we have a "what did they know and when did the know it" scenario regarding Bush and Cheney and the outing of Valerie Plame. The coordinated war on Joseph Wilson was part of the hoax that was the basis for the invasion in the first place, so the abuse of power is just as bad as the lies. As the demands for Libby and Rove’s resignation reach a crescendo, these pawns will fall. Can Bush and Cheney be far behind?

The impeachment of Bush and Cheney will start to be become an inevitability. If Clinton was impeached over Monica Lewinski, how can the Beltway resist this cannibalism? This totem-like behavior is deeply rooted in all societies, as Freud taught. Devouring the leader is the mob’s favorite game. And, in this case, we have two of them to eat up.

That will leave the hapless Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House as president. In a panic, he will appoint John McCain vice president. As the mob roars ever louder, Hastert resigns, making McCain president. O.K., he’s a warmonger, but at least he’s a smart warmonger. Like DeGaulle, who supported the Algerian war until he got to be president of France and then did an about face, because he saw the writing on the all, expect McCain to do this same. His vice president will be Lindsay Graham, an amiable cipher from South Carolina, who will go along with this. At least, as one listens to his current utterances, this sounds reasonable

But what, you might ask, will become of Iraq once the Americans are gone? The Bush-Cheney lie was that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Queda. He didn’t. But now, Al Queda is in there and leading the insurgency. Won’t this leave America vulnerable to endless insurgencies around the globe? You can just imagine Murray Rothbard’s response to that question. So what? We have no business bossing around the rest of the world. It’s bad for business.

Now that the architects of the war bristle at the growing link between the Iraqi government and Iran, (What did they think would happen? They are all Shiites, except for a few Kurds), let the logical happen. The Iraqis will take care of Saddam and will then tell the American to leave. Then, they can invite the Iranians and the Syrians in to keep the peace. So much for Richard Perle’s empire of the east.

The Iranians and the Syrians will know how to take care of the insurgency. Just don’t ask how and look the other way. In no time, it will be over and silence will fall over Iraq. We can have a big ticker tape parade for the troops, who will, mercifully, all be coming home.

But why stop there? The endless parade of losers that have seized power through a system that is corrupt and undemocratic must be overhauled. The time has come for a constitutional convention to restore Jeffersonian democracy to America by spelling out the limits of the federal government in stark terms that give no opportunity for interpretation, including a check on the judiciary. Either a two-thirds vote by the House and Senate, or a two-thirds vote by the state legislatures should be able to override a Supreme Court decision. And never again will a president be able to con America into a war. With the War Powers Resolution, enacted after Vietnam having lapsed into desuetude, have a new constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to commit troops through a Joint Declaration of War. Further, should the president attempt to avoid this limitation on his power, this will be grounds for impeachment.

Agencies such as the C.I.A. and F.B.I. must never again be able to covertly usurp the rights of free Americans, through covert censorship, blacklisting and intimidation. Their job is to protect us, not persecute us. Violations of these restrictions should lead to criminal prosecutions and dismissal.

Lastly, the new constitution must restore the gold standard. Greenspan whispers in private that he still supports it, so call it the "Greenspan Amendment." Break out the champagne and put Murray Rothbard’s picture on the one hundred dollar bill backed by gold. It’s the least we could do.

July 18, 2005

Richard Cummings [send him mail] taught international law at the Haile Selassie I University and before that, was Attorney-Advisor with the Office of General Counsel of the Near East South Asia region of U.S.A.I.D, where he was responsible for the legal work pertaining to the aid program in Israel, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is the author of a new novel, The Immortalists, as well as The Pied Piper – Allard K. Lowenstein and the Liberal Dream, and the comedy, Soccer Moms From Hell. He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University and is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He is writing a new book, The Road To Baghdad – The Money Trail Behind The War In Iraq. He is a contribution editor for The American Conservative.

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