Angered that the bureaucrats of the State Department have not done its bidding either before or after the war on Iraq, the Axis of Deceit – the neo-conservative warmongering group that had gotten the U.S. to attack Iraq – has publicly launched a major drive to reorganize the State Department and clean out those opposing its imperial ambitions towards the Middle East. But is reorganizing the State Department their real aim, or is pressuring George Bush into launching an attack on Syria the real goal of the Axis?
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – a member of Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Advisory Board and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute – launched the Axis' jihad on State in a speech before an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday morning, April 22. (Is Newt taking the lead now that Richard Perle is under a cloud?)
In a rant reminiscent of a dictator's tirade, the "Newtster"attacked State's Bureau of Near East Affairs for six months of diplomatic failure prior to the war and for failing in its post-war mission by continuing to appease dictators and prop up corrupt regimes. Among the charges, Newt indicted State for: 1) the failure to get Turkey to agree to be a staging base for the U.S. attack on Iraq; 2) the failure of the United States to get European and UN support for its attack on Iraq; 3) the failure to get contracts issued for Afghan reconstruction; and 4) for encouraging Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with a "… terrorist supporting, secret police wielding dictator … ." (Apparently Newt was referring to Syrian President Assad.)
Who's Really Running the Show, or How Do We Get George to Start Another War?
The timing and content of Gingrich's attack on the State Department are interesting. Fresh from its victory in getting the U.S. to attack and take control of Iraq, the Axis of Deceit has been beating the war drums for an attack on Syria.
Colin Powell going to Syria and working with Russia, France, the UN, and others to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace process going (all with President Bush's permission) as well as State's control of the pork barrel funds for reconstructing Iraq (read payoffs to Bush supporters) has really lit a fire under Newt's and the Axis' tails.
This combination of actions has apparently stymied any rapid U.S. attack on Syria. And the recent looting in Iraq – including the loss of that country's vast treasure of historical and cultural artifacts – and recent protests by the different religious and ethnic groups is demonstrating that predictions made by critics of the war – namely that the U.S. would be stuck there for decades trying to turn Iraq into a democracy – are starting to come true even sooner than expected.
No wonder Newt and his fellow Axis warmongers have gotten so riled up and felt the need to stage a counter-attack of their own.
But can the Axis attack George Bush directly for not wanting to start another war immediately? Well, not really, as he foolishly gave the Axis the go-ahead to get us into Iraq in the first place. And this is true even if Mr. Bush is beginning to have second thoughts about the invasion of Iraq (what is Karl Rove whispering into his ear?) and is dragging his heels on starting other wars.
But Newt and his Axis pals appear to have concluded that they can still get what they want by pushing the President into a corner again. They probably will try to steamroller Mr. Bush into launching a war on Syria by attacking the State Department as the modern equivalent of sellouts and, at the minimum, disloyal to the Administration. While the Newtster did not use the word traitors in describing the folks at State, he did say that they were deliberately and systematically working to undermine the President's policies on the Middle East.
Hence, Gingrich called for major Congressional hearings on the State Department followed by legislation to reform the operations and authority of the State Department, especially the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which handles the Afghan and Iraqi reconstruction money.
Just coincidentally, any hearings would call into question State Department advice against starting other wars – thus eliminating a moderating voice against starting other wars – and would also likely disrupt and delay the flow of the pork from State's USAID to politically-connected contractors. By delaying any reconstruction and making the Afghan's and Iraqi's suffer further, Newt and his Pentagon Pal Rummy would have another reason to claim that the Defense Department should be in charge of post-war reconstruction.
Real Reform of U.S. Foreign Policy
The bottom line is that neither Newt Gingrich nor his buddies in the Axis of Deceit give a hoot in Hades about whether the State Department is well-run or not. All they care about is conducting a successful smear campaign against the State Department and using this smear job as a club to get George Bush to continue U.S. attacks on other countries in the Middle East. Since the career types – both analysts and diplomats – at State disagree with the Axis of Deceit and its policies, they are to be neutered, but not eliminated.
Real reform of U.S. foreign policy would have the U.S. end all alliances with other countries, end all foreign aid and financial support of international organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, get out of the United Nations (a front for one-world dictatorial government), and declare a foreign policy of neutrality, friendship, peace, and free trade with all countries.
The return to the traditional U.S. foreign policy would then be the guide to a drastically slimmed down foreign policy and defense establishment, saving the U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars per year and trillions over the long run.
April 24, 2003
Jim Grichar (aka Exx-Gman) [send him mail], formerly an economist with the federal government, writes to “un-spin” the federal government’s attempt to con the public.
