Condoleezza Rice has emphasized the commitment of the United States to the “peace process” in the Mideast. A person with a sense of humor – a member of a truly endangered species – might respond that Rice means no more than that America is committed to a “process” that will give it a “piece” of this country and a “piece” of that one. But beyond this, there is a sense in which the United States is actively involved in the peace process in this region. By attacking and threatening to attack countries in the Mideast; by the well-orchestrated butchery that has thus far claimed over 100,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of more wounded in Iraq; through threats of an expansion of this war into Iran that has led the Iranians to consider developing nuclear weapons as a deterrent; and by the turning of cities into piles of rubble, the United States has helped the sane and decent people of the world to appreciate the virtues of peace. In much the same way that a serial killer in a community can generate a concern for self-protection, the desire for peace may be one of the unintended consequences of the Bush administration’s sociopathic madness.

The Best of Butler Shaffer