One of the things about Bush is that you can count on him being unable to violate the Constitution using lies, propaganda, and military fiat. No exceptions, Bush takes his oaths seriously. Unfortunately since he doesn’t believe in flexibility, not a lot of useful actions can be taken as a consequence.

I suspect the Justice Department is NOW paddling furiously towards multiple Treason indictments, convictions and EXECUTIONS of so-called “government” personnel beginning in the near future. Hopefully, they will include 20 to 30 cursed “so-called” journalists.

Presumably if they gain the Presidency, they will blame the Republican House and the Republican Senate for obstruction. Makes sense, it would have been what they would have done, Hell it is what they are doing now.

If they gain the Congress, they will blame the Republican President for another attack, but it won’t be as effective however.

The Democrats gain a much more power if they the Executive, with 1/3rd of government power in their propagandist hands.

All in all, if they play the spy game as the “gotcha game”, which they do, then it is highlely likely that in the future they will not care who catches the terroists, so long as the Republicans get the blame.

That isn’t how you win wars, of course. But it isn’t a war the Democrats are fighting here.

I dont understand this.

Who can I call?

Why would I think and I quote, a program that is aimed at “neutralizing”–through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture–the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying “final solution” would be a video game?

The old Berlin hands didn’t have the choice; they had to play the cards they were dealt.

I was speaking hypothetically, with the assumption that one could transport a person through time from the past to the present.

All in all, it is precisely because the Phoenix Program wasn’t about shoot and scooting, about kicking in doors, that I wish we had one in Iraq.

Most of the ground work has been done, the draining away of soft-core loyalists, the creation of an Iraqi spy network using cellular phones and tips, the locating of loyal officers and patriots.

But judging Bush’s character, also means that I know he won’t implement any program even similar to the Phoenix Program. While that is his choice to make, I cannot help but notice the consequences. Which are a longer insurgency, and the freedom for Iran and Syria to continue to support an insurgency that costs American blood and money to fight.

If the PP was about kicking in doors and killing terroists, then we wouldn’t need it in Iraq because that is what we are doing in Iraq. It’s clearly not a video game.

The old Berlin hands didn’t have the choice; they had to play the cards they were dealt.

And no multi variate analysis program could handle the shifting POV that was Berlin. When I was there as a 19 year old student in 59, I couldn’t figure out why so many people took an interest in me. It was only later that I realized they thought my short hair meant I was a GI and my German signaled that I was a spook. The fact that I knew something about Euro and German politics just confirmed it in their eyes.

I wasn’t; yet.