Recycled Villians
by Steve Diamond
nhcatsteve*yahoo.com
07 May 2005
Yesterdays villians quickly become today's powerful appointees.
First, we have John Negroponte, who’s deft and blind organizing of terrorists to destabilize the democratically elected government of Nicaragua in the 1980’s earned him the credentials to become the top US official in Iraq, leading the quest for "democracy" and quelling "the terrorists." John Bolton, the irreverent alleged diplomat who has said "there is no such thing as the United Nations" and that "If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference" has been selected to be ambassador to the U.N. Preferring yes-men to the truth, Bolton has attempted to fire a senior intelligence officer who wouldn’t agree that Cuba has a biological weapons program.
‘Nepotism-over-merit’ is another recurring theme of the Bush administration. Bush spokesperson Scott McClellan had apparently taken his irony shots when he asserted that the popular Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ought not be taken seriously as a leader since he was "just basically trading on his father's popularity and political record." Bush also appointed Michael Fleischer to restructure Iraq's economy, who got his job through his brother, former White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer. Michael Fleischer stated in the Chicago Tribune that "(t)he only paradigm (the Iraqi people) know is cronyism. We are teaching them that there is an alternative system..."
‘Terrorism for freedom’ is another unusual concept given currency by President Bush. According to several former intelligence officials interviewed by the New York Times, the political group funded by the CIA and run by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the 1990s "used car bombs and other explosive devices smuggled into Iraq" in an attempt to destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime. How quickly the doors of power revolve for brutal CIA agents seeking power, including Saddam Hussein himself. When Allawi is no longer useful, he too will be disposed of.
And now, we’ve finally reached the pinnacle of short-attention-span politics: Ahmad Chalabi has been declared deputy prime minister of Iraq. This absurdly distinguished character was originally hand-picked by the Bush administration to become the new puppet leader of Iraq, yet was soundly defeated in the recent elections. He was also recently arrested by US soldiers and accused of being an Iranian agent. Regardless, Chalabi is an interesting pick to control Iraq’s vast oil wealth, given the 22 year prison sentence he faces in Jordan for embezzlement, theft, and misuse of depositor funds. Chalabi’s nephew has also been installed as the finance minister of Iraq. Apparently, supplying false intelligence about WMD in Iraq before the 2003 invasion is the sort of favor that guarantees reward. Such good works may well have helped former CIA director George Tenet earn The Presidential Medal of Freedom.
As always, the villains get re-used while the victims are all brand new. It takes a truly rare caliber of character to do Bush’s dirty work, somewhere between George Nelson and Charles Manson.
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Supporting Citations:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/20/1411203
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/11/bolton.un/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR200504
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/04/petra/
http://clamormagazine.typepad.com/everydayrevolution/2004/09/iraq_irony_
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/19088/
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080904X.shtml
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/8731245.htm?1c
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/13/iraq.main/
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/11279845.htm
http://www.illinoistimes.com/gbase/Gyrosite/PrintFriendly?oid=oid%3A3329