If the only tool you have is a hammer...

I used to write about current events and politics on my blog before my life was taken over by parenthood. I still read voraciously and keep up on the news, but not so much posting.

But, some things need to be commented on.

Like, for instance, even more proof that the government of the United States (the Republican adminstration, to be specific) has been a bunch of lying, corrupt, weasels interested solely in their own profit, regardless of the cost to America (half a trillion dollars, 3000+ dead American soldiers), Iraq (half a million dead civilians, loss of stability, electricity, water, security...), the world (increase in world chaos, loss of American face), or themselves (loss of Congress, looming loss of the Senate and the Presidency).

Here's what General Wesley Clark, former head of the Joint Chiefs, said in a recent interview:

About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, “Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second.” I said, “Well, you’re too busy.” He said, “No, no.” He says, “We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq.” This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, “We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I guess they don’t know what else to do.” So I said, “Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?” He said, “No, no.” He says, “There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.” He said, “I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military and we can take down governments.” And he said, “I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.”

So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”

There you have it. Grounds for impeachment. And charges of treason.


**UPDATE:**

Jon Solz of VoteVets.org just wrote a great article on the embarrassing flameout of Bush's policy, and the military's lack of belief and trust in him in general. Read it here.