Hersh speech blasts Bush and war policy

Seymour Hersh confirmed existing worries about Bush's next four years in office during a Tuesday night lecture in the Memorial Chapel.

Hersh forecasted a protracted war in Iraq, an obstinate president who will remain indifferent to anti-war sentiments, and an economic collapse. In his talk "Chain of Command: From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib," Hersh criticized both Republicans and Democrats, stressing the need for new faces in Congress.

Hersh is one of America's most renowned investigative journalists, currently writing for The New Yorker on military and security matters. In 2004, Hersh helped expose the Abu Ghraib abuses.

Hersh began his lecture by describing Bush's vision of the war in Iraq and the effects his beliefs will have for the future of US intervention.

"Bush thinks he's doing the right thing in Iraq," Hersh said. "He's completely committed whether it's finishing his father's work, for divine reasons, or manifest destiny. Over 1,500 body bags have come back and another 1,000 or 2,000 body bags wouldn't stop him."

The justification for the U.S. invasion, he said, is not oil or Israel as many have thought; it is Bush's uncompromising beliefs.

"It's really terrifying," Hersh said. "Street marches and demonstrations wouldn't change what he's going to do. Even when Bush was asked by a high ranking government official if the US was losing the war in Iraq, Bush said 'you mean we're not winning?'"

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http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article.php?article_id=923

oil. W may in fact be a complete nut, but there are other reasons, other agendas being fulfilled.

I don't disagree with you at all. There certainly are "other agendas being fulfilled." But I'm curious what you might think those are. I used to think "oil" now I think is something far more fearsome.

but I'll throw a couple out for ya. Mind you, it is also about the oil, for sure, but it's about bringing on the "end times" or rapture per those crazy fundies and it's also about solidifying the fascism that is taking over America. Nothing like a war without end to keep the masses nervous, stressed and yet, damned patriotic or rather, nationalistic.

I used to think it was about oil from the peak oil perspective--that the age of oil is ending. But I've been influenced to begin to think that peak oil may yet be another level of deception. That there may in fact be plenty of oil--so much in fact that if it were commonly known it could: a) collapse the market even with high demand and b), more importantly, DECENTRALIZE oil production away from western and particularly American hegemony. I'm not 100% convinced that this is true--I confess there is little evidence--so lets call it more of a 'gut' feeling or intuition. They've lied to us about everything else--why not "peak" as well? They want to sustain and control the global market--thus maintain their financial and political control as well. They wouldn't mind reducing the global population by a few billion, either, so even if peak oil is a lie, that does not get us out of very deep shit. In fact, it makes all this even more sinister.

Something evil this way comes!

On the OTHER hand, it gives me a glimmer of hope that these maniacs CAN--and SHOULD BE--stopped. You see, if peak oil is a reality then global economic and political chaos is going to come regardless who is in control of our government. From a nationalistic as opposed a humanistic perspective, it might even be better to have ruthless ass holes in power if there is going to be a global crisis. A matter of national security and all that.

HOWEVER, if peak oil is yet another layer of deception, that changes all that. That removes ANY justification for MIHOPing 9/11, their illegal war, Patriot Act I and II, and all that is following from those things. They could be rounded up, tried, convicted of crimes against humanity and the world would be a much better place. We could begin the process of healing the divisions they have wrought here and abroad and begin working on exploration for the deeper oil. If we were smart, we could also begin thinking globally--as a united planet of diverse cultures.

Very different vision of the future, isn't it?