It’s not about Rove, Libby or Cheney

These are heady times for those of us who have been crying out against this Administration, and its war of convenience from the start. The prospect of the senior officials who lied and manipulated our nation to war, finally being frog-marched out of the White House to face their rightful punishment is a sweet turn of the karmic wheel. The temptation to issue some sort of universal “We told you so” to all the apologists, naysayers, and misinformed is almost overwhelming. We’ve earned the right.
We earned it when Bush stood on that flight deck on the USS Abraham Lincoln, and with approval ratings in the stratosphere declared “mission accomplished”. We knew it wasn’t, but no one would listen.

We earned it when 75% of the American people believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks of September 11. We knew he wasn’t, but no one would listen.

We earned it when Colin Powell sat at the UN and “demonstrated” that Iraq definitely had weapons of mass destruction with the aid of cartoon drawings so unconvincing that an intern wouldn’t use them in a PowerPoint presentation.  We knew they didn’t, but no one would listen.

We earned it when Rumsfeld told us about Iraqis with flowers greeting our troops. We knew there would be no flowers except on the graves of the fallen, but no one would listen.

So now our vindication approaches, now they are listening. Bush’s approval ratings are in the toilet and his minions are falling like flies. So everything is good……..right?

Only if we stay on point, and don’t get bogged down in the personal politics circus that the Fitgerald indictments are bound to become.

This all started because of Iraq and the lies that needed to be told to convince the American people that a neocon empire building experiment in Iraq was in their best interest. It’s all about Iraq and has always been about Iraq. Yellowcake was about Iraq, Plame was about Iraq, and Wilson was about Iraq.

It’s not about Rove, Libby or Cheney. They are merely repulsive distractions, and when they fall…Iraq will still be there like a giant pile of steaming excrement left behind by elephants gone mad.

So while we dance around the bonfire as the witches burn, we must remember that what see roasting on the embers are mere phantoms. The true evil still exists, and will continue until we extricate ourselves from the nightmare in Iraq.