The Writing on the Wall

Author Profile Page Peter Koelliker | May 15, 2009 6:06 AM | Reply

In one of his first moves after taking office, US President Barack Obama signed an order banning harsh interrogation techniques used since 9/11, which critics have consistently denounced as torture. This includes ‘waterboarding’. As we now know (or should know), this was not just crumbs thrown to a certain segment of Obama's supporters a la Bill Clinton's random 'don't ask; don't tell' affectation shortly after he took office.

No, this was a part of a far more ambitious ploy. It was the opening salvo in the strategy we now see being executed: the criminalization of Bush administration policy and subsequent legal action that will most certainly result (either here or abroad). Obama cannot appear to be too eager for this to happen – but he obviously wants it badly. It is key (in his view) to presenting himself as legitimate - the genuine article - to his specifically targeted international audience which includes Iran, Cuba, Venezuela among others (the U.S. be dammed). In the end he will say that he couldn’t have stopped it, even while pouring gas on the fire.

This is why Cheney is speaking out now. He has seen the writing on the wall – and he does not fancy prison. As things progress, we’ll be hearing from others as well: Bush, Condi, Rumsfeld, etc. But they won’t be able to stem the tide. We’ll also be hearing from a cadre of turncoats, attempting to save their own skins.

Whether or not the criminal prosecution of Bush administration officials and advisors will actually materialize, is yet to be seen. Some may want to dismiss the prospect of such unpleasantness as ‘Democrats overreaching’. I am not so optimistic. Who would have thought that American-style capitalism would give way to full-blown socialism and many of its consequences in less than three months’ time? Already most on our side are resigned to it and making excuses. “Capitalism was bound to fail anyway (along with democracy),” they say.

Those who are banking on Obama’s inexperience and perceived missteps do so at their own peril. This man is out to re-do America in ways unimaginable to Americans who have never indulged in reading Alinsky, Marx, Engles, Trotsky, Ayers and the like. Most Americans have never attended a black liberation (theology) church service. They have no idea of where all this is leading. The time to stop Obama is now. Already there are more than a few of us looking around, saying, “What the hell happened?”