Charades

Charades. What else can be made of what has been going on in the Senate hearings? We have Alberto Gonzales, the torture advocate who would also make Bush the King instead of merely president, and we have Condoleeza Rice the worshipfull, both undergoing examination by the Senate, and in both cases already assured of confirmation. So what, exactly, is the point? Oh, yeah, I forgot, they are going to be asked really tough questions, the answers to which they are going to avoid, lie, or otherwise obfuscate because they know they are going to be confirmed no matter what. American democracy really does move in strange ways. Barbara Boxer, bless her, did ask some embarrassing questions, but Condaleeza, never at a loss for words, countered with her claim that she would never deviate from the truth no matter what (hee, hee). Oh, I guess she really believed that Saddam Hussein was about to drop an atomic bomb in the immediate future. Remember mushroom clouds, etc. What I am at a complete loss to understand is why anyone believed Iraq was a threat to the U.S. even if they had had nuclear bombs. I guess they thought that Iraq had a death wish, the only way of bringing it about would be by attacking the U.S. with nuclear weapons that would have resulted in their immediate destruction. Similarly, does anyone truly believe that Iran wants nuclear weapons to attack the U.S.? They might want nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the U.S., and at the moment who could blame them, but surely they are not about to attack (indeed, this is about the most ridiculous scenario one can imagine). But, if Social Security is about to go bankrupt almost immediately, why should Iran not be regarded as an immediate threat. Frankly, I believe that everyone should have nuclear weapons, even Lichtenstein and Luxembourg. If everyone had them, no one would have them. The very idea that the U.S., Britain, France, Israel, and others should have nuclear weapons that are denied to the rest of the world is no more than a continuation of the belief in the “white man’s burden.” Iran, surrounded by hostile neighbors with nuclear weapons, Pakistan, India, and Israel, are supposed to not be interested in them? Come on, get real.

Of course, the world would be far better off if there were no nuclear weapons, but that is not going to happen, especially if those who have them are not going to allow anyone else to have them. And, as those who now have them can’t use them in any case, what is the point? Furthermore, if those who have them did actually use them, and if others who have them retaliated, life would not be worth living. The very idea that countries who now have nuclear weapons are going to prevent others from developing them, short of preventive wars, is absurd. And preventive wars are not going to promote peace on earth, not now, not ever. But who wants peace on earth anyway? It’s not profitable.