Politics Trumps America

When Bush was elected, I mean appointed, to office in 2000, an ill, cold wind blew across the land. The spoiled, vindictive, dim-witted frat boy had been positioned by his handlers to occupy the most powerful position on Earth. Those who were watching could see an ugly future coming. The nation was to be plundered, extremists and crooks were going to have their moment in the sun. Average Americans were to be left by the wayside – viewed as inconveniences on the way to riches and religious hegemony. One could hear the tone of “your with us or agin us” being sung. They were a marchin – yes sir. September 11th occurred and there was some initial hope that this spreading stain would end, we would pull together to defeat a common foe. It seems now that that vain hope lasted for the blink of an eye. The Bush cabal, their brain-washed zombies, and all of their slimy hangers on did not miss a beat in ensuring that the road to riches is well traveled – as long as you were part of the team. Qualifications – not necessary. Who do you know – ah, that's the key. Did you vote for Bush? Yes – well welcome aboard.

Consider this excerpt from The Washington Post:

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers.

But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

.......

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest is now regarded by many people involved in the 3 1/2 -year effort to stabilize and rebuild Iraq as one of the Bush administration's gravest errors. Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation that sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people, according to many people who participated in the reconstruction effort.

Interviews with scores of former CPA personnel over the past two years depict an organization that was dominated -- and ultimately hobbled -- by administration ideologues.

"We didn't tap -- and it should have started from the White House on down -- just didn't tap the right people to do this job," said Frederick Smith, who served as the deputy director of the CPA's Washington office. "It was a tough, tough job. Instead we got people who went out there because of their political leanings."

So here we are now, fighting the GWOT, being told by Chimpie that we must prevail in Iraq, this a “clash of civilizations” don't you know? Security in America depends upon what happens in the streets of Baghdad.

We are less secure because greed, corruption, extreme ideology, and incompetence in the Bush Administration made it so. All of the people associated with this administration have been stained along with all of their enablers in Congress. None of them deserve to hold elected office nor positions in government again.
Posted on The Human Stain