Why it is ESSENTIAL that we get Bush out of office by Nov

[RainDog]

(if not before...I'm all for impeaching and charging him and his junta with war crimes...)

Just in case there was ever any doubt...with the Christian Fundamentalist and Jewish necons who took power in the soft coup of 2000...if they steal or win another election, do not be surprised when we have all out hot World War 3, the loss of the separation of church and state, and, most likely, a virtual military dictatorship led by people who never had to fight a day in their lives, but are all too willing to send your child and mine off to the slaughter in the innocent's crusade.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0407-12.htm  

Musings about a second Bush term typically assume another four years of the same right-wing policies we've had to date. But it'd likely be far worse. So far, the Bush administration has had to govern with the expectation of facing American voters again in 2004. But suppose George W. Bush wins a second term. The constraint of a re-election contest will be gone. Knowing that voters can no longer turn them out, and that this will be their last shot at remaking America, the radical conservatives will be unleashed.

A friend who specializes in foreign policy and hobnobs with subcabinet officials in the Defense and State departments told me that the only thing that's stopped the Bushies from storming into Iran and North Korea is the upcoming election. If Bush is re-elected, " Cheney and Rumsfeld are out of the box," he said. "They'll take Bush's re-election as a mandate to wage the 'war on terror' everywhere and anywhere."

The second term's defense team will be even harder line than the current one. Colin Powell will go. Condoleezza Rice will take over at the State Department. Rumsfeld will consolidate power as the president's national-security adviser. Paul Wolfowitz will run the Defense Department.

Domestic policy will swing further right. A re-election would strengthen the White House's hand on issues that even many congressional Republicans have a hard time accepting, such as the assault on civil liberties. Bush will seek to push "Patriot II" through Congress, giving the Justice Department and the FBI powers to inspect mail, eavesdrop on phone conversations and e-mail, and examine personal medical records, insurance claims, and bank accounts.

Right-wing evangelicals will solidify their control over the departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services -- curtailing abortions, putting federal funds into the hands of private religious groups, pushing prayer in the public schools, and promoting creationism.

http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/blythe.htm

In the October 29 issue of The Weekly Standard, a leading neoconservative magazine, William Kristol and Robert Kagan write that "when all is said and done, the conflict in Afghanistan will be to the war on terrorism what the North Africa campaign was to World War II: an essential beginning on the path to victory." After what they call "but an opening battle," they predict a war that will "spread and engulf a number of countries" and that "could well require the use of American military power in multiple places simultaneously."

In the turmoil that would follow, Kristol and Kagan think it likely that Israel could reoccupy the West Bank and depose Yasser Arafat; that several moderate Arab governments could be overthrown; and that America's war against terrorism could "resemble the clash of civilizations that everyone has hoped to avoid." They add that in a conflict of such scale, some countries might use biological or chemical weapons. Though they do not say so explicitly, they are telling us to prepare for World War III.

What is most remarkable about the essay is its unruffled tone. The authors could be offering advice on brands of toothpaste rather than urging us into a war that could cause incalculable destruction. How many people do they think we should be prepared to kill? Five thousand? Five hundred thousand? A million?

Not even small wars end predictably. War on the scale Kristol and Kagan envision, in an age of weapons of mass destruction, could have catastrophic consequences, but they tell us that such a war is necessary in defense of "the West."