the neocons act like men who KNOW they'll never be prosecuted

[mopaul]

it's beyond arrogance, and drifting into monarchical, disregarding all laws and institutions with impunity and abandon, as if they know good and well that we haven't the guts to ever do anything about their innumerable crimes.

it's really up to us.

[leveymg]

1. Time wounds all heals.

They're getting theirs. After all, they're the ones who really have to fear a knock on the door at night.

"FBI, search warrant!"

It takes a while when you play by the rules, but in the end, they're going to the slammer.

[liberal N proud]

2. At this point none of them have been prosecuted

Their arrogance stems from the fact that they have all the cards and there have been no real threats to this point. Yes Delay is not going to retain the House Majority Leadership but he is still in office. Had that been a Democrat, he would have been run out of office before any prosecution talk even began.
The repukes are so arrogant in their violation of the law they now believe they are above the law.

[leveymg]

3. None of them have been convicted yet. That's different.

Frankin and Libby to jail. Feith and Wurmser out on their butts. Wolfowitz and Bolton reassigned. Lots of others have been interviewed or testified before GJs, and may yet be indicted.

They haven't been dealt with extreme prejudice, but some in the military and intelligence community would like to. I haven't heard of any mysterious fatalities in this Administration - but if there aren't prosecutions, there are options.

[0007]

4. They've got the best attorneys money can buy and most of the

judges are on the payroll, most major networks and journalist are in their back pocket. Big corporations help those politicians that help the neocons. A big percentage of the sheep are brain washed to vote for these guys, cuz they wear the flag and Jesus Christ.

Why wouldn't they be arrogance, after all they make the law and control the people with fear and say Amen?

[mopaul]

5. i guess they'll retire & live among us as kings, immune to justice forever

and we'll all live sappily, ever after.

[leveymg]

7. Their control isn't so monolithic.

There are still checks and balances, and it extends beyond co-equal branches and party politics.

Don't forget who was pushed and purged to get us into that illegal war. Who's been doing the fighting, killing, and dying for a lie? They haven't forgotten, and they won't forgive those who are responsible.

[0007]

14. You're more optimistic than me. I'm glad that someone sees

light at the end of the tunnel. I hope you're right!

An extra serving of ice cream and a three day pass will buy most soldiers.

[teryang]

6. Iran contra criminals are back in leadership positions

Wouldn't you think you were above the law?

[leveymg]

8. The Cold War excused a great deal. This is different.

[The2ndWheel]

15. So then you accept that excuse?

Just simply different degrees of state terror. Fair enough. Even if it's many of the same people doing it. But this is different because it's Bush, right? Today's death sqauds are far worse than those from the 80's. Because it's different. Supporting both sides of a war that took the lives of a million people in Iran and Iraq, then using the profits from that war to support mass murder in Latin America, was just different, in the "well, what can you do" kind of way. It was Communism afterall.

This is different.

The slaughter of the native people of this land was just different. We had to make way for freedom and democracy.

The enslavement of an entire continent was just different. We had to make way for capitalism.

Bush wasn't around back then. Hell, we didn't even need 9/11 and a pre-planned war back then. This is different. This is the first time our blessed country has done something without an excuse. You had the inferior races, the uncivilized savages, the red commie, now those were decent excuses. No excuses today though. It's different; very, very different.

[leveymg]

17. I don't excuse it.

The point I'm making is that there is now a real split in the military-intelligence complex between the neocons and the traditional conservatives. The former tried to destroy or intimidate the latter, and the latter are taking their revenge.

Anti-communism and the Cold War made for strange bedfellows, and everyone overlooked each others excesses, such as BCCI and Iran-Contra. There was huge corruption during Reagan-Bush, and the traditionalists are just beginning to shed their illusions about the harm this has done to domestic institutions and politics.

The lead-up to the Iraq invasion saw the neocons try to destroy the loyal critics within the DIA and CIA. The Bush White House was so inept and dominated by the extremists clustered around Cheney and Rumsfeld that they couldn't broker the differences. As a result, the neocons felt free to purge the traditionalists. That was a serious mistake, as the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided during the summer of '04 -- after the FBI confirmed that Larry Franklin and the OSP cell were trying to plant false IRAN WMD data and trading classified documents with Mossad -- to permit prosecution of the Plame and OSP-AIPAC matters to go ahead. The Abu Ghraib photos came out at that time, effectively dispelling the public's confidence in Bush and Rummy's handling of the war -- no coincidence.

On his birthday that summer, Poppy decided to take up skydiving at age 80. He figured there were some things he still wanted to do with the limited time he had remaining. He got a golden parachute, some of the others won't.

[teryang]

19. Ridiculous isn't it?

Not to mention the cocaine trafficking the government engaged in to finance their terrorism in Nicaragua.

[leeroysphitz]

9. I agree...

I've been thinking and saying that for years. They have been acting like they never have to worry about being the minority party again. Scary. Forget about tin-foil just look at what they've been saying and doing for the past few years.

[Walt Starr]

10. There's a good reason for that and it probably has something to do with...

the fact theat they will NEVER be prosecuted for their evil crimes.

[mopaul]

11. you're probably right

they'll go on the lecture circuit, write occasional books, do the talk shows etc., till they die and are enshrined in giant, majestic tombs with accompanying statues.

[Walt Starr]

13. Not to mention a lucrative career in the professional

lobbyist arena.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Maybe if they are as tough as they pretend, they wouldn't be Chickenhawks.

They would have just done what was asked of them like all the other people during the 1960's, and 1970's, rather than ducking the draft through multiple deferrments, or string-pulling.

[drduffy]

16. neocons are simply middle management

we need to go after the real players.
begin to really investigate them.
put them under the microscope.

[leveymg]

18. Please, map it out - who's really pulling the strings?

What do they want to do?

I'll tell you what I think. What they want is what is what's happened -- they've done a hostile take-over, cash-cowed the economy, looted the Treasury, bankrupted the country, ruined the middle-class, mortgaged everything -- and are just waiting for the Big Crash so they can shut down and buyout their smaller competitors, sell off the remaining assets, and move on to the next hostile takeover targets: China, India and Saudi Arabia.

As Gen. Smedley Butler said, "War's a racket."

I don't believe they're going to get away with finishing the process, though. BushCo really overplayed their cards, and there aren't many illusions left among intelligent people -- Right and Left -- about what's going on.