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How We Got Here
Warrantless Surveillance.
Torture.
Iraq.
And on and on.
It's been a long 7 years.
So much damage done to the ideals that make up the nation.
We got some significant insight this week into how it all spiraled out of control and into the abyss we find ourselves in now.
All this mess, all the disaster that has torn the soul out of the country, came about because the big bully, little Dicky Cheney, got scared.
Jane Mayer in her just released book, "The Dark Side, The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals," elucidates some of the story:
In the days after 9/11, when fears of another terrorist strike were at their peak, Vice President Dick Cheney was convinced that he had been subjected to a lethal dose of anthrax...[Kind of makes you less surprised to see what a hurry they were in to scapegoat somebody, anybody for the anthrax letters, doesn't it?]
"They thought Cheney was already lethally infected," said a former administration officer who had kept the White House secret until now, according to the book.
Despite the unnerving news, Cheney calmly reported the emergency to the National Security Council. It turned out that the detection system had malfunctioned and there was no hazard.
But in the days after the incident, Cheney was taking no chances. Eleven days later, Cheney insisted on leaving the White House and retreating to one of his "secure, undisclosed locations,"...
[T]he shock of 9/11 coupled with his anthrax scare changed Cheney and made him an overpowering force in the administration arguing for significantly tougher interrogation techniques.
But back to our story.
It is a pretty standard recommendation to someone in the midst of a personal tragedy steps away from the situation so as not to make any rash decisions. Lose a significant family member? It doesn't apply 100%, but generally one should take at least a year before deciding to move or sell or something major.
So what happens with Cheney? Not only does he refuse to step back and answer some hard questions about life and death. Not only does the administration not have the wisdom to pull him off to the side and say, "You know what Dick, you might not be in the clearest mind to make any decisions right now."
No, they didn't pull him off anything...they put him in charge. And the big bully on the block was going to prove he was, indeed 'Big Time'.
The opportunist who rode into the White House self-selecting for the vice presidency took advantage of a weak leader to take control of events setting us down the course of infamy.
I can't exactly say I am looking forward to reading her book. And of course it is far too complicated to pin everything down on one event. But this one story puts a lot is the key that starts the engine to explain what has brought us to this point.
This is what happens when you put anxious, un-reflective people in charge of serious events.
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