The peaceniks sure hit the trifecta with the Iraq War: Not only did Saddam have nothing to do with 9-11, but he had no WMDs, and was never a threat to us or anyone else. Three out of three ain’t bad, but being right doesn’t matter if you don’t have the power to enforce your agenda. So the peaceniks were, as usual, marginalized and ignored. But at least we learned beyond any doubt how the game of power politics is really played in this country (as if there had ever been any question).

Even though the Iraq War has been “won,” as Bush assured us on May 1, events continue to spin out of control. The neocons who have hijacked our country are learning that their ideology isn’t quite up to the task. Their ideology works great in the Bush Leagues, but succeeding at the global level requires considerable intelligence, creativity, ability to compromise, and a quick reaction time. The neocons are out of their depth… not that they’ll ever admit it.

To succeed in the real world, you’ve got to first figure out what’s really going on (which isn’t always obvious), and then you’ve got to shape a strategy to fit the already-existing circumstances. The neocons are clueless about the real world, since their expertise lies in the corrupt and easily-manipulated world of politics and media spin.

The neocons simply didn’t think things through -- not because they were unable to, but because they were too arrogant to bother. Their lies worked well enough getting us into the war, but now they find themselves (along with the rest of us) in a quagmire in which American troops are dying every day… and for what?

To defend our freedom? Many people prefer to believe this, because it’s more comfortable than thinking the unthinkable -- that maybe our troops are dying for nothing.

Oil? But of course, but there could have been more elegant ways to control the Iraqi oil fields than war.

An enhanced military presence in the mideast? This one looked good on paper, but events indicate that maybe this idea isn’t so feasible afterall.

Retribution for 9-11? Even though Saddam had nothing to do with the terrorist attack, he made an easy-to-hate scapegoat, and Bush’s fundamentalist, “angry white male” base was hungry to wreak a little havoc. Unfortunately, misdirected havoc will guarantee blowback in the future. As Scripture says, we reap what we sow.

Getting rid of Saddam?. How strange; for all those years, America consistently supported dictators, and now suddenly Saddam has to go? This one’s got “hidden agenda” written all over it. For clues, try “oil” and “retribution” and “just because.”

Bringing democracy to the Iraqi people? Get real. We don’t even have democracy in this country. Instead, our government is for sale to the highest bidder. (Since it is possible to predict, with near-mathematical certainty, that the candidate with the most money will win any election, we might as well just count up how much money each candidate has, declare the winner, and dispense with the hassle of elections altogether.)

Weapons of mass destruction? Say what?

It’s easy to blame this whole mess on Bush, but he’s just the figurehead. He was chosen to be the 2000 Republican candidate because he offers just the right combination of macho affability and meanness, and isn’t so insufferably intelligent as President “Zipper” Smartypants. A spoiled son of privilege who has never done an honest day’s work in his life, Bush is living proof of Joseph Kennedy’s advice to his sons: “What matters isn’t what you are, but what people think you are.”

What we’re looking at with the Iraq War isn’t just an occasional exaggeration by the President, but a pattern of blatant lying by the entire administration -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, and all the rest. Their frantic drumbeat for war, amplified by the corporate press, led us to believe that Saddam could attack us with only 45 minutes notice. Now, whoops, that one didn’t work out too well, so now it’s time for a new spin job and a whole new pack of lies.

The Bush administration is essentially a criminal regime. They are not only common criminals (Enron, etc.) but war criminals as well (they started a war because, well, because they could). Since they took power they have replaced the rule of law with the motto, “stop us if you can.”

The thing about the rule of law is, it’s really all we’ve got. Without everybody agreeing to play by the same rules, we can’t have democracy, and without democracy, we don’t have civilization. It’s as simple as that.

As the Iraq quagmire deepens and American troops continue to die for Bush’s lies, his poll numbers are finally starting to drop. Maybe he will actually be beatable next year if the Democrats don’t fumble the ball. Until then, try the following experiment: a) whatever Bush says, assume it’s a lie; and b) whatever Bush does, assume it will create the worst-case scenario. Then, c) wait and see how things play out. You’ll be amazed at how often Bush’s lies create the worst-case scenario.

(Gordon Solberg is a beekeeper who lives near Radium Springs, NM. His email address is earth@zianet.com, and more of his essays are available at http://peaceaware.com/documents/essays/gordon_essays.htm.)