[Cyrus]

This Libby episode shows (as if this needed to be shown again) that the neo-con ideology is a mushy contraption that easily reduces to Us-versus-Them, with the two sides being at any time whatever the chief wants them to be!

Witness the outing of a CIA operative. What was once considered by the Right as high treason if performed by the likes of Philip Agee or Daniel Ellsberg (look 'em up, kids), is now accepted as a completely legitimate tactic if performed by guys like Karl Rove.

Or witness how the whole economy game is played by the current administration: Runaway spending is no longer "a bad thing"! Why, it all depends on who does the spending. If it's by a Republican, it must be good -- and damn the Friedmans.


Recall the Iran-contra scandal. You had a whole portion of the American executive administration working to supply with guns a regime that had been officially characterized as "renegade" and "terrorist-helping". In exchange for supplying the Iranians (illegally) with arms which were destined originally (and illegally) for the Nicaraguan Contras, the neo-con administration of Reagan "hoped" to have some American hostages in Lebanon released through the ...goodwill and assistance of Tehran. If a liberal would've proposed such a scheme, he would've been arrested.