My God, Where To Start...

How about at the G8?
President Bush's at G8:
"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where's there's a free press and free religion and I told him [President Putin] that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing."
President Putin in reply to that comment:
"We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly."

(after you recover from your bout with laughter, lets move on)
In a speech in August 2002, before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vice President Dick Cheney argued that the removal of the threat posed by Saddam would lessen tensions throughout the Middle East, including those between Israel and surrounding hostile Arab states. Those interested in more freedom and democracy in the region would find their hand strengthened

Cheney On Iraq –Then and Now

FOXNews Top 10 Headlines(to prove that there are "less tensions" throughout the middle east four years after the Vice President's statement)
•Israel, Hezbollah Trade Attacks Amid Diplomatic Efforts
•Rice: Conditions Not Yet Ripe For Cease-Fire
•Video: Annan Seeks to Bolster Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon
•Iranian Official: No Place in Israel Is Safe
•U.N. Evacuates Nonessential Staff From Beirut
•Olmert: Offensive on Lebanon Could Last Several More Weeks
•Israelis, Egyptians Open Rafah Border Crossing to Gaza
•Over 100 Dead or Missing in N. Korean Floods and Landslides
•Three Men Hanged in Pakistan for Gang-Raping Woman
•Leftists Try to Keep Mexican Candidate in Spotlight

The Specter of National Security

Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that he had struck a "compromise" with the White House over the illegal National Security Agency (NSA) domestic spying program. The bill isn't a compromise for President Bush, who would receive a "blank check" to continue operating the program. Specter, however, has compromised his principles. Shortly after the New York Times revealed the spying program last December, Specter declared, "There is no doubt that this is inappropriate." He even later threatened to cut federal funding to the NSA program if the White House did not comply with congressional oversight. Specter's latest effort to amend the law -- which has been inaccurately portrayed by some in the media as a White House "concession" -- is not a compromise but a full-fledged capitulation on the part of the legislative branch to executive claims of power. As a conceptual matter, Bush's spying program does indeed deserve a court review -- which Specter's bill aims to provide. But Specter's bill is the wrong way to go about it. The administration has the burden of demonstrating why it cannot comply with current law -- the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). MAKES COURT REVIEW OPTIONAL: In announcing the "compromise" last Thursday, Specter said, "I am authorized to say that if the bill is not changed, the president will submit the terrorist surveillance program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court." But what Specter failed to disclose is that his legislation does not require Bush to submit the program to the FISA court; it merely gives him the option. Nothing in the Specter legislation requires the Attorney General to obtain court approval before engaging in electronic surveillance. The compromise is a sham because it makes optional what Bush is already required to do. Under the FISA law, the administration can wiretap persons inside the U.S., but it is required to demonstrate that the targets are agents of a foreign power, like al Qaeda or their affiliates.

Gonzales: Bush Blocked Eavesdropping Probe
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that President Bush personally blocked Justice Department lawyers from pursuing an internal probe of the warrantless eavesdropping program that monitors Americans' international calls and e-mails. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071806R.shtml

Taking note of Fox pundits' assessments, Colbert informed mainstream media: "It's a World War III. Or IV"
On the July 17 edition of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert aired a series of clips of Fox News hosts and guests declaring the current crisis in the Middle East "World War III," and in one case, "World War IV." Colbert then instructed the rest of the media: "It's a World War III. Or IV. Adjust your graphics accordingly." Members of the right-wing media -- including Fox News hosts John Gibson, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, Fox News political contributor and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael Ledeen -- have been quick to label the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East a world war, but have disagreed about which war is currently being fought.

Colbert added of the Fox pundits declaring a world war: "Remember, these guys know war. They're the ones who brought you the 'war on Christmas.' So, rest of the news media, stop calling it a regional conflict or a police action."

So where is this all going you ask? A look at the document below should give you some idea of what you're dealing with. GOP strategist Frank Luntz wrote the official guide to duping the public:

Communicating the Principles of Prevention and Protection in the War on Terror

So there you have it, an "Open War" in the Middle East
"There is a frightening undercurrent of rage among the people in the Middle East toward their governments: The Arab world is on fire over the injustice meted out against the Palestinian people, as well as to the Lebanese. The Israeli people are deeply angered at their government for failing to provide security (of course our corporate media would never report on the fact that hundreds of thousands of Israelis oppose their government's actions in Gaza and beyond) - instead, preferring peaceful resolutions rather than brutal, unjust, failed occupation and ongoing acts of aggression," writes Dahr Jamail. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071806J.shtml

Nearly 6,000 civilians were slain across Iraq in May and June

Which leads us to that burning question:
Where Have All The Architects Of The War Gone?