hey all, i'm feeling extra foily this morning...so here goes:
first off: i'm the very first person in line to get people to be serious about the environment. david brin convinced me a long time ago that we're f*cked, and in my lifetime. i in no way disagree with the basic premises of the report.
that said: kremlinology is hard these days, isn't it? timing is *everthing* with these people, and we all can see the internecine warfare going on within the cabal. i just heard kristol (pnac co-founder) give a talk last week, and it's clear that some rethug folks are really pissed at rummy and the whole direction of the iraq mess.
so i think the war has always been about money. chenron and bechtel and all the sycophantic corporations milking the american public to the tune of 87$B a quarter is quite a game, especially when you mix in all the other pro-rich policies of the shrub administration. control oil is just an added bonus, but for the chenron group i think short term profit is the #1 priority.
now, that being said, i'm sure that there is a connection between this debacle and others our gov't and military have led us into. like for example, star wars. we all know they can't make it work, but they just keep repackaging it over and over and we throw billions at it for nothing.
so- the war is going bad, and rummy is taking it from a lot of different sides. he'll get osama in time for some election bounce, but from the internal perspective he's basically the man most responsible for iraq. let's say he's realized that the iraqis are about to erupt in civil war and really make things bloody, and chickenhawk that he is he's looking to get out while the gettin's good (of course we'll keep troops and bases for a long time, but that's not my focus here). the media will play along, and shift to the "new terror" threat...whatever that may be.
and so presto! now we have this really, really SCARY story- from the pentagon no less!- that the earth is doomed! in 20 years no less! oh my freaking god what are we going to do??? why, create a whole new agenda, replete with spending, emergency laws and procedures, and the further enrichment of some key industries and contractors who will "fix" all our environmental problems for just a few trillion dollars.
i could go on, but i think you get my drift. read a bit about the author of the study and his track record of predicting other situations at the following link. i know, a conservative source, but the nation is in there as well.
http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2001/02/vest-j-02-15.html