I was visiting someone in the hospital last night, so I was forced to sit there and watch the Larry King interview with Richard Cheney. Normally, I don’t watch a speech or interview given by either Cheney or his marionette, G.W. First, it is infuriating. Second, it’s just a complete waste of time. These folks do not have an ounce of credibility left. Yet, they keep talking. They have to. Somewhere along the line, they must have concluded that the point of no return has been reached. They have nothing to lose now.

I still feel that G.W. had a slim but real chance to turn the ship around when former Secretary of State Jim Baker and Congressman Lee Hamilton delivered the “Baker Report” on Iraq in December, 2006. That report was essentially a repudiation of our entire Iraq policy, and it advocated a new direction, and made specific recommendations to get us the hell out of there. Bush had a chance to face the fact that Cheney and his “neocon” charlatans had put the country on the wrong track. It seemed to me that G.W. could have asked Cheney to resign for health reasons. If Cheney didn’t, he could simply have been sidelined with no responsibilities. Under such circumstances, Cheney would have resigned to a world of duck shooting and fly fishing. Then G.W. could have brought Baker in to be Secretary of State, and let Baker carry out his own report. Why not? Nothing like that happened, of course, because Bush and Cheney have such colossal egos that they cannot stand to admit they are wrong. That is what this is all about now, ego and self-justification.

In the Larry King interview, here’s the White House transcript, Cheney is asked about the Administration’s credibility problem. Cheney answered: “…I think in the end, it will depend upon the results and what ultimately happens. I think history will judge us well, if we’re successful in achieving the objectives we’ve set. I think the President has made some crucial decisions, very important decisions, very difficult decisions. But I think what we’ve done in Afghanistan, for example, and in Iraq, which represents liberating 50 million people from two of the worst regimes in modern times, is a very significant achievement.” Give me a break. Listen, it’s not our job to liberate anybody. Those countries do not belong to us, and we understand nothing about them. Let’s get real. It is this essential misconception and wrong assumption which has made it possible for the “neocons” and their dupes to get us into this jam. Over and above all other considerations, is the simple fact that we will go bankrupt on our present course. Besides, a good chunk of Afghanistan is already back under Taliban control. As for Iraq, if that’s liberation, brother you can have it.