I wrote to Senator McCain in late December, 2002. "Stop the President!" I urged. I had been on top of the news concerning Scott Ritter -- the American UN official and his pronouncement that Saddam had no WMDs. I was on-board when Senator Byrd filibustered funding for Bush's war.
An unexpected reply arrived around middle of January -- dated the 14th. It was a two-page, 12-pitch, single-spaced letter signed in blue ink by the Senator, enumerating "all the WMDs" accumulated by Saddam Hussein. Legislators likely keep a database of recent response boiler-plate text. They use a device called an "auto-pen" for creating a signature and a personal touch for the recipient. So don't accuse me of boasting of getting McCain's personal attention.
I laughed. I laughed for several weeks. But there was nobody with whom to make a bet. So I bet myself: "They ain't no WMDs!" And my respect for the Senator receded significantly. Today, we look at his treatment by the Virus in the White House, and see him in a different light.
And, of course, this was confirmed in the aftermath by the CIA and other parties. A year later, FOX news announced daily for a full week that "Ted Kennedy would deliver a speech at the National Press Club" -- to be broadcast on FOX, criticizing Bush for his decision. I waited. And I waited.
The scheduled date arrived. Ted Kennedy appeared, slamming the Bush administration -- for all of three minutes. The Senator's abridged remarks were followed by at least a half-hour's comment from the FOX pundits.
I know about the National Press Club. I had attended presentations there several times during my work-life inside the Beltway. Those presentations don't take a mere three minutes. The CEO of Marriot Corporation had once consumed my entire lunch hour, and I had to leave before he finished.
So I scanned the TV guide and flipped the channel to CSPAN. Kennedy's speech was 40 minutes long. If I didn't have the presence of mind, I would've missed it.
For a $3 trillion+ unnecessary war that upset the uneasy status-quo of a (past and current) Cold War hot-spot, I should be paid something for my prescience. If people had listened to me before March, 2003, and if they had done something in response to stop Bush's impulsive choice, we would've saved the $3 trillion, avoided 4,000 American deaths and many more injured and crippled. Al Baghdadi would not have created ISIS, causing an extended quagmire. Less likely anyone would have politicized Obama and his "red-line in the sand" remark. Less likely that the current Asshole-in-Chief could make a cluster-fuck of blunders.
And perhaps there would've been an earlier response to the 2007/08 financial crisis, or its impact would not have been so great.
Ah! But I'm just the little guy! The Nobody! [Even if I predicted 911 the night before it happened, sitting around a campfire in the North Cascades . . . People can be forgiven for not heeding a warning I made to the trees and the breeze five hours before Ground Zero . . . ]
