4-25-07, 9:46 a..m.

This past weekend, I got together with one of my best friends in life and listened as words of pain, bitterness and confusion flowed freely from his lips. He had just learned that one of his family members had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. A young man, scarcely in his second decade of life, was gone.

Sadly, there was nothing unique in the torrent of emotions my friend was feeling. The families of young women and men who have lost their lives as a result of the Bush administration's military adventurism in Iraq have felt the same intense grief. There are other families, of course, who wonder whether their young men and women will be coming home, safe and sound.

What struck me about my friend's reaction to the tragic news was that he turned grief outwards, as he is an activist in the progressive movement and has been (and remains) in the heat of the anti-war struggle.

What was really getting to my friend was not simply the loss of a relative so young. No, indeed. Instead, he focused on the Bush administration and the ultra-right. And he talked extensively about the Blackwater USA, the private company engaging in paramilitary and security operations in Iraq, and being paid rather handsomely as a result of its contracts.

'Sometimes,' he said, 'it makes me wonder whether people care.'

This question was only somewhat rhetorical. As an activist, my friend knows that there are plenty of people that care, not just in the US, but worldwide. What is at the core of his statement, I feel, is why there aren't more people who care; why isn't anti-war sentiment universal?

My friend knows, of course, that building a movement for change -- whether it is to end a war, strengthen the labor movement, or achieve socialism -- is an ongoing struggle which requires gaining ground and then keeping it. Military battles operate in the same way. When emotions hold sway, it is easy to think that what is obvious to an individual should also be obvious to everyone else. Because this isn't the reality, such attitudes don't help to build effective movements. The old adage, 'slow and steady wins the race' is as true in politics as it is in a game of cards.

This isn't to say what my friend was feeling wasn't valid or heartfelt on his part, because it was. The feelings of those whose sentiments are supportive of the ultra-right, specifically those who aren't cynical manipulators at the policy and corporate media levels, are similarly valid. My anti-war friend has been deeply hurt; many who are pro-war are deeply frightened.

Of course, this fear has been whipped up by the Bush administration and ultra-right which has served it up more often than a morning cup of coffee. President Bush and Vice President Cheney have mentioned 9/11 and Al Qaeda every time opposition to their militarism is raised.

Let's be clear: The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or Al Qaeda, as the Downing Street memo and the Defense Department Inspector General's recently declassified report make clear.

Or, to put it more simply, the invasion of Iraq had as much to do with the threat of terrorism as Prohibition in the 1920's had to do with stopping the import of German beer.

It is a mistake to believe that President Bush, Vice President Cheney or the ultra-right generally is stupid. And I am not ready to endorse the viewpoint of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, among others, that Bush is in denial. Perhaps I am wrong with giving the President and his ultra-right glee club any credit for intellect. I believe they know that Iraq has become a mess. I believe they know what they're doing. And I believe that what is taking place in the hallowed halls of the administration, where they're knee deep in big crappy, is not policy or leadership. It is sales.

That's right. It is sales. And telling outright lies in the name of sales is an established fact of life. It has become an almost accepted cultural phenomenon: The used car that 'was only driven once by a little old lady in Pasadena;' the product that's 'new and improved.' The breath mint containing cloraphyl. That was a really successful ad decades ago, until someone pointed out that goats consume cloraphyl almost exclusively and they still smelled like goats.

Yesterday, the media covered hearings on Capitol Hill in the matter of the death of football-star-turned Ranger Pat Tillman and his death by fratracide (friendly fire). Military personnel who knew the truth were ordered not to say anything; Tillman's family was lied to; and the military public relations machine spun in to action. Vice President Cheney was involved in a similar cover up after shooting his friend in the face during a hunting accident on a Texas ranch; his cover up was less effective, and of shorter duration than the obsfuscation in the Tillman case. Perhaps Cheney should have had some Pentagon staffers in tow during his hunting trip.

And the Office of Special Counsel announced an investigation as to whether Karl Rove used federal property in connection with fundraising activities for political campaigns in violation of the Hatch Act. The office will also investigate the firing of at least one US attorney. Two things should be kept in mind: The person conducting the investigation is a political appointee of the Bush administration, and that office has never conducted an investigation of this scope and importance in its entire history.

We can add this to the list of investigations involving government: Teapot dome; Watergate; Iran-Contra; the investigations into the FBI and CIA; the plethora of investigations involving the Clinton administration. And this list is hardly complete.

With the Democratic party's mid-term election victories, it is easy for pundits to suggest that these investigations are 'politically motivated.' In the world of sales, these would be known as 'buzz words.' Our culture doesn't think in those terms, necessarily, because no commercial I've ever read or seen says something like: 'Don't buy our competitors product. It's politically motivated.'

It seems to me ineffective to attack the ultra-right on the issue of policy acumen or political leadership, since they have none and can offer none. Instead, let's reject their sales technique, perhaps amending a well known line from an anti-war song by the late Phil Ochs: 'We Ain't Buyin' Anymore.'

And let me suggest it is past time for a political 'lemon law.'

-Lawrence Albright is a contributing writer for Political Affairs on politics and culture.

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