Where Have All the Leaders Gone? Read online

  To give you an idea of the magnitude of the amount we’re pouring into Iraq, let’s look at the conservative estimate of what half a trillion dollars would buy here at home:

  We could hire 8 MILLION SCHOOLTEACHERS.

  We could give FREE HEALTH CARE to everyone for one year.

  We could provide 25 MILLION COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS.

  We could give every American FREE GAS for one year.

  We could build 3 MILLION AFFORDABLE HOUSING UNITS.

  We could hire 8 MILLION POLICE, FIRE, AND EMT WORKERS.

  We could put a dent in some of the most pervasive problems we face as a nation. So, the next time someone in government says we can’t afford health care or education or border security, just remember, it’s all about priorities.

  FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS

  Ronald Reagan once said, “Facts are stubborn things.” He actually got that quote from John Adams. The Bush administration doesn’t really believe in facts. It believes if you tell a lie often enough it becomes true. But those inconvenient facts keep getting in the way. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none. They said the war would take six months tops. It’s been four years. They said Saddam Hussein colluded with Al Qaeda on the 9/11 attacks. That never happened.

  I could go on, but the lies get boring. The administration likes to call their mistakes “faulty intelligence.” There was no faulty intelligence. Let’s call a lie a lie. Can’t we believe anything these guys say?

  It takes courage to face the truth, but I believe we must. Not only about the disastrous course of the war, but about our nation’s mixed history with Saddam Hussein’s regime. Don’t forget that we backed Saddam in his war with Iran. (There’s a famous photograph from 1983 that shows Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein’s hand. Everyone is smiling!) The Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations provided Iraq with over $15 billion in loan guarantees. When Saddam sprayed chemical gas on the Kurds, he used U.S. helicopters sold to him for crop dusting. With Saddam now in his grave, the whole truth may never be told. But one thing is clear: Nobody’s hands are clean in this one—especially not ours.

  THE COALITION OF THE DWINDLING

  Can you call it a coalition when it’s just you and one other guy? Let’s compare Bush senior’s coalition in 1990 with his son’s. The phrase “go it alone” takes on new meaning with Bush junior.

  In March 2003, as we were gearing up for war, the White House published a list of forty-eight nations that were participating in the Coalition of the Willing. Forty-eight seems like a big number, until you look at the list and the troops numbers. Most of them contributed fewer than a hundred soldiers. Now, even that coalition has become the Coalition of the Dwindling. We’re down to twenty-three nations, totaling less than fifteen thousand troops—half of those from Great Britain. And the dwindling continues. Here’s the real picture (as of this writing):

  United States:

  140,000 troops

  Great Britain:

  7,200 troops

  All others:

  7,000 troops

  You might call that a coalition. I call it an American war.

  If you want an example of what an actual coalition looks like, take a look at the Persian Gulf war. Bush’s daddy had it right:

  United States:

  550,000 troops

  Saudi Arabia:

  118,000 troops

  Turkey:

  100,000 troops

  Great Britain:

  43,000 troops

  Egypt:

  40,000 troops

  United Arab Emirates:

  40,000 troops

  Oman:

  25,500 troops

  France:

  18,000 troops

  Other nations:

  40,000 troops

  One thing you notice right away—in addition to the sheer numbers—is that the gulf war coalition drew its strength largely from the Arab world. They were our allies. Name one Arab nation that signed on for the current Iraqi war. Instead of bringing the Arab world together, the war has sparked a rise in violence across the region, our intelligence agencies report. The best recruiting tool for the jihadists is the war in Iraq.

  DOESN’T ANYBODY HAVE A PLAN?

  Bush and company had a fantasy that we could bring democracy to Iraq and it would cause a domino effect in the Middle East. Suddenly every Arab nation would embrace democracy. What were they smoking?

  Condi Rice said the problems are “the birth pangs of a new Middle East.” Well, it’s an awfully long time to be in labor.

  Today, they don’t even talk about establishing democracy anymore. Mostly they talk about how we can pull our finger out of the dike without causing a tsunami.

  The war in Iraq has already exceeded World War II in the length of the conflict. Where’s the plan?

  After the 2006 election, Bush fired Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, but you have to wonder if it was in recognition of the mess we were in or just political expediency. How many fired people do you know who are given elaborate ceremonies praising their years of service?

  Before he left office, Rumsfeld leaked the contents of a memo he’d sent the President several weeks earlier, perhaps anticipating the need to shore up his legacy. In the memo he called for a new direction, then gave a laundry list of alternatives. It was too little, too late.

  The long-awaited report of the Iraq Study Group, led by Bush senior’s old pal James Baker, left the President with the choice of embracing it and admitting failure, or ignoring it and doing nothing. Can you guess which he chose? This is a President incapable of admitting failure.

  Let’s apply some common sense here. If the head of a car company was losing money like crazy on its latest model, you wouldn’t hear the CEO say, “The solution is to build more cars. We have to support our investment.” Not if he wanted to keep his job. He’d better have a new plan—and I mean now.

  Remember Colin Powell’s Pottery Barn rule, “You break it, you own it”? Boy, that’s pretty bad news. The way things are going in Iraq these days, we own a pile of crockery. There is no electricity, no infrastructure, no security for citizens, the government is a joke. What there seems to be plenty of is violence. I heard there was an update on the Pottery Barn rule: “We broke it, you own it.”

  Let’s face it. Even if the war itself was started under false pretenses, we could have achieved tremendous good will and positive results if we’d been prepared for the aftermath of the invasion. Instead, we sent a bunch of Republican Party hacks over to build a nation. In many cases, their only credentials were loyalty to the President. They didn’t have to speak the language, know anything about the Middle East, or have any experience with the nuts and bolts of nation building. You can talk all you want about the promise of democracy in Iraq, but you can’t really have a democracy if you’re afraid to leave your house. And democracy can’t be planted in a field of civil war.

  OSAMA BIN FORGOTTEN

  After 9/11, Bush was determined to catch Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. “There’s an old poster out west,” our cowboy leader said, “‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’” Now, that’s a mission the American people could really get behind. But Bush pulled nearly all of our troops out of Afghanistan and sent them to Iraq, without capturing bin Laden. The 9/11 mastermind is still on the loose. Well, I’ll tell you one place Osama is NOT hiding: in Iraq.

  In July 2006 the secret unit assigned to track down bin Laden was disbanded. In September Bush told a reporter that capturing bin Laden was not a priority. That boggles my mind. The guy who is responsible for 9/11 is NOT a priority. The guy who “tried to kill my daddy” IS a priority. It makes you wonder if Bush ever intended to capture Osama bin Laden after all. It adds to the evidence that we’re not really fighting the War on Terror in Iraq. We’re fighting to survive a civil war that we enabled. Call me paranoid, but I’m starting to think that whenever a Saudi is involved—even if it’s bin Laden himself—we just aren’t that motivated
.

  Jay Leno joked about it, but it’s really not so funny. When there were rumors (later discredited) that bin Laden was dead, Leno quipped that officials in Saudi Arabia believed them. “The reason they think he’s dead,” Leno said, “is that the checks they send him keep coming back.”

  LET’S DO OUR FRIENDS A FAVOR

  Which brings me to my proposal. If our goal is to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, why don’t we do our friends a favor and call for a regime change in Saudi Arabia? Why don’t we bring them democracy? If it’s good enough for Iraq, it’s good enough for Saudi Arabia.

  It makes sense. In all the years that the Saudis have been tight with the Bushes, wouldn’t you think some of that love of freedom would have rubbed off on them? Why do you suppose we’ve left their brutal little theocracy alone? If democracy in the Middle East was such a big deal, why did we start with a bitter enemy, before we offered it to our very best friend?

  The Bush family’s ties to Saudi Arabia are well documented. I saw it for myself on a visit to former Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar’s mansion in Aspen, Colorado. The prince had quite a luxurious spread near America’s favorite ski slope. He took me on a tour of the property, and pointed out two bungalows. One was named for Bush senior and one was named for Bush junior.

  This may explain the fact that even though Saudi Arabia had its fingerprints all over 9/11, the Bush administration refused to demand accountability. Saudi Arabia got a pass when Bush was looking for countries that harbored terrorists. Saudi Arabia got a pass when it was discovered that millions of dollars had flowed from the Saudis to Al Qaeda. Saudi Arabia even got a pass on the fifteen Saudi hijackers. Imagine how the Bush administration would have spun it if even one of the 9/11 hijackers had been from Iraq. It takes a lot of balls to ignore the fifteen hijackers that were from Saudi Arabia.

  Thanks to the reliable Bush family consigliere James Baker, whose firm successfully represented the Saudi government in a $1 trillion lawsuit brought by the 9/11 families, Saudi Arabia was declared blameless. I guess that’s what friends are for.

  So, back to the question: Why don’t we bring democracy to our friends the Saudis? This theocracy is opposed to everything we stand for. If you were going to name an axis of evil, you could easily start in Saudi Arabia. It’s an absolute monarchy, where all the decisions are made by the King. There is no constitution. No legislature. No due process. It is illegal to demonstrate against the government. It is illegal to practice any religion but Islam. Corporal punishment is still practiced. (That means if you steal a loaf of bread, they cut off your hand.) Public executions are regularly held. Women are not allowed to vote. Women must have written permission from a man to study, work, or travel. The religious police are everywhere, making sure that women are covered, that women aren’t driving cars, that everyone is toeing the line. These religious police are no better than the Taliban—and let me tell you, they’re scary. Once I was at the Riyadh Hilton with a group of top U.S. executives. We were on a tour of nations, sponsored by Time magazine. The cameraman had a knapsack supposedly full of film canisters, but it actually held dozens of miniature bottles of liquor. He slipped a tiny bottle of scotch into a paper bag, and gave it to me to enjoy in my room. The wife of the American ambassador saw me standing in the hall chatting and holding my little paper bag. She whispered to me, “Better get rid of that. If they find alcohol on you in a public place, they will lock you up tonight, no questions asked, and we will not be able to help you.” I couldn’t drink that bottle fast enough!

  Saudi Arabia is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, with its vast oil wealth being squandered by the few. The excess is mind-boggling. Hundreds of gold-encased palaces, hundreds of wives, millions blown on vacations, gambling, high living. These guys make Saddam Hussein look downright middle-class. Outside the palace gates, ordinary Saudis face high unemployment, a crumbling infrastructure, and a grim future.

  To top it off, every schoolchild in Saudi Arabia is taught that their sole duty in life is to destroy everything America stands for. With friends like these, you don’t need enemies. Why do we tolerate it with a smile?

  The answer is simple: It’s the oil. We have sold our soul for oil. And if that doesn’t piss you off, nothing will. Our troops are being blown up in the Middle East so we can bring democracy to Iraq, while we’re in bed with a regime that would sooner see us wiped off the face of the earth. The only possible explanation is oil.

  VIII

  What will we do for oil?

  When are we going to stop denying that the energy policy of the United States is run by the oil cartel? Oil is behind the war in Iraq. Oil is the reason we give the fundamentalist, terrorist-breeding theocracy of Saudi Arabia a pass. Oil is the reason we can’t get a goddamn energy policy in this country. Almost every important administration official has a connection to the oil industry.

  You may be thinking, “Lee’s going soft. Now that he’s not building cars, he’s becoming antioil.” But this isn’t about being antioil. It’s about taking an honest look at what our oil connections are doing to us. We’d better get our heads out of the Arabian sand and start facing some facts.

  Can anyone tell me what our long-term energy policy is? I’ve been trying to figure that out, and I keep coming back to oil. Is our only energy policy to open up new drilling sites for oil? I don’t know. Maybe we should ask Dick Cheney.

  Before I die, I want to read the notes from Vice President Cheney’s energy task force. Remember that one? Cheney convened his secret task force within ten days of taking office back in 2001. Who participated? What was discussed? What evidence was outlined? What options were studied?

  Oh, you can’t ask that. Those details were private. It was a matter of executive privilege. That was Cheney’s position when Congress wanted to take a look at the process. This administration loves executive privilege. They define it as “we can do whatever we want.” Cheney went on to fight every effort for scrutiny all the way to the Supreme Court, where his duck-hunting pal Justice Antonin Scalia supported his position.

  Well, even without the details it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the meetings had a certain tilt. All you had to do was read the task force’s recommendations. Oil, oil, and more oil. According to Cheney’s group, the energy priority of the Bush administration was to lift sanctions against oil-producing countries like Iran, Syria, and Iraq, so that American companies could take advantage of the plentiful opportunities for oil exploration.

  To this day, we don’t know what actually transpired in those meetings. However, we now know who attended them. Six of the meetings were held with Enron executives. Others included representatives from ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell, BP, and various utility companies. Chevron executives didn’t attend, but sent written recommendations, which, in some cases, were adopted verbatim.

  What about the environmentalists, the alternative-energy companies, the scientists? They were lumped into one meeting at the very end of the process. To show how interested he was in energy alternatives, Cheney even paraded the solar and wind people out for a Rose Garden photo op—the day before the report was released. There were no Rose Garden photo ops for the oil execs. I guess they were just a little camera shy.

  Over the years, bits and pieces of information have dribbled out about the task force, including its preoccupation with Iraqi oil. Documents released in 2003 include a map of Iraqi oil fields, pipelines, refineries, and terminals, as well as a chart detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and one titled “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oil Field Contracts.” So, in early 2001, the oilmen inside and outside the White House were already dreaming of a post-Saddam oil bonanza.

  Like I said, before I die I want to read the minutes of those meetings. In the meantime, it’s really not that hard to connect the dots.

  THE FRIENDS HE KEEPS

  You can tell a lot about a person by looking at who his friends are. Bush feels comfortable around certain types who share his worldview—e
specially those who look at the world through oil-tinted glasses. There’s Dick Cheney, of course. The former Halliburton CEO brings the oil industry to the head table. But there are others.

  A lot of people probably don’t realize that Secretary of State Condi Rice first came to Bush’s attention when she was serving on the board of directors of Chevron. The oilmen loved Condi so much during her ten-year stint on the board that they named an oil tanker after her. (It was quietly renamed when she joined the Bush administration.)

  Then there’s Don Evans, an old buddy from the gas and oil business, who became commerce secretary in the first term. And Lawrence Lindsey, Bush’s former chief economic advisor, previously of the Enron Advisory Board. And don’t forget James Baker, the Carlyle Group honcho, whose firm represents oil companies, defense contractors, AND the Saudi royal family. Bush may not love Uncle Jim, but without his help he might not even be in the White House. Baker rode to the rescue during the Florida recount debacle in 2000, and saved Bush’s presidency. He tried to save it again in 2006 by heading up the Iraq Study Group, but that didn’t turn out so well.

  Do you know who the secretary of energy is? Probably not. But if you’re keeping track, it’s a guy named Samuel Bodman. In the private sector he was a chemical engineer and an investment banker. Bush’s kind of people.

  IS IT GETTING HOT IN HERE?