Behind the White House meltdown

Paul Wolfowitz, top mastermind of the Iraq war, is about to become yesterday's news. Alberto Gonzales might be able to hang by his fingertips a bit longer, but even if he stays (which ain't likely), his credibility and leadership are in shambles.

And there has been a mass exodus of the upper middle ranks of political appointees, it has been reported.

A group of House Republicans last week read Bush the riot act over the Iraq mess and expressed strong trepidation about the future of the GOP.

Something is fueling the fires leading to this meltdown. Of course, the Iraq fiasco is one of the logs on the bonfire. Yet, there is something else: Americans aren't merely dissatisfied with the war effort, they are baffled and many are enraged.

Why? Because the Fox/White House propaganda technique no longer is working all that well. More and more people know that they were sold a bill of goods by a group of neocons and their allies intent on war.

And, there is increasing awareness that there was something decidely fishy about the 9/11 attacks. Sure, corporate media and hacks of both major parties tend to ignore or scorn that point. Yet, all sorts of Americans, including many a public official, many a journalist, have a strong sense of what happened. These are fightin' mad people whose voices have been muzzled.

What do you think is likely to happen when you get a whole bunch of gagged but incensed people? Not allowed to hit with brass knuckles? OK, they'll pick up baseball bats. Not allowed to get down to the nitty gritty about 9/11? Then other issues will just have to do-- such as the abuse of power that stemmed from the 9/11 power-grab.