The Bush Putsch: Officers Speak -

Alterman reports on military man and historian Andrew Bacevich and his views of recent W activities.

Yes, it was a disaster. Yes, it was terrible. But by God, this was a disaster that could be turned to enormous advantage. Here lay the chance to remove constraints on the exercise of American military power, enabling the Bush administration to shore up, expand, and perpetuate U.S. global hegemony. Toward that end, senior officials concocted this notion of a Global War on Terror, really a cover story for an effort to pacify and transform the broader Middle East, a gargantuan project which is doomed to fail. Committing the United States to that project presumed a radical redistribution of power within Washington. The hawks had to cut off at the knees institutions or people uncomfortable with the unconstrained exercise of American power. And who was that? Well, that was the CIA. That was the State Department, especially the State Department of Secretary Colin Powell. That was the Congress.

A putsch, a coup, a revolution? Clearly a raping of the Constitution. The changes and abberations W instigated may haunt us through the next prezident's cycle unless Congress gets some balls and takes back some power and reinstates the Constitution.

If not, maybe it is time for a "People Coup."