Beware the Storm of someone else's making

Hullabaloo:



via Hullabaloo, Norman Mailer, February 20, 2003, before the Commnonwealth Club of San Francisco:

"Terrorism and instability are the reverse face of Empire. If the Saudi rulers have been afraid of their mullahs for fear of their power to incite terrorists, what will the Muslim world be like once we, the Great Satan, are there to dominate the Middle East in person?



"Since the administration can hardly be unaware of the dangers, the answer comes down to the unhappy likelihood that Bush and Company are ready to be hit by a major terrorist attack, as well as any number of smaller ones. Either way, it will strengthen his hand. America will gather about him again. We can hear his words in advance: 'Good Americans died today. Innocent victims of evil had to shed their blood. But we will prevail. We are one with God.' Given such language, every loss is a win."



As Bush's popularity shrinks, we now enter the period of greatest danger to the Constitution and to our democracy. Bush is going to be tempted to invite terrorism in the U.S., in order to restore his own stock and power, and, perhaps, not incidentally, to finally wipe out democracy.