Op Ed: A Thorn Returns To Prick Shrub's Side.

So..... Thanksgiving is over my house is decorated and my dining room is painted. I can now return to my passion for shoving my opinions out on the "internets" for your review.

As the Iraqi Occupation continues to devolve into the quagmire of civil war, an old "friend" of Shrub's has returned to stick it in and break it off, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to ex. Sec'y of State Colin Powell.

WaPo provides these memorable quotes:

"You begin to speculate, you begin to wonder _ Was this intelligence spun? Was it politicized? Was it cherry-picked? Did in fact the American people get fooled? I'm beginning to have my concerns,"

On Cheney's torture fiasco in front of Congress:

Asked whether Cheney was guilty of a war crime, Wilkerson said: "Well, that's an interesting question. It is certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror, and I would suspect that it is, for whatever it's worth, an international crime as well."

On Shrub's State Of mind before the war:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff says President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of post-war planning, allowing underlings to exploit Bush's detachment and make bad decisions.

On Cheney's Push for war:

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. Wilkerson said that Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

On Powell, On Bush:

Wilkerson suggested his former boss may agree with him that Bush was too hands-off about Iraq.

"What he seems to be saying to me now is the president failed to discipline the process the way he should have and that the president is ultimately responsible for this whole mess," Wilkerson said.

Here's A Classic:

Cheney's office, Rumsfeld aides and others argued "that the president of the United States is all-powerful, that as commander in chief the president of the United States can do anything he damn well pleases," Wilkerson said.

This all reminds me of why I LOVE politcs. This is the Great Game.

This is like watching a car wreck, two trains smashing together, or accidently giving your kid that extra bottle of milk. You know what's coming is going to be a mess, but you can't help yourself.

What's pouring out of the Republican party are the curdled remnants of any integrity they may have possessed. Their lies, instead of being shoved aside, are multiplying. Rats are jumping off the sinking ship faster than a stripper grabbing a dollar while ankle locked on a steel pole.

It is disguting to watch, it is embaressing to see our government throwing itself in the muck and then wallow in it. It is humilitaing that this dry drunk and his cronies represent our great nation.

2006 cannot come fast enough. 'Till then grab some popcorn, watch the show, and take notes.