RUMSFELD REACTS-- "HENNY PENNY, THE SKY IS FALLING"-- AS IRAQ SPENDING GOES THROUGH THE ROOF

Today's WASHINGTON POST has a disturbing article by Jonathan Weisman which points out that Bush's occupation of Iraq has climbed from an annual $48 billion in 2003 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Annual war costs in Iraq are easily outpacing the $61 billion a year that the United States spent in Vietnam between 1964 and 1972, in today's dollars. The invasion's 'shock and awe' of high-tech laser-guided bombs, cruise missiles and stealth aircraft has long faded, but the costs of even those early months are just coming into view as the military confronts equipment repair and rebuilding costs it has avoided and procurement costs it never expected."

Disturbing enough-- especially in light of how this is bankrupting the U.S. and wrecking the economy-- but what the POST article does not go into is even more disturbing. How much of this uptick in unforeseen (the keyword to all things Bush) spending is legitimate and how much of it is due to a sense that the war profiteers-- who, after all, know how to read a poll as well as anyone-- are getting that the party is nearly over? From the Bush Family and Cheney right down to Halliburton, Bechtel and the lowliest, shadiest little GOP-connected "defense contractors," whether it be the ones kicking back to Pete Sessions or to Jerry Lewis, Duke Cunningham, Jerry Lewis, Katherine Harris, Virgil Goode, Jr., Duncan Hunter, John Doolittle or any of dozens of crooked, bribe-taking congressmen, everyone is starting to get the feeling that whatever they don't grab and stuff into their pockets (and off-shore bank accounts) now is going to be nothing but a missed opportunity.

Last night I stayed up late and watch THE DAILY SHOW. Stewart has current and older videos of Rumsfeld dismissing legitimate concerns about how he is running the war with a scoffing, mocking "henny, penny; the sky is falling." Resignation should not be the discussion for Rumsfeld. A trial is what should be on the agenda.

Oh, and while we're talking about trials for war profiteers, yesterday's Paul Krugman column, "Enemy of the Planet," got me thinking. What about all the corporate managers who have seen fit to reward themselves with hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars while destroying the financial and economic foundations of our country? They're part of the Bush catastrophe too-- every bit as much as Rumsfeld-- and they too deserve their day in court. "Lee Raymond, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, was paid $686 million over 13 years. But that’s not a reason to single him out for special excoriation. Executive compensation is out of control in corporate America as a whole, and unlike other grossly overpaid business leaders, Mr. Raymond can at least claim to have made money for his stockholders. There’s a better reason to excoriate Mr. Raymond: for the sake of his company’s bottom line, and perhaps his own personal enrichment, he turned Exxon Mobil into an enemy of the planet."