I have now read the order and it certainly is scary. As you said Bob, in effect, any activism against the Iraq war could be considered threatening to the stabilization efforts in Iraq, which according to this executive order could or will lead to arrest and confiscation of property.

So, I suppose the general public will really be up in arms about this and we'll see lots of people supporting the impeachment of Bush. Or not.

If Bush or Darth Cheney don't leave office in 2008 I wonder what the reaction of the citizenry will be. I'd like to think we'll revolt, but I wouldn't be surprised if complacency rules.

Tom A-B

Many of these people were around in the Nixon admin and learned the lesson - never give in. They think Nixon blew it by resigning. During the Reagan scandals, they were too weak and the republican moderates got the upper hand. This time they are stronger and prepared to go all the way. In fact, they are relishing the opportunity. They've pretty much got everything in place. The open dissent of the 60's and 70's will not be allowed this time around. They will come down hard this time and shut it down.

As a teenager I lived in Argentina from 1976 to 1978 and I saw first hand how the powers that be shut down dissent - suspected leftists and troublemakers were rooted out, hunted and exterminated. At the time, I saw military operations in the streets and the searching of homes etc. I later found out that thousands were disappeared - missing, flown drugged over the Ocean and dumped etc.

When the day comes here, most of us will be oblivious to it. We will notice certain public figures may go missing, certain activists will not show up for work, certain reporters and talk radio hosts may disappear, but nothing concrete will be reported in the media. The internet, or parts of it, will be shut down. A definite chill will be in the air and then it may spread depending on the circumstances. We delude ourselves if we say it can't happen here. It can happen here and when it does, it has the potential of being more repressive than anything experienced in Latin America - after all, we taught them much of how to do it.

My impression is that there has been a huge struggle within the Administration and the party over power and control of the apparatus that conceivably would launch such a repression. Like I said, all of the pieces appear to be in place, the issue is whether "they" have sufficient power to pull it off. With Bush and Cheney in place they probably do.

The question is: what event or set of circumstances will trigger the start of the real repression? (Some would argue that "repression - light" has already started. Note the Executive Branch power grabs, etc.)

Hi Bob, I read that the other day when you posted the note on it. It doesn't affect me directly of course, but these are all wider problems that will have some impact on everyone, whether indirectly or directly.

Interesting times...

"You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created."
Albert Einstein