Michael Bryan By Tom Prezelski, cross-posted from Rum Romanism and Rebellion. Contrary to what the Arizona Daily Star says, Shaun McClusky is not an “ex-mayoral hopeful.” Back in 2011, the failed former Ward 5 City Council candidate made some noise about running for Mayor on the Republican ticket, but failed to get enough signatures to get on … Read more
(Cross-posted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion) Dr. Henry “Hank” Oyama passed away on Tuesday. The last time I saw Hank Oyama was about 2 years ago. I ran into him at an event Downtown and he asked me to walk him back to his car. It quickly became obvious that he really needed no particular … Read more
By Michael Bryan
Now that the Iraq war has been "ended" by Obama's draw down of active combat troops (I scare quote here because of the thousands of embassy personnel and private defense contractors still in country), and the ten year anniversary of the invasion is upon us, it is perhaps time to try for a little perspective on this passage in American political history.
I continue to view the invasion and occupation of Iraq as a massive crime of control fraud perpetrated by the Bush junta to extract hundreds of billions from the public fisc to line the pockets of the corporate welfare state wards known collectively as the defense industry. But the historical treatment of that fraud and its long-term impact on American government and politics is what I think deserves more discussion.
As I write, a concerted effort at historical revision by many of the key players in the Iraq fraud is underway throughout the media. People who perpetrated and participated in the Bush Administration's national security follies now seek to cast the Iraq fraud as a successful, if costly, mission to free the Iraqi people from tyranny.
That effort is a subtle poison undermining American security.
(Cross-posted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion ) A friend from college named Derek Kompare, who is now a well-published media critic and academic, once told me a story about visiting the Circle K at the ground floor of what was then its corporate headquarters in Phoenix. He was hoping that there would be some special … Read more
By Michael Bryan Exciting blog news! Former Arizona Representative and blog brother Tom Prezelski is going to be posting here at BlogForArizona as well as his blog, RumRomanismAndRebellion. Tom brings a wealth of legislative experience and a deep fund of knowledge of Arizona's political and cultural history to his pithy and insightful commentary. Tom recently … Read more