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Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Lietanic

I'm really pressed for time this evening, so just a quick post to acknowledge both the Senate and House hearings with Rumsfeld and his entourage today. Fortunately, I did have an hour or so to listen to the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings, and from what I've picked up since then, it's pretty much more of the same old shit.

What's important to understand is that there was no way Rummy was going to be publicly nailed to a crucifix this afternoon. He did his dance; the congressional committees did their usual partisan two-step ("horrors, horrors, but this isn't us, it's the work of a few bad actors, we didn't know, blah de fucking blah"). One thing I have come way with this afternoon is that I finally believe that a significant chink in the Bush armor has developed. Is it enough to sink the ship? Probably not.

What sinks the ship is what's coming. A picture may indeed be worth 1000 words; it's the only way to explain national reaction since the photos were published. The story has been around for awhile. But now it has a face (hooded though it may be), electrodes, and a dog collar. There are (by Rumsfeld's admission) many more photos coming. There are (again, by Rumsfeld's admission) video and audio coming (if they can't figure out where the leak is and how to suppress it). If pictures are worth 1000 words, video and audio will be worth 100,000 photos. And so, the neocon empire will sink in the sunset.

The end can't come soon enough.