Partner and I were sitting at table writing out holiday cards listening to the NPR radio broadcast news of the proposed Congressional investigation into Halliburton policies in Iraq. Halliburton and their subsidiaries including Kellogg, Brown and Root are the beneficiaries of the administration’s ‘no bid’ contracts for the ‘rebuilding of post-war Iraq,’ now accused of oil price gouging. This information came on the heels of news that former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean as the Democratic Party’s candidate for President. As Gore had won the popular vote for President in 2000, commentators saw this as bestowing the mantle of mainstream party acceptance on Dean’s bid for the nomination. Economic pundits repeatedly nagged talk shows about the country going from a $280 billion surplus to a deficit of over $300 billion in just three years. A few days ago a report indicated that the mortality figures in Iraq had reached the highest point since the fabled ‘end of the war’ with 81 U.S. dead in November. These stories were topped with the ‘which is the REAL turkey’ deflation of the Bush photo op with U.S. troops in Iraq showing the president with a Thanksgiving table decoration. I turned to Partner and said: ‘It’s time for a Martha Stewart diversion.’ As a queer whose cynicism was weaned on the televised McCarthy ‘witch hunts’ and who came to political puberty during the days of the Chicago police department’s ‘Red Squad,’ I easily adopted the mantra: ‘Question Authority.’ The Army-McCarthy hearings targeted homosexuals and communists; Chicago’s Red Squad wasn’t looking for communists as the name might suggest, but gays were on their list of groups requiring special police attention. Add to this my distrust of the principal figures in the current administration who have been caught time and again being disingenuous (at the very least) and you can understand why I expect a mis-direction of some kind whenever their image begins to tank. So after news of the capture of Saddam Hussein, my first response was, ‘Martha Stewart!’ Following the Enron debacle and investigations into like practices in a number of other companies, a major distraction was provided the public by the government’s pursuit of Martha Stewart. Media went ga-ga for Martha, leaving Enron involvement with Vice President Cheney and U.S. energy policy in the dust. So now the specter of a captured Saddam dominates the air-waves. My queer-bred cynicism speculates that the powers-that-be have known for some time which holes the rat was scurrying between. Perhaps they were waiting to spring the trap as a Holiday present for Bush the first from Bush the second, or for the troops and their increasingly uneasy constituents at home. But as the weight of news tilted heavily to the negative, some bright light in the administration probably figured it was time to drop a rat in front of the cameras. (Did you notice there were no wide-angle shots of Iraqis celebrating the capture? Just tight little groups, shot fairly close-up.) A few days later, NPR reported that a politico (whose name I didn’t quite catch, McPherson or something) was quoted making a similar statement about U.S. knowledge of where Saddam was to be found and only OK-ing the capture when the administration needed some stain remover. NPR reported that in a follow-up the politico suggested he had misspoken. At least briefly, two of us had the same thought after our initial pleasure at seeing the grubby dictator flushed from his hole. Lack of trust in the current leadership has left me juggling conspiracy theories every time they flick their tails. Why? Because, not one of them has ever sufficiently answered the question: ‘Why is the U.S. in Iraq?’ They got us there with more sleight of hand. Now questions abound about lack of an exit strategy. Maybe we won’t notice the mounting deaths and double dealing if they can dance Saddam at the end of a string for six months or so (at least until the elections are over). Ever since OJ, Americans find nothing more distracting than a good trial. The name of the game is power. Money can only buy so much (ask Saddam with his $750,000 suitcase). But economic power in an increasingly global economy—that’s the ticket! The Nov. 22 issue of Newsweek has a pull-out in the Enterprise Special Section breaking down the various aspects of ‘power’ in the world’s most powerful nation states. In their schema the U.S. comes out as top dog overall, but isn’t even on the top 10 map in oil reserves. Iraq has more oil reserves than the United Arab Emirates. Canada has them beat coming in just under Saudi Arabia. (Guess we WILL be drilling in Alaska if this administration is re-elected). According to Newsweek, the U.S. excels in military spending, laying out more than the total of the nine countries ranked next highest—ditto nuclear warheads. Without oil, other resources, technology, etc., just become exports in an increasing deficit balance of trade ledger. I join others who suggest oil is the real reason we are in Iraq. So I wonder, when this is all over, and Halliburton and their subsidiaries hold IOUs from Iraq for all that re-construction on pipelines and the like, will U.S. companies have above- or below-board control of oil supplies? Will Vice President Cheney return to a position of authority in Halliburton, his private sector of choice after the administration of Bush I? Or perhaps will he, Bush II, and other inner-circle members just become stockholders again? Bush II sold his shares (in a highly suspect move) for about as much cash as three years of his presidential salary. Don’t get me wrong, I love magic shows. I love anticipating the next illusion. But I go to the show by choice, knowing I will be manipulated and my credulity strained for entertainment purposes. There is nothing entertaining about the flimflammery the prestidigitators of this administration are foisting on the American public. I, for one, no longer believe what I see and am left with my Martha mantra: ‘Question Authority.’ I can only hope that among the candidates in the next election, voters will find an honest man. Copyright 2003 by Marie J. Kuda. e-mail: kudoschgo@aol.com