Can our president possibly be sincere? Is this man so surrounded by handlers and manipulators that we have some bizarre version of a Manchurian Candidate in the White House? Bush's speech yesterday in which he admitted to the use of interrogation chambers beyond our borders was suffused with a breathless exasperation, particularly at the point when he stated, "Why some people would actually have us tried for war crimes!" That may be a shocking notion to the president, his "think tank" and whatever loyal following they still have, but it is a reality waiting to happen. None of the neoconservative cabal's Orwellian and malicious playfulness with language, none of their M.C. Escher logical pathways will ultimately serve to keep them from being tried in the courts of justice. Who in his right mind could argue that the world and the people of Iraq themselves are the better off for our illegal invasion? Sadamm stands trial for the death of a hundred or so of his victims while tens of thousands of Iraqi innocents have been killed in the name of our bald-faced empire building in the Middle East. The Israeli army, fighting as our proxies, uses state-sponsored terror with mad abandon. The Anglo/American/Israeli axis threatens and baits Iran for its nuclear policy, while Israel illegally caches its 225 nuclear warheads and the U.S. encourages India (a nation which is a real threat to kill millions of innocents with its arsenal) to arm itself to the teeth. Always lurking barely beneath the surface is the threat of another attack on the American people engineered by its own government. When the going gets really tough for this administration, an administration which has shown little restraint and a dangerous, mega-adolescent, Ian Fleming-like fondness for covert activities, there will be a real risk for another Reichstag fire. A lot of Americans are afraid of another attack.