Before the Fall...

Just before a tyrant falls from grace, he seems invulnerable. He has his minions patrolling the palace, shooting down opponents, arresting loudmouths who dare imply the leader is corrupt. The suck-ups have been arranged in a row. Like bobblehead dolls, they nod in unison, goose-step in unison, say Yessir, you’re right sir in unison. The despot is riding high, unassailable And then, suddenly, the deceit, lies, brutality, bribes not fully paid and hastily forged alliances begin coming undone at the same time. It happened to Napoleon, Hitler, J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph McCarthy, and Richard Nixon. The downfall of over-confident zealous men with delusions of grandeur is always the same. Their ambition leads them to overextend their power. And they don’t count on being unmasked in public. Napoleon claimed he was building a federation of free peoples in a Europe united under a liberal government. But his allies--Spain, Portugal, Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden--grew hostile when they realized the “liberal government” meant rule by Napoleon Bonaparte. God knows the BushMen have overextended their power. But the single thing they haven’t counted on is the Internet. The information that is available to anyone with a computer and the curiosity to seek out the truth will be the Bush administration’s Waterloo. After the fall, exiling the White House gang to Iraq would be a fitting end for a bunch of little Napoleons whose delusions killed 1,448 American soldiers and accomplished nothing else.