Deja Vu All Over Again, Baby

Things are feeling very 1970s this week. I’m not just talking about hip-hugger jeans and shaggy haircuts. I’m talking about indictments in the White House. A lot of the stuff that happened this week is taking me back to another decade, another presidency, and another war. The sense of nostalgia is downright creepy.

I’ve been reading Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg, the former cold war hard-liner who secretly published the Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg grew to realize that the generals running the Vietnam War were ignoring the facts and that president Johnson (and later Nixon) was actually escalating the war while telling the nation that the end was in sight. Ellsberg gradually decided that it was his duty to tell the truth by publishing 7,000 pages of top secret papers on the war.

In 1971, Ellsberg had inside information that he published to refute the White House’s actions in a war. In 2003 Joseph Wilson had inside information about the lack of Iraqi WMDs. In 1971 the Nixon White House attacked Ellsberg after he published The Pentagon Papers. In 2003 the Bush White House attacked Joseph Wilson after he published “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” Then the White House broke the law to get back at Ellsberg. Later members of Nixon’s cabinet were convicted for it. Now the Bush White House has done the same and scooter Libby has been indicted. Next week he’ll likey appear in court. I’m guessing a Congressional investigation may follow.

The 2000th American soldier has died. Marc Garlasco, former chief of high-value targeting at the Pentagon, is claiming the 20,000 to 30,000 Iraqi casualties is really 100,000. And the first high-level cabinet member has been indicted for lying. The Special Prosecutor stated on Friday that Scooter Libby “lied... under oath and repeatedly.”

I wonder if along with funky jeans and music, this 70s revival will bring the resignation of a Republican President. Hmm. Suddenly I’m feeling pretty nostalgic. Excuse me while I step out to pick up a tie dye t-shirt and Buffalo Springfield album.