Bill Wetzel columnist

"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer." ÷Milton

The drama of George W. Bush, in military uniform, championing peace and freedom on the USS Abraham Lincoln was beautiful. I had to wipe a tear out of my eye.

From laughing so hard.

I know a Karl Rove special when I see one.

Meanwhile, our boys from the "Project For The New American Century" (PNAC) have staged the first war in transforming America into a planetary empire by way of military force. Who's next? Not Syria. That's postulation.

Try Iran.

Why?

All you blind patriots, prepare for something that you won't find on CNN or Fox. This is scary.

One of the biggest "What the fuck?" moments in history came by way of the infamous "Axis of Evil" speech Bush laid out on us, clearly reaching for enemies who had nothing to do with 9/11.

PNAC, the think tank founded by Cheney, Rummy and Wolfy, had been planning this war in Iraq for years. Using weapons of mass destruction for an excuse, they planned a "statement" invasion taking over oil fields for funding ÷ then they would set up military bases for use as tactical strategic anchors.

Osama bin Laden launched his fundamentalist career due to anti-American sentiment from the first Gulf War. PNAC figured another unpopular war in the Gulf would provide the catalyst to put their plan into action. Turns out they received this gift early. On August 6, 2001, an intelligence briefing warned our administration of an imminent terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Terrorists attack symbolic targets, and we've known for years al-Qaeda would come by air (France foiled one attempt on the Eiffel Tower in the '90s). The administration was either too dumb to stop 9/11 or allowed it to happen and used tragedy to drive policy.

These guys aren't dumb.

Paul Wolfowitz, the ideological father of the group, is a veritable genius, in fact.

After this, Iraq was only a matter of time.

Utilizing right-wing media control, docile Democratic opposition and color-coded terror alerts, these guys sold the Iraqi lemon to the American people. From Gulf War II, there would be more attacks. More fear. More excuses for pre-emptive strikes. Terrorism is the new enemy, but it's a veil.

This is a crusade to reform Islam and take over "oil-region client regimes," as Noam Chomsky calls them.

Back to Iran.

Iran is a country ruled by Shiite clerics. I found it ridiculous that Wolfy hadn't accounted for Shiite strength in Iraq. When one million Shiites made a pilgrimage to Karbala last week, the administration seemed taken aback. Shiite resistance? No WMDs? Saddam's escape? They mocked surprise because they counted on this.

Look for these future suspect arguments: Iran funneled WMDs and helped Saddam escape from Iraq. Iran's Islamic Revolution is antagonizing peace by encouraging Shiite revolts. Iraqi Shiites give the U.S. an excuse for permanent occupation. The threat of Saddam, Osama and terrorism will be manipulated by the media into a pre-emptive strike on Iran.

By this time, North Korea will have plenty of nuclear weapons. If they haven't sold them to terrorists or hit us yet, the media will convince Americans that they will. Bin Laden is the key. The Bush administration has a strict policy against investigating the Saudi Royals and their rich pals. If you can't follow al-Qaeda money then you can't catch their leader. If you can't catch him, then any country we want to attack will be accused of harboring or selling him weapons. We'll fabricate motives until we modernize and reform the whole Arabic world.

What drives this?

Money.

Take one guess who is rebuilding Iraq right now. Who will rebuild every country we destroy?

Halliburton. Bechtel. Carlyle. Brown and Root. United Defense.

Who else profits?

The petroleum and energy industries.

Everybody mentioned has links to the PNAC boys.

Armed peace will manipulate a global economy hijacked by the WTO, IMF and World Bank. A few select men will dictate social and economic terms to the whole world.

This empire will create martial law. Millions will suffer and die. Poverty. Sickness. Famine.

Think this can't happen?

Voter purges. Supreme Court-elected president. Patriot Acts One and Two. Anti-Americanism. Unpatriotic accusations. Sketchy pre-emptive warfare. Terror alerts. SARS.

Think again.