The right wing hates America. They are the first to wave the flag and loudly proclaim their love of country. They are also the first to stab their country men and women in the back when it suits them.

Now that Bush is safely in power for another four years they are wasting no time in showing us that they are firmly in charge and not taking any prisoners. Their goals are very simple. They want to destroy the government’s ability to do anything except fight wars and make the wealthy even wealthier.

In early 2003 the occupation of Iraq was becoming a certainty. Despite the acquiescence of the media, the entire Republican party, and far too many wimpy Democrats, thousands of Americans joined the rest of the world in demonstrating against the approaching atrocity. The press barely acknowledged the existence of dissent, and the right wing vilification began in earnest.

The protesters were said to hate America but love Saddam, tyranny, and terrorism. They were accused of not supporting the troops, as if sending men and women needlessly to their deaths was proof of love.

Nearly two years later 1,286 American soldiers have been killed. Iraqis have paid a much higher price. At least 14,000 of them are dead as a result of Uncle Sam’s aggression.

If any group was unsupportive of the troops it was the Bushmen. Donald Rumsfeld took his jackass show on the road when he recently met with U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait. It wasn’t surprising that the same man who gave us Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib is also lacking in basic social skills, such as how to speak to people.

Rumsfeld has insulted the rest of the world like a cantankerous old crank with cracks about “old Europe,” and minimized the dangers of a violent Iraq with pearls of wisdom like “democracy is messy.” He has been displaying his nastiness and undisguised contempt for anyone outside of the American pirate clique for quite a long time.

He got away with it until he “dissed” one of our beloved soldiers while on camera. When a reservist named Thomas Wilson informed Rummy that soldiers scrounged in landfills to fabricate makeshift armor for their vehicles, Rumsfeld responded, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have." In other words, deal with it.

The firestorm was immediate but dishonest. Rumsfeld was no more disrespectful to this soldier than he has been to the rest of the country, the world community, Congress, or the media. Rumsfeld and his ilk don’t care about American soldiers any more than they care about Iraqi prisoners. All are sacrificed to make the United States treasury a cash cow for the powerful.

The cries of mock horror and consternation are laughable. If the now revived press really cared about the troops they would have pointed out long ago that American tax dollars were going to Halliburton not to fortify vehicles or to reconstruct Iraq. It will be important to remember the hell of a privatized Iraq when privatization comes to social security.

While Donald Rumsfeld was showing his love for GIs fighting for our freedoms, the rest of his gang were telling the rest of us that they must eliminate social security, the only safety net Americans have, in order to save it.

The scam should have been obvious to anyone paying attention when the right wing claimed to be concerned about the life span of black men. Now they are acting like Henny Penny, declaring that the sky will fall unless social security is destroyed to help Wall Street make more money.

Meanwhile, the soldiers everyone claims to support are returning not to homes but to homeless shelters. Their story is as old as warfare itself. They are dealing with poverty and gun shot wounds but also with memories of the people they killed.

"Not only were there men, but there were women and children – really little children,” said one homeless Los Angeles vet. “There would be babies with arms blown off. It was something hard to live with."

It isn’t hard for Rummy to live with, nor is his boss inconvenienced by thoughts of death in wartime.

Their sick dreams of domestic and foreign domination have been germinating for many years. They are going to make America an empire and they are going to make themselves richer, whether by going to war in Iraq, or putting the Wall Street foxes in charge of the social security hen house.

They hate us and they hate our freedoms too. Intelligence reform means nothing of the sort. A driver’s license is now a national identity card. Mere membership in organizations labeled as terrorist is now a federal offense. Despite these alleged improvements in intelligence gathering, the incompetent Condoleezza Rice, in charge of the nation’s security before September 11, 2001, was kicked upstairs to become Secretary of State. So much for reform.

The same people who want to build an empire abroad want to build one at home as well. They view the vast majority of Americans as troublesome inconveniences to be placated with lies. They can’t say that they want a police state, so they say they are reforming intelligence. They can’t be honest and say they will eliminate social security and medicare, so they say they will strengthen or reform them.

It is tempting but dangerous to be in denial in the face of this onslaught. Words like strengthen and reform have now taken on a sinister meaning. Those innocuous words are now used to enrich the already wealthy, and empower the already powerful.

Soon they will say that war is peace and freedom is slavery. At that point there can be no more denial or excuses. They hate you and they are letting you know it.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in   Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City.  She can be reached via e-Mail at [email protected]. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/