A GANG'S TRUE COLORS

Growing up in the delightful sunshine of Huntington Park, Calif., we had no trouble identifying members of the various gangs in the neighborhood -- Pirus and Crips, Renegade Slauson and F-13 -- and when rivalries erupted we knew enough to stay the hell out of the way. Better their blood than ours.

The same rule applies today to the nation's most dangerous gang, now awash in crimson.

Members of the gang known as the Project for the New American Century would probably prefer to be called "Centurions" (that whole Roman thing brings out the Flavius in them), but we prefer to call them what they are: Traitors.

The Traitors have been pushing their brand of thuggery since the mid-1990s, when the world was just a little too optimistic and serene for their tastes. In 1998, the Traitors tried to push Clinton into invading Iraq. Failing at that, the gang went one better. It found a blank slate, ran him for president and -- with a little help from the Supreme Court -- rammed the results down America's throat.

The gang made good on its threat to kick Saddam Hussein's ass. Anyone who got in the way got whacked. O'Neill, Clarke, Whitman -- all whacked for disagreeing with the Traitors.

Their arrogance is only now becoming fully known. This week's Newsweek contains a telling anecdote about Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. Seems Libby urged the secretary of state's staff to talk up rumors about a Sept. 11 hijacker meeting with an Iraqi spy in Prague. Libby wanted Colin Powell to include the rumor in Powell's presentation to the United Nations. According to Newsweek:

Powell wanted no part of it. After one long session debating the evidence before the speech, Libby turned to a Powell aide. "Don't worry about any of this," he said, according to someone who was in the room. "We'll get back in what you take out."

They didn't. Powell refused to use the line, but Libby's audacity stunned everyone at the table. "The notion that they've become a gang has some merit," says a longtime colleague of Libby's who requested anonymity to preserve the friendship. "A small group who only talk to each other ... You pay a price for that."

The Traitors may start to pay that price this week, when a grand jury hands up indictments against many of the gang's leaders. But the American people have already paid a greater price for the gang's bloodlust.