September 2003

It seems that Bush is convinced that we have done everything to get to the bottom of the events surrounding 911. But if he were serious then we would have looked first at the events of that day, and at those inside Washington D.C., who obviously failed in their sworn duty to protect the nation from just such events as those of September 11, 2001.

Bush said that we went to the Middle East to attack an enemy of the United States. But instead of diminishing that threat, his actions there have only increased the smaller forces that once stood against us – and have made of them instead, a many-headed hydra with ever-more reason to intensify their hatred of our actions, and our polices toward all those who are not Americans.

Bush claims there has been "a triumph for freedom." But in neither Afghanistan, nor in Iraq could there be anything as clear as "a triumph for freedom." Rather it appears we have brought chaos, not freedom to 25 million people. And what the Iraqi’s apparently are saying is ‘Americans need to go home, and leave us alone.’ It would seem that the best thing we could do for the Iraqi people is to allow them to be free of us.

Bush spoke of tyranny in the Middle East. The tyranny that was Saddam’s regime is gone – but the tyranny happening now in Iraq is something we introduced with our heavy-handed and indiscriminate murder of so many ordinary civilians – and to add injury to the insult, we refuse to even keep track of how many of them we’ve killed. The dead and the disappeared in Iraq have simply become another of the unknown costs of this ill-conceived Bush-war on the world.

Bush spoke several times about Decency, Freedom and Democracy for the Iraqi and the Afghan peoples. But it is a proven fact that "Decency, Freedom and Democracy" cannot be given to any people by the guns of occupying forces. (Palestine is a perfect example). That would require Diplomacy, Cooperation and Investment – none of which we seem to be planning to invoke. And so long as we continue to employ indiscriminate violence against the civilian populations of those countries – whose people we say we came to "save" – there will be only more intense violence all round.

Bush also overlooked a key point in his plea for more money – Iraq did not ask for our help. True they did want to be rid of Saddam, but not at the cost of their nation or their way of life; not to mention the extreme costs of the lives of so many of their own citizens, even after the "war" supposedly ended.

The president also seemed to forget that occupying forces do not legally have the right to murder those who they are supposed to be defending, and especially not those civilians who are directly under their authority (as the occupying force).

When Bush spoke about the United Nations he spoke as though he was referring to an agency of the US government, as a something he could simply order to act. He seems to forget that we spit on the United Nations as well as on the considered objections of our own former allies, when these nations failed to rubber stamp his wishes. Now Bush is demanding international cooperation to save us from his miserable failures on the ground in the region. Bush wants this to happen to relieve us of our legal responsibilities for our illegal attack upon another nation that had not done us any harm. In brief, it appears that we cannot handle the chaos we created by this impetuously belligerent attack upon Iraq. It seems that Bush is now doing what he’s always done: He wants to cut and run while leaving others to clean up after his thoughtless actions, but this time he’s also demanding that the USA be allowed to keep the spoils of this misadventure: Rather the profits would go to his pet corporate interests, or at least to those who continue to bankroll his adventures in piracy.

This "War on Terror" is not about the people of other countries, or the enemies of this nation (unless Bush counts the small businesses of the United States and the working men and women of America among her enemies). This war is about the privatization of natural resources, and world power at the point of American weapons.

The world knows this, and soon the American public will begin to connect the dots for themselves. Eleven million jobs lost, many of which are never coming back, Federal and State budgets that are out of control, with no leadership from Washington. The schools are in disarray, the environment, under the direction of Environmental Destruction Agency (EDA), is in chaos – there is no viable plan for healthcare and under Ashcroft there is no longer any justice in that Department, or any freedoms left to the American people. And by this count, it appears the terrorists have won – we have no Decency, no Freedom and certainly no Democracy – because we are now the unwilling subjects of our very own dictator – George W. Bush – that frustrated, unqualified and confused man who has occupied the oval office since January of 2001. This ‘war’ is about the simple greed and lust for power of a few privateers within our own government and those corrupt few who have paid for them to be there.

Bush mentioned that the people of Iraq can never return to the time before we invaded – but we now have our own dictator - and until we can bring ourselves to deal with that fact, we can never go back either.

"W" spoke warmly about the sacrifices of our men and women in the military. But we know from his actions (the cut-off of medical benefits for returning vet’s – the attempts to cut hazardous duty pay and the 3-times promised rotation that is still pending for far too many) that he simply doesn’t give a damn about the troops. If he did we’d have seen him in the overflowing hospitals visiting the many thousands of our wounded (many of them also still uncounted). And if he cared at all about the people that he made so much noise about liberating, then he’d at least know how many of them had lost their lives because of his orders.

Over and over again Bush repeats the lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction, about Freedom and Democracy for the Iraqi people. None of that was ever on his agenda that was written for this war, even before he came to be in his stolen office.

Finally, Pax American is not a viable national goal for this country to pursue. Bush obviously intends to bankrupt this society, this economy, and the people of this nation in his maniacal pursuit, which it is not ours to attempt, yet is equally impossible for us to pay for.

This administration must be reined in before the whole world burns with their reactions to our Pax Americana policies of national self-gratification.

If Bush were seeking world peace as he insists, then there are many tools that he could use to move in that direction. Unfortunately all that our spoiled-boy president seems to understand is the military-industrial-congressional complex, and the profits that come from that collusion. The world sees Bush for what he is, and no one except his precious neo-cons, can escape the certain knowledge of his violent and ever-tightening noose of military suppression of any that might resist his dictates – without regard to national borders, international treaties, or just plain common sense and decency.

Oh – and as for the bogus numbers he cited as to the "costs of the war" – you can bet that too will turn out to be another lie as well! Theoretically Bush is responsible for the ‘security’ of the United States of America. Why then has he not been fired, or even asked to give the people an on-the-record report on his tenure in that position? And should this not take place in front of an audience that will ask him real and tough questions about the realities and not the fantasies that he tends to think of as facts?

kirwan

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