We as a people need to seriously wonder about the sanity of our modern society when the only ones calling for censure in this case are grass roots organizations.
.
A senior at the Center for International Policy in Washington DC, a professor of international security at the National War College, and a Soviet analyst who worked for the CIA for 24 years, Professor Mel Goodman, is finally coming out and accusing American President (appoint) of waging "a campaign of deceit." Profesor Goodman is promoting a national campaign to have George W. Bush censured, with the backing of two grass-roots organizations. However, a censure is nothing but an extremely vague reprimand at best, and is not severe enough of a penalty in this case. Yet, I suppose we have to start somewhere.
MoveOn.org and
Win Without War are demanding that Congress pass the motion reprimanding the president, saying Bush should be punished for "deliberately misrepresenting the truth about intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and links between al-Qaida and the government of Saddam Hussein." Bush recently admitted in a television interview that the justification for launching war on Iraq was wrong, but claimed he had acted in good faith. His "good faith" claims are in stark contrast to the claims of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who in the recently published book "The Price of Loyalty" recounts how Bush started planning for the invasion of Iraq after only ten days in office, several months before September 11, and before any reports involving WMDs were even examined.
Looking back upon the reasons for the impeachment of former American Presidents, such as Nixon bugging the Democrats, or Clinton lying about a sexual encounter, we as a people need to seriously wonder about the sanity of our modern society when the only ones calling for punishment in this case are grass roots organizations. Certainly taking a country to war over false pretenses amounts to war crimes (if it does not, then what
does amount to war crimes), and doing so eerily reminds anyone (with even limited knowledge of history) of the tactics of Adolph Hitler, who repeatedly created imaginary threats in order to justify the invasions he launched.
One might even be tempted to give Bush a pass if the result of his deceit actually made the world "a safer place," as he constantly claims that it has. But one only needs to turn on the television to see that terrorism has multiplied during Bush's so-called "war on terrorism." Give me a second. I'm going to turn my television on right now and look. Ah, here we go. Today is Tuesday, February 10, 2004, and at least 50 Iraqi civilians were killed and nearly 200 others injured when a truck filled with explosives blew up near a line of people seeking employment. Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor is saying the U.S.-led coalition would not be deterred by the attack. Yeah, Dan, easy for you to say: you don't have to stand in that fucking line looking for work, now, do you?
The only thing Bush's naive war is doing is stirring up the hornets' nest, and unless Bush is planning a massive act of genocide, there is no way to stop the rapidly growing resistance Bush has antagonized. So, clearly, Bush is lying when states that the "world is a safer place without Saddam Hussain." Though I'm no supporter of Hussain, it would seem to me Iraq (and the world around it) has become a
more dangerous place under the command of Bush.
What is scarier is the fact that Bush not only lied to us, but he is
still lying to us. The world is
not a safer place. We are
not winning the "war on terrorism." There is more terrorism on a daily basis since his bungled "war on terrorism" began than there has ever been before in the history of the term "terrorism."
The question any logical mind comes up with is, if Bush can knowingly go on
Meet the Press and deliberately lie to the American people regarding how safe the world is, can we trust him at all? Did he lie to us when he claimed his brother Jeb didn't rig the Florida elections? Did he lie to us when he said he had no prior knowledge of what was going to happen on September 11? It only takes one lie to make a person a liar, and taking a country to war based on false information has to be the king of lies.
Is he lying to us about the economy? Since we now know President (appoint) Bush is a liar, what should we make of this statement in the New York Times: "The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation." Or how about this message Bush sent to Congress: "The economy is strong and getting stronger," and we are about to enjoy "a mounting prosperity that will reach every corner of America." Responding to these statements, Senator John Kerry replied, "I've got a feeling this report was prepared by the same people who brought us the intelligence on Iraq." And it's true. Once it has become obvious, now it seems even to some former Bush supporters, that the President (appoint) hasn't a clue about what is true and what is false, how can we trust
anything that comes out of his mouth? Senantor John Edwards sums it up best when he asks about the Bush Administration: "What planet do they live on?"
There is a big difference in today's American society, which might explain why MoveOn.org is calling for censure rather than the bulk of the American people calling for impeachment. Due to changes in law, we live in a society where our largest media companies are owned and operated by huge corporations, monopolies that are benefiting from Bush's "tax cuts." The bottom line is a million and a half voices representing MoveOn.org will never reach as many people as Tucker Carlson reaches when he tells the lie on CNN that MoveOn.org is made up of a bunch of "crackpots."
We live in a society where talking heads are allowed to make biased comments about the stories they are reporting. The days of Woodward and Bernstein are over. Our journalists, who are on the payroll of the likes of Microsoft, are knowingly spreading lies themselves. The media tells us Howard Dean is not "presidential" because his face became red during a speech, and although the wiser of us don't fall for it, the vast majority of working stiffs do. They hear it and they believe whatever they hear. The media tells us that Janet Jackson exposing her breast is a horrible thing and there should be an investigation, and every right wing evangelical cheers on the witch hunt, then they tell us invading a nation at the expense of our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters (for no reason whatsoever) is the ultimate act of patriotism!
What planet are
we living on as we allow this shell game to continue.
We should seriously consider the sanity of our society, when we are resolved to live in someone else's lie, and the only thing we're prepared to do about it is politely ask for a censure. I , for one, am beyond the polite stage.
--C. J. Laity
ChicagoPoetry.com