All Posts Tagged With: "Saddam Hussein"

We’ve got just about 155 days left to go in the absolute worst administration in American history. It goes without saying that the principals in the Bush administration are running amok. But then again, they’ve been doing that unhindered for just about eight years. It’s just that they’re doing more of it now, and they’re doing it more brazenly. What the hell. They have nothing to lose. The only losers are the American people.

Aside from the principals in this hideous administration, there are many others who have let this country and its inhabitants down. I say with six months left, it’s time for them to take their lumps. These are in no particular order, except that I’ve saved the best for last. Here goes:

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA; Speaker of the House)
I’m a cynic, but I’m not entirely beyond being idealistic. When the Dems took control in 2006 and Pelosi became the first-ever woman Speaker of the House, the hair on my arms stood up. Why wouldn’t I be excited? I’m a woman and it was a historic moment. That ill-placed euphoria didn’t last very long. Almost from the second she took office she took impeachment off the table. That was enough to slap me back into the real world. If she had done everything else right (she hasn’t), Pelosi’s tenure at this position would still have been a total failure because of her refusal to do her job. Why? Because she took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and to serve the American people. Someone should remind Mrs. Pelosi that it is not her table to undress. She works for us.

She appeared on The View to promote her book Know Your Power: A Message to Our Daughters. I was disgusted that she was even promoting a book with that title. You have to do more than know it when you’re given a position of responsibility. You have to wield it. Then she made the most boneheaded comment I’ve ever heard when she said she’d be glad to impeach President Bush if someone could point out what law he’s broken. How can someone even be Speaker of the House without knowing the Constitution and the rule of law? You only need one impeachable offense. Just one. All she has to do is read Dennis Kucinich’s singular Article of Impeachment. If that doesn’t do it, consider that our president went on national television and admitted to approving torture. That enough? Of course, she could probably find a few more if she read the other thirty-four articles filed.

At the very least, President Bush and his minions have done things that warrant investigation. And that’s what an impeachment is. So, let Bush face the music and beat the rap. Others have done it before him. Some have won and some have lost. Instead we had this sham of a non-impeachment meeting and very few people have fallen for it, judging from the harassment Nancy Pelosi is getting on her book tour. In the alternative media, it’s being called her “Why haven’t you impeached him yet?” tour. In fact, let’s impeach Madam Speaker as well for failure to uphold her oath of office. It is her duty to see that impeachment is advanced. No president is above the law.

Harry Reid (D-NV; Senate Majority Leader)
While his job has been harder than Pelosi’s because of his slim majority, he still suffers from leadership impotence.

Barack Obama (D-IL; 2008 Presidential Candidate)
For the progressives in the Democratic party, his move to the center immediately after sewing up the Democratic nomination is a disappointment. His support of lifting the offshore drilling ban is a disappointment because he knows that isn’t going to have one iota of positive effect on our energy problems. He’s just trolling for votes. For those of us who believe in a strong separation between church and state, his continuing to campaign from the pulpit is a bone of contention.

Congress
We’re talking about a 9% approval rating. Does anything more need to be said? Yes, of course it does. The Republicans have broken the Congressional record for filibusters. In 2007, they exercised the filibuster 128 times. Their 2008 record is pretty abysmal also. Now, when do we start calling this obstructionist? What term would conservatives used in place of obstructionist? I’d like to hear it. When does this kind of self-serving behavior become harmful to the American people? And the Democrats do not get off unscathed. This is the most impotent bunch of lawmakers ever. I don’t know what side of the rainbow Nancy Pelosi is working, but she thinks the Congress has done just fine. There’s a disconnect here because the voters don’t think the Congress has done just fine. That’s usually when people lose their jobs.

John Kerry (D-MA)
Here’s a politician in my own backyard whom I have supported through the years. While I will continue to support him for re-election, he has been a disappointment on at least one front. For a Senator who chose not to run in 2008 so that he could dedicate himself to ending the war in Iraq, he has been conspicuously quiet. We Democrats expected him to come front and center and take a leadership position on this issue. He hasn’t done anything remotely resembling that.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Senator Coburn is special in that he has held up dozens of pieces of bi-partisan-supported legislation, many of which originated with the Republicans and had already passed the House of Representatives. That any one man could have that much power is patently absurd. When Senate leader Harry Reid combined these bills into one omnibus package in an effort to bring them to a vote, the Republicans did what you’d expect – they filibustered their own legislation.

Michael Mukasey
Mukasey has confirmed plans to loosen post-Watergate restrictions on the FBI’s national security and criminal investigations. According to Mukasey, these new rules “expressly authorize the FBI to engage in intelligence collection inside the United States.” He says it’s necessary to improve the FBI’s ability to detect terrorists. From everything I’ve read about the period just before the 9-11 terrorist attacks, there was a huge intelligence gap, but it had nothing to do with lack of information. They had plenty of information, the intelligence agencies and the administration simply didn’t bother to process it. So, tell me again why we should settle for a further erosion of our civil rights?

Once again, President Bush has chosen an Attorney General with no real regard for the law. Even thought the courts have ruled that Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton are not covered by Executive Privilege and must comply with Congress’ requests, Mukasey has chosen to ignore it. He also refuses to act on Karl Rove’s repeated contempt of Congress. This pattern is not new. Attorney General John Mitchell ran the same kind of interference for the Nixon administration. That’s how we ended up with a special prosecutor. It’s time for another.

Karl Rove, Josh Bolton, Harrier Miers
These aren’t patriots or just folks ‘doing their jobs.’ These are Bush-Cheney operatives who have something to hide and are obstructing justice. They are being instructed to break the law by the president of the United States, and the Attorney General of the United States is allowing them to continue to obstruct justice. It’s revolting that it is allowed to continue, and it’s frightening that the American people are so silent on this topic.

John McCain (R-AZ; 2008 Presidential Candidate)
This is the presidential candidate who outwardly shoots down lobbyists and other special interests, yet has a campaign staff full high rolling lobbyists and fund raisers (some of whom worked for the Bushwhacker, a prolific fund raiser during his run for the presidency). This position is strictly for the benefit of the asleep-at-the-switch portion of the American public. Those who are not asleep know better. He has flip-flopped on numerous issues, including Roe v. Wade, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and torture. He frequently doesn’t know what he’s talking about and appears confused, like when he refers to Czechoslovakia (which hasn’t existed since 1993), can’t distinguish between Shia and Sunni, and insists that the so-called ‘troop surge’ brought about the Anbar Awakening. Even though Cindy, his lovely wife, stated that “we won’t go negative,” that’s exactly what McCain’s advertising has done. Why? Because he has brought Karl Rove in to advise his campaign. Can’t you tell? Suddenly the advertising looks all too familiar. If this is the best we can offer our country and McCain is enthroned, we are in real trouble come January 20, 2009, because his policies are barely distinguishable from the failed policies of our current imperial president.

George Bush-Dick Cheney
Some people blame George Bush for the state we’re in while some say Dick Cheney’s running the country. I view them as a two-headed monster; they’ve made this mess as a team. From the 935 lies that led us into Iraq, to the energy deals Cheney made behind closed doors, to the obstruction of the 9-11 investigation, this has been what can only be described as a disgraceful and embarrassing administration. This administration operates in secrecy and has slowly turned itself into a dictatorship. What little transparency there is, is carefully orchestrated by George Bush and Dick Cheney. We only know what they want us to know.

There should be absolutely no doubt that George Bush lied in order to justify our invasion of Iraq. Contrary to accepted opinion, there was no ‘blanket’ authorization for the use of force against Iraq. Authorization stipulated two things: That Iraq possessed WMD and that there was a direct link between Saddam Hussein and the the 9-11 terrorist attacks. We now know beyond any doubt that there were no WMD, no matter how you try to spin it. As for a direct link between Saddam Hussein and the events of 9-11, President Bush himself admitted his lie. In January 2003 in a joint press conference with Tony Blair, he told a London reporter that he could not make the claim that Iraq was involved in 9-11. He reiterated this again in September 2003 on Meet the Press. Here’s what he said when he was asked by Tim Russert about Saddam’s involvement:

“No, we’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September 11th.”

Mistakes? Hardly. Bad intelligence? Only on his part. Lies? No question. Impeachable offense? Absolutely. Someone ring up the Speaker and point this out to her.

While only vetoing 10 bills in his two terms, President Bush has given himself the authority to disobey more than 750 laws by issuing signing statements. You don’t need to issue vetoes (not quiet with negative consequences) when you can quietly declare yourself immune from the laws. You have to ask yourself why we even go through the legislative process. It’s a sham. To Bush supporters who minimize it’s impact and choose to ignore the danger associated with this behavior, I say: This is not okay. This is not a principle our country was built upon. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It may not be a problem if you share Bush’s vision, but I can assure you that his vision is not everyone’s vision. This country belongs to each and every one of us and we pass laws for a good reason. Now, we are not saying that other presidents have not used signing statements. They all have, some more than others. However, not to the degree and in the manner of George Bush. This president has redefined democracy, and it’s a disaster.

The education president barely has command of the English language, and ‘no child left behind’ has turned into ‘every child left behind.’ This miraculous vision has never been fully funded by the federal government, leaving communities struggling to fulfill it’s directives and leaving students up a creek. It is an ill-conceived, horribly planned program not budgeted in real-world terms. Because of this, many states have opted out of the program.

My mother used to say that people will get away with what you let them get away with. She was absolutely right. The same holds true in Washington as it does in everyday life. That George Bush has brazenly broken the law and weakened the Constitution is hardly arguable. That he has committed impeachable offenses is no longer in question. However, he had plenty of enablers on both sides of the aisle and still does, and that is the biggest shame in all of this.

There’s a lot of debate about George Bush’s legacy these days. Remember the spin surrounding the administration’s recently renewed efforts on the Middle East peace process? That was all about trying to bring one positive event to Bush’s legacy. Admittedly he hasn’t spent much time brokering peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, but that’s only because he’s been busy orchestrating war in Afghanistan and Iraq. A president only has so much time in a day. While others ruminate about Bush’s replacement, I’m delving into more concrete things, like the Bush Library at Southern Methodist University. What will go into that library? What will best represent the Bush Legacy? I have some suggestions.

I’d break it down into “rooms,” the first being The 9-11 Room. That was truly a watershed event, an opportunity both for domestic unity after a tainted election and unprecedented international cooperation. Instead President Bush very quickly reduced it to one giant photo op. Remember that photo of Bush at Ground Zero, holding a megaphone in one hand with his other arm around the shoulders of one of New York City’s finest? The firefighter in the photo is just one of the many men and women who spent days and nights breathing in the acrid smoke and sifting thorough the still-smoldering debris. The photo would certainly illustrate the President’s solidarity with these heroes. But there’s another story he wants to avoid. It’s the story of how the government suppressed the danger of breathing the air in New York in the days following the attacks. In 2006, ninety people died of illnesses tied to 9-11 recovery efforts; that’s up from about twenty. It’s a story about forgotten people, once hailed as heroes, suffering with chronic illnesses and slowly dying in obscurity with little support from the government they so willingly believed in and selflessly served.

Next, comes The Protect America Room with a copy of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, signed into law on October 26, 1991. This historic document marks the birth of the all-out attack on our Constitutional rights, giving the government unprecedented powers to search telephone, e-mail, medical and financial records without a court order all in the name of fighting terrorism. Let’s not forget the Protect America Act of 2007, a law that legitimizes Bush’s illegal wiretapping of his own citizens. According to the ACLU’s web site, it allows for the “massive, untargeted collection of international communications without court order or meaningful oversight by either Congress or the courts.” It’s still unclear which version of the act will be included, the one with or without retroactive immunity for the telecom giants that helped Bush before there was actually a law authorizing the wiretapping. While the bill has been passed without telecom immunity, our imperial president has stated that he will veto that version.

The War on Terror Room would come next. President Bush likes to call himself a “war president.” That timeless photo of the now-free Iraqis toppling Saddam’s statue would have to be included. However, the administration should refrain from using actual war photos. It’s never good to show people on either side being blown up by roadside bombs and/or shot. Instead, they can include a film clip time line of the speeches leading up to the Iraq war…the inspirational ones incorporating the 935 lies Bush and the key members of his administration told to justify the war. The Center for Public Integrity has already done all the work at http://www.publicintegrity.org! Bush should avoid any mention of the other war zone, Afghanistan, and the dismal effort made to capture the real architect of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The Domestic Policy Room would have its own Veto Zone. The President can tout his tax cuts for the richest Americans, while the poor and middle class stagger under a sagging economy of his creation. In the Veto Zone, Bush can showcase his tough stand against the “fiscally irresponsible” expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. This law would have provided health care coverage to 3.9 million uninsured children at an additional cost of $34.5 billion dollars over five years (an increase that would be covered by a 61-cent increase in the cigarette tax and other tobacco taxes). In contrast, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the monthly cost of the Iraq war to be as high as $12 billion. The total cost of the Iraq war could run up to $3 trillion. Do the math and determine who is truly fiscally irresponsible.

The misinformed won’t stop there. The Disaster Response Room will feature that powerful 2005 Hurricane Katrina speech where Mr. Bush says “the Gulf Coast must be rebuilt with an eye toward wiping out the persistent poverty and racial injustice plain to all in the suffering of the black and the poor in Hurricane Katrina’s wake.” It’s 2008 and many are still displaced and waiting to go back home. Others have given up entirely on ever returning to their home state. Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation is doing more to build affordable housing in New Orleans than our own government. Instead, abandoned buildings are being purchased for conversion to high priced condos. The same thing is happening in Mississippi, where areas are turning into casino havens for the rich. The Bush administration’s version of the war on poverty is displacing and dispersing the poor throughout the rest of the country to fend for themselves.

Don’t forget The Interrogation Room. Here the torture techniques encouraged by this administration, continually honed at Guantanamo Bay and applied to extreme at Abu Ghraib will be hailed as powerful tools in the war on terror. It smacks of hypocrisy that George Bush once cited Saddam Hussein’s cruelty as a justification for removing him from power. Of course, our president doesn’t see himself in that light. He believes it’s his destiny is to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East, one way or another. He answers to a higher power. The end justifies the means.

Finally, let’s finish the library with The Congressional Mastery Room. The bully president will be shown brazenly breaking many national and international laws and still escaping impeachment, while simultaneously holding a Democratic Congress hostage and preventing any legislation that might actually benefit the American people from becoming law.