Patriots?

 

 

   Apart from the right-wing extremists- Republican propaganda

pugilists in the media who have gone on the attack against anyone

who disparages their champion, G. W. Bush, I would ask the rest

 of you Republican ‘patriots’ out there a question. Please tell me:

    Can you see the danger to our country that is rising not from

external terrorists, but from within?

    Case in point: the recent disclosures of Bush Administration

memos allegedly establishing a ‘legal’ basis for the torture that

had been taking place in Iraqi prisons by American guards and

interrogators, “because the President said so”? These memos

claim that just because the President has the constitutional power

 to take military action (but not to authorize ‘war’)

then if the President says that torture is okay during a military

 action so undertaken, then international law and treaties of

which we agreed to honor, and federal laws prohibiting such

torture, are, “inapplicable”.  They actually claim that the

 President has the power to say its okay to torture people.

 Are all you “patriots” okay with THAT?  Before you answer

 lets step back from the political rhetoric and positioning for

 just one second, and think about what true ‘patriotism’ is.

   I hope that even the most hardened right-winger can agree

 that true patriotism is one’s commitment to uphold and defend

 the ideals on which this great country was founded.  If that is

 a true and acceptable statement, then without a doubt,

inarguably, those memos and the resultant illegal acts that

have thusly been committed in the Presidents name (or on his

 alleged authority) are unspeakably horrendous and egregious

 attacks upon those ideals and are an unprecedented level of

 abuse of power and the sacred trust of the American people.

   It is undeniable that when the ‘founding fathers’ approved

and set as the principles of our country the Declaration of

Independence and the Constitution that “of the people, by

the people, and for the people”, and that “the inalienable right

 to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, refers to all

human beings – not just citizens of the United States. 

They set these ideals as the standard by which we are to judge

 ourselves, as the ethical guidelines for our actions, and the

 moral beacon to which we must set our bearings and aspirations,

 despite even their own self-acknowledged problems with

living up to this standard (many were slaveholders, including 

Jefferson and Washington) and the foreseeable difficulties it

would eventually engender (the civil war, women’s rights, civil

 rights, etc.).  They did so, in other words, knowingly.  

   These ideals and the soon to come “Bill of Rights” represent

 the aspirations of humanity and apply to all humanity.  That was

 their intention and must be ours.  Putting aside for the moment

the outrageousness of the memos’ blatant abuse-of-power

strategy, it is undeniably intolerably unethical at the least,

immoral and wrong and never justifiable to torture another 

human being, and now revealed to the light of day these heinous

 acts undertaken in the nameof our President are fully

 treasonable or impeachable.    No President has the power,

 much less the right to go against the measures

so carefully crafted by those founding fathers to protect human

 dignity.  Or freedom for that matter – the indefinitely ‘detained’

 prisoners in Guatanamo Bay are being denied the basic rights

 our constitution and laws were meant to protect.  Does anyone

see the irony of all this?  While claiming to be the

protectors of American values the Bush administration is

 destroying them! 

  Everything this country is supposed to stand for has been

cast to the waysideby the people in this administration and

the President.  These is no possible justification for the war

 in Iraq – we were lied to about ‘weapons of mass destruction’

(there were none of any significance) – deliberately and

intentionally misled to justify an unjust war-  which

should be impeachable.

   

  All of which leads me to ask, are you a true patriot, or

just a republican crony?  Do you not feel the indignation

at the inexcusable cruelty perpetrated in the name of America

 by this President and his cronies?  These are abhorrent criminal

 acts instigated by our leaders.  Are you not outraged by these

 facts?  Do you not see the ‘slippery slope’ that allowing, even

supporting, these criminal leaders’ illegal and immoral actions

 is taking us down?  Not too farfurther down this slope is Nazism.

  A true patriot recognizes this and is willing to fight against it.

 The great former Senator, William Fulbright, warned us back

in 1966 about America’s growing tendency to abuse its power,

 in his book, The Arrogance of Power. 'Fear-Pushing'

(like drug pushing-a mind altering activity) is nothing new to

those seeking to gain and hold power.  Fulbright was a Senator

and wrote his book at a time when America’s own ‘Gestapo’,

The House Committee on Un-American Activities, chaired by

 our own ‘Hess’, Eugene McCarthy, had only recently been shut

 down. He witnessed fear-mongering at its lowest most

despicable form used to galvanize public opinion and political

support among the masses against an ‘enemy’, whether a real,

actual threat to us or not. Then it was ‘Communism’, which in

retrospective would have died out from lack of interest without

our fear and loathing and the billions of dollars and thousands

 of lives lost trying to stop it from ‘spreading’. Now communism

 is passé we have a new ‘enemy’ to conquer....terrorism, and

once again anyone who doesn’t toe the line and “support our

President” and his war is accused of treason by the right-wingers.

 Dissent is again, “Un-American”, as the fear of all bad

boogiemen with towels on their heads is constantly shoved

down our throats.

   Sept. 11^th happened, and people are afraid it could happen

again or worse, but the salacious reactionary fear-mongering

and the “unilateralist” war-mongering of this administration

and this President is wrong, and worse.  9-11 has been used

for political gain at the expense of your freedoms (the

‘Patriot Act’), your children’s future (the additional war-related

deficit spending tacked on to our enormous National Debt),

and your country’s place in the world and history (thanks to

Bush, America is almost universally hated and reviled worldwide).

 Not to mention the innocent dead or maimed we like to call

“collateral damage”. Innocent children are not “collateral” to

 God, and we will be held accountable for these atrocities.

The fact that Islamic Extremists have committed like atrocities

 against us does not make it right. That was Old Testament Law.

 If you haven’t noticed there is a New Testament with a new Law.

 You should read it sometime. It says to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES,

not kill them and take their OIL!

   Michael Moore’s controversial movie, Fahrenheit 911

 ends with Moore quoting/ referring to George Orwell’s

book published in 1948 called, ‘1984’, and well he should.

 Everyone who truly cares about our country should read

it if they haven’t yet. Like most science fiction it was a little

premature. I fear it is actually “coming true” some twenty years

 later than its title.  Terrorist acts are an evil that should be stopped.

 But there is a more insidious evil enemy at our doorstep that

threatens our country far more than terrorists... it is the enemies

 within ourselves, among our own, even our very leaders.

   Are you a true patriot?  Then remember what America is

supposed to be and stand up against the tyranny of the strong

over the weak.  These memos are “the smoking gun” that proves

these criminal actions were perpetrated on the ‘authority’ and at

the behest of President Bush.  It is our patriotic duty to stop him

and remove him from power.

 

 

                                                   8-02-04

  Now, as if it couldn’t get any worse, an article appeared in

yesterday’s local paper documenting another secret  Bush

Administration policy known as “rendition”, in which “suspected”

terrorists are whisked off in “private” planes to countries where

the anti-torture rules are lax. In the case recounted in the article

 a 34 year old naturalized Canadian telecommunications engineer of

Syrian birth was detained at JFK airport and then flown to Syria

where he was tortured and interrogated for two weeks and then

held without trial in a Syrian prison for ten months before being

 freed. Then-CIA Director George Tenet admitted at a hearing

before the Sept.11^th Commission that at least 70 such suspected

terrorists had been subjected to ‘rendition’ during an undisclosed

period before the 9-11 attacks.  No one knows how many have

suffered torture via rendition since 9-11 because most are never

 heard from again.

 This is not the America of the Constitution of the United States.

This is NAZI-AMERICA.  Hiel Bush! Hiel Bush! Hiel Bush!

ANY REAL PATRIOT MUST ABHOR SUCH INFAMY AND

 THOSE WHO PROPAGATE IT. STAND UP FOR FREEDOM

AND END THE TYRANNY OF THESE IMPERIALIST PIGS.

 REVOLUTION NOW!  IMPEACH BUSH!