|
Bush Regime Preaches Democracy, Proposes Tyranny
By Paul Craig Roberts
10/24/07 "ICH"
-- -- US citizens
had best rethink the "war on terror" while they still have the
liberty to do so. For all of President Bush’s blah-blah talk
about bringing democracy to the world, the Bush administration
has proved that it is no friend of liberty at home.
The Bush
administration has violated constitutional principles, US law,
and the Geneva Conventions as no previous administration has
done. Here is a short list of the Bush administration’s crimes:
-
Spying without court warrants on Americans in violation of
both the US Constitution and the FISA statute.
- The
denial of habeas corpus, attorney-client privilege, due
process, and Geneva Conventions protections to those,
American or foreign, designated without evidence as
terrorists or enemy combatants.
- The
justification and use of torture to coerce confessions and
the kidnapping of foreign nationals who are sent to be
tortured in foreign prisons.
- The
initiation of military aggression against states based on
intentional deception by the Bush administration of the US
public and the United Nations, and the intentional
fabrication of "evidence" to justify unprovoked aggression
against sovereign states, which is a war crime under the
Nuremberg standard established by the US.
-
Violation of the oath of office to defend the US
Constitution by practically every member of the Bush
administration and Congress.
- Bush
has assaulted the separation of powers and the rule of law
with "signing statements" and "executive orders" that
President Nixon’s White House Counsel John Dean says are
commands that treat the co-equal branches of government and
the electorate as subservient to executive authority. In
April 2006, Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage listed 750
laws "challenged" by the Bush administration. Not even the
demonized president of Iran claims to be above the law.
-
Genocide against the people of Iraq where one million Iraqis
have died as a result of Bush’s invasion and several million
Iraqis are displaced persons.
-
Massive civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which is a form
of genocide in which military force is routinely applied to
unarmed noncombatants.
-
Massive corruption in which no-bid contracts are issued to
Republican corporations in exchange for kickbacks to
political campaigns.
- The
theft of two national elections as documented in books by
Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast.
The Bush
administration has even conducted Stalinist show trials against
innocent Muslim charities as part of its propaganda to make the
American people fearful that they are surrounded by hostile
terrorists. In December 2001 President Bush declared the Holy
Land Foundation for Relief and Development to be a "terrorist
organization" and seized the charity’s assets. Bush put the
charities’ officials on trial as terrorists. Six years later on
October 22, 2007, after years of investigations and two months
of testimony by who but "Israeli intelligence agents" (according
to the New York Times), the US government’s case fell
apart in the courtroom.
One of
the jurors said that the case " was strung together with
macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence."
Georgetown University professor of constitutional law David D.
Cole said the case "suggests the government is really pushing
beyond where the law justifies them going."
While
committing these unprecedented crimes, President Bush has
claimed the moral high ground despite having lied to the
American people and despite devastating two countries in the
name of "making the world safe from terrorists." When people in
Iraq and Afghanistan are asked who are the terrorists, they
answer that it is the Americans.
The Bush
administration has not been held accountable for any of its
crimes. By failing to hold government accountable to law, the
Constitution, and the American people, the opposition party and
the corporate media have abandoned their responsibility to
protect freedom and democracy in the United States.
There can
be no democracy where there is no government accountability, and
there is no government accountability in the United States –
except, of course, to the Israel Lobby.
Now the
Bush administration wants to take away the American people’s
freedom to travel within their own country by airplane. Not
content with an 80,000 "no fly" list, a subset of a
500,000–750,000 "watch list," the Bush administration’s
Transport Security Administration has proposed new rules that
will require Americans to get government permission 72 hours in
advance prior to being allowed to board a domestic flight.
The TSA
justifies this extraordinary violation of our constitutional
rights on the grounds that 90 to 93 percent of all travel
reservations are final by then.
So what?!
And what
of the 7 to 10 percent of flights that the TSA estimates are not
on the books 72 hours in advance? These are family emergencies
and critical business deals. What does the TSA care if a member
of your family dies while you await the government’s permission
to fly?
Any
agency of the government that can propose such a tyrannical
regulation should be abolished. The TSA’s mentality shows it to
be a far greater threat to Americans than are terrorists.
Even
without the "permission to fly" rule, the TSA’s practices are
ridiculous and unjustified. The confiscation of tooth paste and
unopened bottles of perfume, the harassment of US military
officers in uniform, the harassment of old people struggling
with their walkers, of mothers struggling with small children –
none of this makes any sense except in terms of getting
Americans accustomed to harassment as a citizen’s duty to
government and to train a cadre to conduct warrantless searches
of fellow citizens.
The
no-fly list itself is absurd. If a known terrorist were to show
up at an airport, he would be arrested, not refused permission
to fly. Anyone else who can clear security like other passengers
has every right to fly.
Set aside
the violation of the Constitution and the Soviet-style tyranny
of the loss of the freedom to travel and consider merely the
practical aspect of the proposal. What American wants his travel
plans dependent on a government bureaucracy capable of putting
US Senator Ted Kennedy on the "no fly" list and capable of
issuing US visas to two of the alleged 9/11 hijackers six
months after they allegedly died in the 9/11 events
If we
believe the official story, 9/11 itself reveals a government
totally devoid of any competence whatsoever.
The "war
on terror" is fraudulent. The cruel war and the deceptive
vocabulary that protects it are a cover for expanding US and
Israeli hegemony in the Middle East and for constructing a
functioning police state at home. A country in which people
cannot make airline reservations without the government’s
permission is not a free country.
Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was
Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and
Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor
of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard
University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments,
including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy,
Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown
University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution,
Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly
journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has
been awarded the U.S. Treasury's Meritorious Service Award and
the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of
Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell. He is the
co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He is also coauthor
with Karen Araujo of Chile: Dos Visiones – La Era Allende-Pinochet
(Santiago: Universidad Andres Bello, 2000).
Click on "comments" below to read or post comments
Comment Guidelines
Be succinct, constructive and
relevant to the story.
We encourage engaging, diverse
and meaningful commentary. Do not include
personal information such as names, addresses,
phone numbers and emails. Comments falling
outside our guidelines – those including
personal attacks and profanity – are not
permitted.
See our complete
Comment Policy
and
use this link to notify us if you have concerns
about a comment.
We’ll promptly review and remove any
inappropriate postings.
Send Page To a Friend
In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
