PROOF THE BUSHES DEVISED 911 THEN USED IT TO MAKE WAR ON IRAQ. TWENTY Things We've Learned in the years since 9/11 A re-write of info collected By Bernard WeinerDave Letterman and his LIST OF TEN would be in awe. The list of ten yields to the list of TWENTY. CURIOUS GEORGE W BUSH has been BUSY! As we hit the September 1 yr. anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it might be useful to see how far an ordinary citizen's knowledge has progressed. So here, in the way of a summing-up, based on journalistic documentation, is a list of things we Americans have learned -- some of which might prove useful in the November elections.
1. We've learned that Bush&Co.'s "war on terrorism" morphed from finding and destroying those responsible for the 9/11 mass-murders (15 SAUDIS with ties to Saudi Arabia and Germany both allies...) to a worldwide campaign to install a Pax Americana, by force if necessary. In other words, neo-imperialism, reminiscent in many ways of the old Roman Empire or, closer to our own time, the British Empire. In other worse, turning 911 into a False Flag gambit.
2. We've learned that Bush&Co. had no desire to rethink any of its policies abroad, the same policies that isolate it and that generate hatred, suspicion and terrorism in so many regions of the globe. Rather than reconsider its policies, or try to accomplish its ends through diplomacy and alliances and cultural/economic initiatives, in its arrogance it continues to bully and threaten others, insult its European and other allies, disregard international treaties and courts, engage in unilateral actions without regard to the national interests of others, and, in general, simply throw its massive weight around. The prevailing attitude seems to be: We are the one Superpower, get used to bending to our will.3. We've learned that Bush's national-security leadership was alerted
months ahead of 9/11 (and, it has admitted, no later than August 6) that
a major air attack from al-Qaida was in the works, along with the likely
targets, but did nothing to try to prevent those attacks or warn anyone
about them. Caught in their own lies, they blame "the system,"
especially elements in the FBI, for "not connecting the dots." More
than 3000 Americans died as a result of this malfeasance.4. We've learned that plans already were in the works prior to 9/11 for
the evisceration of Constitutional guarantees of due process of law. The
White House hustled the so-called USA PATRIOT Act through a frightened
Congress in a patriotic blur, just a few days after the attacks, with
few, if any, of the legislators having had time to read the final version. That
patriot act was written much earlier.
5. We've learned that prior to September 11, the Bush Administration was
negotiating with the Taliban about a pipeline desired by a U.S.-led
energy consortium that would cross through Afghanistan. When the Taliban
balked, the U.S. negotiators told them they either could accept a
"carpet of gold" or face a "carpet of bombs." The Taliban backed away
from the deal and refused to hand over Osama bin Laden; shortly after
the terror attacks of 9/11, the U.S. began bombing in Afghanistan. The
devotion of BUSH to OIL/GAS/ENERGY/ENRON type agendas are not laudible.
Note: Aug 1st, 2002 in London, U.S. Oil Tycoons, Bechtel, Turkey and
Greece and British Oil tycoons signed a deal creating a corporation to
build the pipeline thru Afghanistan and suck the Oil out of Russia.6. We've learned that now with the Taliban having been overthrown, and a
U.S.-friendly regime installed in Kabul, the pipeline project is back on
track, designed to carry energy supplies across Afghanistan from the
Caspian Sea area to near India. Hamid Karzai, the new leader of
Afghanistan, formerly was a consultant on the payroll of the pipeline
folks; likewise, the new U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan.7. We've learned that Bush&Co.'s Homeland Security Act includes programs
that bear an amazing resemblance to totalitarian programs from the
fascist/communist end of the spectrum: getting the military (restricted
heretofore to activity outside the U.S.) involved in domestic policing,
signing up neighborhood and block snoops to work for the central
government, investigating what books citizens are checking out
and buying, denouncing those deemed insufficiently patriotic or
suspicious because of their views, etc. Remind you of Stalin's Russia,
Castro's Cuba, Hitler's Third Reich, the Stasi of East Germany? (There
also are prototypes of patriotic youth leagues being tried out in
cities, which could become a national program.) A kind of martial-law
coming to a neighborhood near you. (Not odd as The Gehlen Org spawned
Bush way back when, in his early OSS days, that is NAZI spies brought
here to work in CIA) Once a Nazi always a Nazi, I guess.8. We've learned that Ashcroft/Bush are shredding Constitutional
due-process guarantees in their move toward total control: already they
have compromised attorney-client privilege, removed habeus corpus
protections, locked up folks with no charges, secreted citizens at
military installations which puts them out of reach of the judicial
system, violated privacy in rifling through personal telephone and email
communications, etc. etc. When the ambiguously-worded PATRIOT Act was
first brought up, Ashcroft and Bush told us not to worry, promising that
these rules would affect only non-citizens. Since that time, American
citizens have been handled in similar fashion. Coming to a neighborhood
near you.9. We've learned much about the dangers of religious fundamentalism in
Islam, but we've also learned about dangers posed by our own religious
fundamentalists -- eager for a Christian theocratic society, symbolized
most recently by a Secret Service agent scrawling on a Muslim suspect's
refrigerator "Islam Is Evil, Christ Is King" -- and the extraordinary
power they wield within the Bush Administration, represented most openly
by John Ashcroft, who in frame-of-mind resembles a Taliban mullah.10. We've learned that the FBI, focusing now on foreign terrorists,
doesn't seem energized with the same zeal to catch domestic terrorists,
such as abortion-clinic arsonists -- and especially the
anthrax-dispenser. Though the FBI seems to know that the anthrax villain
probably worked at a government bio-lab, nobody has been arrested, or
even targeted as a prime suspect. (THEY TELL US that after going thru
his trash bin, no powder was found, So all bets AND THE GUY...are off
the hook,) It may not be likely, but the unsaid is finally being asked:
Could this dangerous terrorist actually be working for the government?
HUH? OUR GOV kill a Nat'l Enquirer reporter who'd written up the BUSH
gals as doped up, tarty trailer trash? NAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The White house
Used as a personal vendetta? C'mon!11. We've learned that the HardRight of the Republican Party has taken
control -- of the House leadership, of the Supreme Court, of the White
House, of much of the conglomerate-owned media -- and has demonstrated
its willingness to do nearly anything to maintain that power. (Only the
courageous defection of Sen. Jim Jeffords from GOP ranks is standing in
the way of HardRight total control of all three branches of government.)
More and more truly objectionable HardRight judges are being nominated
by Bush in an e ffort to stack the judiciary for decades to come. This
by a man who lost the election by more than half-a-million votes, coming
into his White House residency, with no popular mandate, only because
his supporters on the Supreme Court installed him there.12. We've learned that to break the momentum of the HardRight, all
energy for the upcoming November elections (less than 90 days away, let
us not forget) must be expended in electing Democrat candidates and
defeating Republican ones. The objective conditions are just not ripe
yet for anything more than trying to move the country back toward the
middle of the political spectrum. We progressives more in tune with the
Greens (Green candidates are being supported secretly in many states by
the Republicans, to try to defeat Democrats) will have to wait. The
difference between Democrats and Republicans may seem small to Greens
and others, but, as we've learned in a painful way under Bush&Co., that
difference is immense when it comes to foreign and domestic policy and
its actual effects on real people, here and abroad.13. We've learned that Cheney is up to his ears in Halliburton
irregularities, and may well be liable for indictment for participating
in financial fraud. In addition, we've learned that Cheney, who was the
head of the task force that came up with a corporate-friendly rather
than a consumer-friendly energy policy, has refused to turn over to
Congress the requested documents that will reveal how that policy was
arrived at and which industry leaders (other than Enron's Kenny Boy)
helped shape it.14. We've learned that Bush knew in advance, as a member of the Harken
Audit Committee, that Harken Oil was going to release negative financial
news, and he was a true insider, who knew that his Poppa's war on IRAQ
(like the next week), would cancel the Harken Drilling contracts.
Curious George and sold his shares before that, reaping a fortune. He
may be liable for indictment for insider-trading and other Harken
irregularities. (Even if Bush and Cheney are not indicted, they are the
last people on earth who should be speaking about corruption in the
corporate financial world, as these hypocrites benefitted from that very
corrupt system. As did most of Bush's corporate-derived cabinet.)15. We've learned that Bush&Co. were mightily opposed to any reform of
corporate financial reporting, but when more and more companies were
caught in such corrupt practices and the mood of the country shifted --
mainly because so many folks, especially seniors, lost huge chunks of
their pensions and portfolio holdings when the Stock Market tanked as a
result of investors' losing confidence in the numbers provided by
corporations -- they jumped on the bandwagon and pretended they were
reformers all along. In the background, they are trying to help their
corporate supporters water down, and otherwise get around, the new
rules. To that end, Bush&Co. have appointed Harvey Pitt and Larry
Thompson, two tainted corporate types, to head up the "investigations"
of corporate wrongdoing. Break out the whitewash and let the FOXES paint
the bloody HENHOUSE!16. We've learned that Bush&Co., having placed its chips on Ariel
Sharon, continues to have no real desire for a just peace in the Middle
East. All it wants is for the area to be quiet and controlled (thus
giving carte blanche to the Israeli Army's police-state occupation and
oppression), so that it can continue its plans for overthrowing Saddam
Hussein in Iraq. And, of course, there has been no declaration of a
State of War by the Congress, neither against Afghanistan nor against
Iraq, and no real debate about the wisdom of a war against Saddam --
even when the top brass at the Pentagon and in Great Britain have
expressed their opposition to such military adventurism.17. We've learned that there will be no peace now in the Middle East
because the U.S. is not fully engaged in the peace process, also because
neither extreme in the area wants peace: Sharon thrives on war and
brutality, Hamas needs Sharon's bloody policies to justify its campaign
of terror. There are signs that moderate Palestinians finally are
starting to speak out in favor of a peaceful solution, and there are
plenty of land-for-peace Israelis (supported by many liberal Jews in the
U.S.), so the outlines of a peace are out there. But until the U.S. and
U.N. make the commitment to separate the warring extremists and arrange
an equitable treaty both Israel and the Palestinians can live with --
secure borders for Israel (and an end to suicide bombing), a viable
state for the Palestinians, abandoning of the settlements by Israel,
reparations for Palestinians who lost their homes and property -- there
will be only more bloodshed. And more fertile ground for new generations
of terrorists, in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Islamic world.18. We've learned that Bush&Co. has been a total disaster for the
environment, in every way: from reneging on its campaign promise to cut
carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse emissions, to backing away from
higher fuel-efficiency in cars (we could cut our dependence on foreign
oil 20% just by increasing fuel efficiency by 5%), to giving breaks to
corporate polluters all across the country, to permitting increased
arsenic levels in the water, thumbing nose at Kyoto conference, etc.
etc.19. We've learned that Secretary of State Colin Powell -- who sees the
world in something other than simplistic black-and-white, us-versus-them
dichotomies -- is a man imprisoned in the Bush Cabinet, forced to alter
his principled opinions in the service of Bush&Co.'s stupidly aggressive
and ultimately self-defeating foreign policies. Powell, a moderate
conservative, looks like a raving progressive when
measured against his masters. He should resign but probably won't. That
would take NIXONIAN shame which he has none of, having an IQ of 8020. We've learned that the tax-cuts provided to the most wealthy are not
only payoffs to the corporate sector that provides support for Bush&Co.
By locking in those tax cuts for ten years (and with humongous chunks of
the budget spent on the "war on terrorism"), Bush&Co. have ensured that
innumerable social programs that aid the less well-off will be cut or
eliminated. In short, a rollback of New Deal/Great Society programs, so
hated by the HardRight. (The HardRight movement to detach prescription
drugs for seniors fr om the Medicare program, and, especially, to
privatize Social Security -- even in the face of recent stock-market
disasters -- is part of this same desire.)Even after all the above shorthand summaries, no doubt I'm leaving out
lots of Bush&Co. dirt, but this list can provide a starting point, and a
handy compilation of enough low and high crimes and misdemeanors to
warrant their removal from power, either through the ballot box or by
resignation or impeachment.Finally, as we enter August, we know that one of two things will happen
in the summer-doldrums, with the Congress on vacation: Either Bush&Co.
will start its Iraq war and carry out more under-the-radar attacks on
important American social programs, or the media, bereft of their usual
Beltway stories, will use the down time to engage in hard-hitting
investigative reporting that will reveal in even more stark relief the
machinations of Bush&Co. illegalities and other scandalous behavior.
But, given the corporate nature of our corporate-owned media, don't
count on it. Instead, we'll probably be flooded with this summer's Spitzer or
Condit-like sex scandal.-------
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D., has taught American politics and international
relations at Western Washington University and San Diego State
University; he was with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly 20
years.<----- BACK TO THE CONVERSATION INDEX
<------BACK TO THE REAL SKIVVY ON THE GOV
<=== BACK TO EASY BREEZY ACTIVISM FOR THE FAMILY
<=== BACK TO TRUTH ABOUT THE BUSH FAMILY