Just recently I despaired that Bush would get away with murder, literally. There seemed little hope of impeaching him despite his crimes, despite the growing dissatisfaction with his missrule. There was a palpable sense of imprisonment in one's own homeland, a sense of enslavement throughout the "land of the free". That Bush lived in the White House mocked the very idea of responsible and democratic government.What a difference a few weeks have made. Topping the news was Bush's veto of the military appropriation's bill. Everyone expected it. Not expected was the effect it's had. Bush, who takes false pride in being "resolute" may have thought his veto would put the Democratic majority in Congress on the defensive and shift the agenda back to the White House.
It didn't work out that way. The real effect is two fold: The White House must now play ball with Congress (the Democrats) if it hopes to get a bill at all. Secondly, Bush is seen to have played politics with the lives of American troops. Never had this point been spelled out more forcefully and more dramatically than in the following letter from one of the "commanders" that Bush likes to say he listens to but, in fact, doesn't give a damn.
May 1, 2007There is also the statement by Maj. Gen. John Batiste.
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.
Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear -- most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops' peril.
The legislation you vetoed today represented a course of action that is long overdue. This war can no longer be won by the military alone. We must bring to bear the entire array of national power - military, diplomatic and economic. The situation demands a surge in diplomacy, and pressure on the Iraqi government to fix its internal affairs. Further, the Army and Marine Corps are on the verge of breaking - or have been broken already - by the length and intensity of this war. This tempo is not sustainable - and you have failed to grow the ground forces to meet national security needs. We must begin the process of bringing troops home, and repairing and growing our military, if we are ever to have a combat-ready force for the long war on terror ahead of us.
The bill you rejected today sets benchmarks for success that the Iraqis would have to meet, and puts us on a course to redeploy our troops. It stresses the need for sending troops into battle only when they are rested, trained and equipped. In my view, and in the view of many others in the military that I know, that is the best course of action for our security.
As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military's finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.
I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.
Respectfully,
Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired
The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat world wide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration.
--Maj. Gen. John Batiste, USA, Ret.
Why will we, the people, impeach George W. Bush? First, we are sovereign, not Bush, a fact Bush never mastered. Bush works for us, not the other way 'round.
Secondly, Bush violated a trust that is as sacred as possible in a secular society. That is the trust given him by a free electorate. That Bush does not care about those values is the most compelling reason he must go. By refusing to investigate the events of 911, Bush broke with precedent established with Pearl Harbor:
Bush will be impeached because he made of us a fascist nation. He is, at his hollow core, an anti-American "President" who despises Democracy and prefers a dictatorship. Real Americans find this notion repugant, hateful and despicable. Clearly, Bush did not come to power because he understood the people. Rather, he was appointed by an elite cabal with intricate connections to the Military/Industrial complex warned of by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Following are some of the characterisitics of a fascist state:
- The truth is revealed once and only once.
Bush would have us believe that he was appointed by God. It doesn't matter whether Bush sincerely believed himself on a divine mission. I could not worship any "God" who would appoint Bush his messenger.
- Parliamentary democracy is by definition rotten because it doesn't represent the voice of the people, which is that of the sublime leader.
This is related to the above characteristic of fascism. A fascist leader, a "Fuhrer", does not merely enforce the laws, der Fuhrer is the source of law. This is repugnant to American values which derive from a sovereign named in the Constitution itself. The people.
- Doctrine outpoints reason, and science is always suspect.
The Bush regime is notoriously anti-science with regard to climate change, stem cell research, ecology, and education.
- Critical thought is the province of degenerate intellectuals, who betray the culture and subvert traditional values.
The Third Reich defined itself with its crackdown on intellectuals and not only becuase many of them were Jews. Historian Richard Hofstadter identified in America a virulent resentment of intellectuals and traced its origin to the early, colonial churches. More recently, the troglodytes found in Bush, a fuhrer.
- The national identity is provided by the nation's enemies.
This is the role played by the war on terrorism, a page out of Hermann Goring's playbook. Every tyrant has sought to rally his subjects by exploiting fear, hate, and prejudice.
- Argument is tantamount to treason.
Silencing dissent makes Der Fuhrer all-powerful but only initially. In the end, it deprives the tyrant of crucial information. The fascist state oftens falls by virtue of its own ignorance. Bush, for example, has ignored his commanders. Reality will overtake delusion. His would-be dictatorship will fall.
- Perpetually at war, the state must govern with the instruments of fear. Citizens do not act; they play the supporting role of "the people" in the grand opera that is the state.
The Existentialist Cowboy
Terrorism
Al Qaeda
Bush
War Crimes
Iraq
Treason
4 comments:
I hope you're right about Congress winning the Veto Game. I felt like they were kind of floundering, but that may have been from general disgust at the whole situation.
Have you read any of Bob Altemeyer's research on Authoritarianism? It's pretty fascinating stuff and describes perfectly both the Bush Cabal and the delusional quarter of the country that believes everything he says. You can read his own words here, or get a more compact assessment in John Dean's book, "Conservatives Without Conscience"
I was likewise disgusted. The problem I have with Congress has been their apparent fear of of hangin' tough.
So what if Bush vetoes the bill? The idea is to get the troops home. Passing Bush's bills will clearly NOT do that.
Bush played a cynical game and, already it has back fired on him. Let Bush bear the brunt. Put Bush on the defensive. If he were sincere about merely keeping the troops supplied, he would have signed while supporting efforts to begin a phased withdrawal. I would bet money that bush's approval rating has gone down a couple of points this week.
Congress had nothing to lose but much to gain by merely challenging a wounded President. A vetoed bill is a dead bill and does not fund his stupid war.
The entire paradigm has changed. If the Congress holds firm, it will be Bush who MUST be flexible.
"There was a palpable sense of imprisonment in one's own homeland, a sense of enslavement throughout the "land of the free". That Bush lived in the White House mocked the very idea of responsible and democratic government."
Len, despite the shadow of the Long Darkness that chills your heartland home, the melancholy of exile seems to have given fresh focus to your sense of outrage and produced some superb compositions. Keep on brandishing your quill with purpose and precision. Great gravitas in content; always pretty to watch.
"What a difference a few weeks have made."
Yes, they sure have. The ignominy,apparant to all except a functioning narcissist/psychopath, of The Veto.
And General Batiste's soldierly slapdown of the Imbecile-In-Chief:
" We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration."
Ouch!
Hope you're right about an impending impeachment. The reality is, at the end of the day ,in the fullness of time, politics is about numbers and right now the impeachors don't have 'em. But as Uncle Duke once wrote;
"We live in perilous times and the fast lane is littered with some very expensive wrecks."
Regime Crash may not be such a forelorn hope afterall, since your common, or garden variety Imbecile, is wont to say things like:
"Let's see what this baby can do !"
FuzzFlash
Politicians make no difference.
I think you are correct. It's the monster that ate the country.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC).
It's nothing new. The British Empire and, before that, the Roman Empire were, in fact, commercial enterprises. 03
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control.Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.
It already has. Ike warned us. But, I am afraid that by that time, it was already too late. The US emerged from WWII a monster.
There is no conspiracy.
That's where I part company with you. The NEOCONS are most certainly a conspiracy, a criminal conspiracy. The GOP, itself, has crossed the line, most certainly conspiring at high levels with monied contributors and lobbyists to hijack the apparatus of government.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently
It won't be pretty. Now that most of the US ecnomy, save death and destruction, has been "exported", a collapse of the Military/Industrial complex will create a giant "sucking sound". That would be the US economy being sucked into the black hole.
I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
I hope you have cash.
Thanks for the link and the post.
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