The Existentialist Cowboy: John Bolton

Showing posts with label John Bolton. Show all posts

Sunday, March 25, 2007

BBC Debates: John Bolton, "Who do you think you're fooling?"

An Iraqi citizen and Tony Benn combine to speak truth to power -power in the person of US UN Ambassador, John Bolton. The first blow to US spin came from an Iraqi citizen who challenged Bolton: "You lost Saddam back in 1992; he became a pariah, and thats when you decided to go to war". Later, Tony Benn, in his statement directly to Bolton, accused the United States and George W. Bush of committing war crimes in Iraq, crimes no different from those enumerated in the Nuremberg Principles. It was a one, two punch, a must see:

A note on Bolton's reply to Tony Benn. Bolton said that it was too bad that Benn did not understand the American Constitution. I must add: Benn had said absolutely NOTHING that would have indicated that he had misunderstood the US Constitution in any way on any part. Throughout the "debate" a recurring theme --the US invasion of Iraq IS a war crime.

Bolton's excuse these days boils down to I was just following orders. Pressed by his interviewer, Bolton accused him of preferring to live under a dictatorship. In fact, this is a cheap trick taught by GOP media "consultants". In fact, NOTHING said by the interviewer could be so interpreted to mean that he preferred living under a dictator. It is significant, however, that it is John Bolton these days who characterizes the never-ending war in Iraq as a "civil war".

Typically, Bolton tries to blames his victim, the Iraqi people for whom the US attack and invasion of Iraq was and remains a US crime followed by an incompetent and illegal occupation.

It was not Iraqis who sought out a US invasion that would murder some 40,000 innocent Iraqi civilians in operation "Shock and Awe" alone. Since that time, an untold number have been killed, murdered, tortured. It is convenient for the Bush regime that the US did not keep track of Iraqi casualties. No one has bothered to count the hundreds, perhaps thousands, brutally tortured in secret. But this, we are expected to believe, is the fault of the Iraqi people!

Even Democrats, lately, have taken up the absurd position that the on-going chaos in Iraq is the fault of the Iraqi people whom "we" now expect to "step up to the plate" though we have killed thousands and forced millions to flee. We are told that the Iraqi people -faced with the destruction of infrastructure, the apparatus of civil government, and the vicissitudes of an ongoing civil war, insurgency, and ongoing US war crimes -who must make the Middle East safe for Bush's inevitable and cowardly withdrawal.Tragically, there is no easy escape from George Bush's crime scene. There is no absolution. George W. Bush is personally and legally responsible.

At this late date, there is only one conclusion left to be drawn: the United States is morally bankrupt. The GOP is complicit in capital crimes and defends them without conscience or empathy. The Democrats lack the backbone and the moral clarity to force the issue. The American people, meanwhile, wander aimlessly through the wilderness hoping things will get better, wondering why when they never do.

But even Wikipedia, whom I rarely trust completely, has gotten it right when it comes to John Bolton. Wiki calls Bolton a fascist.

John Robert Bolton (born November 20 , 1948), a fascist masquerading as an attorney and an American diplomat in several Republican administrations, served as the interim^[1] U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations with the title of ambassador, from August 2005 until December 2006, on a recess appointment. His letter of resignation from the Bush Administration was accepted on December 4 , 2006, effective when his recess appointment ended December 9 at the formal adjournment of the 109th Congress . Bolton is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Labor Party MP, Tony Benn, meanwhile, is absolutely correct when he says that the US invasion, ordered by George. W. Bush, was and continues to be a war crime. Even US CODES: Title 18,2441, makes it a US crime to commit war crimes abroad. Those war crimes which result in death to the victim are capital crimes. Bush is in a lot of trouble when distinguished world leaders join a rising chorus of outraged citizens across the globe. They can now now make the open and shut case that George W. Bush is an international war criminal. Organize now to bring this outlaw to justice.

A interesting theory is making the rounds. And, at a time when it would appear that sectarian violence in Iraq will, in fact, spread and endanger the entire Middle East, it is hard not to conclude that the Bush gang is deliberately "fomenting" chaos and plans to benefit from it. It is a fact, after all, that when Bush ordered the attack and invasion of Iraq, Iraq was destabilized. Every facet of the war since then has been a mistake if not a debacle. Morons could have done better.

It may be prudent, therefore, to ask the tough question: is team Bush deliberately spreading chaos in Iraq? Has team Bush intentionally mucked it all up? Is it all just a part of a wider, nefarious plan? We have always suspected that oil was behind Bush's imperial ambitions. Will chaos in Iraq help Bush deliver to the oil barons an inflamed Middle East? Or has Bush gone too far? Has the ticking time bomb already blown up in his stupid face?

I am impatient with speculation at this point. I no longer give a damn why the resident criminal does what he does. The public record is clear enough; there is enough evidence now to try and convict him of war crimes. This gang of criminals seized the White House with a stolen election. Since then, it has committed treason in order to shut up its critics, most, prominently Ambassador Joe Wilson. This administration has sought to ramrod through Congress tax cuts that rob the poor and benefit the rich and corporate. Fortunately, the GOP effort to embezzle the Social Security trust fund failed. Still, it is difficult to understand how George W. Bush will pay for the murders that he has committed in Iraq without financing that ongoing war crime upon the backs of America's retiring seniors and mortgaging the future of America's youth.

There is a special place in hell...