Two Questions for You,...
Did George Lie Us Into A War of Aggression
Or IS He Really Stupid?
Nolan K. Anderson
I recently read an article by a well-known writer in which he examined our title question. His article was based on one of Faux Snooze's "news" presenters - John Gibson's opinion on the subject. Being a Faux employee Gibson could hardly be expected to present anything resembling a coherent, objective analysis of any question - let alone one examining George Bush's motives. The gist of Gibson's "news analysis" was that George Bush could not possibly have lied us into war by claiming that Sadaam possessed WMD. Gibson argued that Bush would hardly send 150,000 US troops into Iraq to discover the fact that Sadaam had no WMD's and therefore Bush had been lying. The opposing point of view was that Bush had certainly lied when he claimed as a certainty that Sadaam really did have these weapons when George was really only theoretically quoting the conclusions drawn by his intelligence services.
My opinion is that neither of these points of view represents a clear picture of the fact that George was sure Sadaam possessed no WMD. We were all led to believe that Sadaam even had aerial drones capable of attacking the US with chemical and biological weapons. With this in mind, what kind of military geniuses would have amassed an invasion force on the Kuwaiti border as an open invitation to annihilation if they knew chemical or biological weapons could be used with devastating effect against them? Granted, George didn't direct the operation; however, a Pentagon that would knowingly place its invasion forces in the path of Condi Rice's "mushroom cloud" doesn't offer much of a security blanket to the citizens of this country either. No, I give our military credit for having more sense than committing such a blunder. Other pundits like Pat Buchanan argue that Sadaam wouldn't have dared to unleash biological or nuclear weapons for fear that the US would wipe him out. Well, what does he think "Shock and Awe" did? What does he think we have been trying to do for two years? Does Buchanan think Falluja is a monument to self-restraint?
Do these points alter anything? The answer is, "No". Today almost 60 percent of Americans now believe George has deceived Congress and the American people concerning the reasons for invading Iraq. (Deceiving Congress certainly requires no skill - lobbyists do it every day). George and Cheney will never admit to having deceived America concerning Iraq - short of a short stay as a guest of honor in one of George's "non torturing" extraordinary rendition cells. So, what is the point?
The point of these observations is this: "What can we as a country do, and what can we as individuals do to rectify the sins our elected officials have visited upon Iraq and the world community in our names"? Corruption in government is neither new nor unique to either our times or our country. In fact, the universal spelling of government is: "C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N". It is also a truism that governments can be no better than their people. If this truism insults the sensibilities of Americans, perhaps we can console ourselves by observing that the pressures for integrity in American government are such that "finding good, honest people to serve in the government is extremely difficult". (We can certainly see how true that is by looking at our last six or seven presidents. Each one was worse than his predecessor). So if these conclusions are considered to be in any way true, the only variable that we citizens have available to alter is - ourselves.
Polls show today that 50 percent of Americans favor torturing prisoners. If this figure is by any means correct, how can we expect our government to do anything but continue to condone and advocate torture out of one side of its mouth and deny using torture out of the other side of its mouth? This type of moral selectivity allows a perfectly balanced government response to this and any other question.
Another question to ask of ourselves is, "Who are 'we' Americans? Pundits tell us that George represents a theocracy of the "Religious Right". So which half of "we" Americans are advocating the torture of prisoners - the "Right" half or the "Left" half? My, my, what a question to ask the preacher on Sunday morning. "Pastor, does our church condone and/or advocate torturing prisoners"? What a question to ask in the secular workplace. "Boss, do we accept our government's torturing prisoners - just because we are a defense contractor"?
And, oh yes, which prisoners are we talking about when we either condone or condemn torture? Are we talking about Arab prisoners or just al Qaeda prisoners, or are they one and the same? Are we talking about any prisoners, or are talking about all prisoners? Are we talking about American military personnel in military prisons? The more we refine and define our questions, the easier it becomes to give an answer. How about military prisoners who have requested Conscientious Objector status after having completed a tour in Iraq? Should they be tortured?
I don't know whether our consensus is still 50-50. But, I know that I do not agree with torturing ANY prisoner - especially those in the Kevin Benderman category. Anyone who has completed a tour in Iraq and come back and requested CO status has a right to a fair hearing on the request - not being sentenced on some other charge to serve in a hell-hole military stockade not fit for human habitation.
For those who want to support Kevin Benderman and force the military to use humane treatment of military prisoners, add your voice and your letters to those writing and calling their congressmen about the outrageous living conditions in the military stockade at Ft. Lewis, Washington. After all, the effort required is small enough and really is the very least we Americans can do to redeem ourselves in our own eyes - and maybe even a portion of the world's eyes.
Nolan K. Anderson is a retired engineer and a veteran of Korea
who was once a “conservative” until he found there was nothing left to conserve.
(He may be reached at nkanders@bellsouth.net )
