The Damn Fool Presses On

Who Most Threatens America?

by Ron Fullwood

There have been no major acts of terror outside of Iraq which can be attributed to the 'enemies' that can be identified in Bush's congressional war authorization as the 'perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks'. Just who are we at war with in Bush's rhetorical war on terror? [...]

When Bush decided to invade and occupy Iraq there was no threat from that country to the United States. [...]

Bush in August, 2006:

Q: What did Iraq have to do with that?

Bush: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Q: The attack on the World Trade Center?

Bush: Nothing. . .

Bush's own admission, there were no WMDs in Iraq, and there was no connecting Saddam Hussein to the tragic events of 9-11. If we are to accept his rhetoric about Iraq being the 'center' in his terror 'war', then it would follow that his invasion and occupation has made us less safe and secure. Again, by Bush's own admission, Iraq has gone from no significant threat to the United States to, what he describes as "more dangerous than Afghanistan" sans Taliban. [...]

So, in the next few weeks, Bush is going to be flying around the country on our dime warning Americans that the Iraq that he took over and claims responsibility for is now a "haven for terrorists", and "more dangerous than the Taliban they are still trying to kill and suppress in Afghanistan. [...]

It's almost inconceivable that Bush would choose to dig his heels in and promote and continue his devastating invasion and occupation of Iraq. But, there he is . . . insisting that his failure there is actually resounding success, that some sort of victory is at hand, that his actions are a model for 'spreading democracy.' [...]

All the while, Bush is using the chaos and heart-wrenching mayhem his occupation has created and aggravated to strike another round of fear in the heart of Americans who intend to change the course of our own democracy in the November midterm congressional elections. It's Bush we should fear, not the 'terrorists' our soldiers are 'fighting over there' in Iraq and in Afghanistan. [...]

So, who is our nation's enemy? Who most threatens America? How does Bush intend to complete the job he was originally tasked to do in the Authorization for use of Military Force resolution he claims gives him the power to disregard laws and wield power supreme? [...]

"Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage," Lincoln warned, "and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you."

This government and this administration have become accustomed to trampling, and bondage. And we have allowed them to skirt accountability for their sly justifications for their attacks on our civil liberties; demagogic appeals to patriotism and to our nationalism; the deliberate inflaming, and careful stoking of the sparks of fear that flashed from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center; and the mortgaging of ours and our children's future toil and tribute to the subsidizing of both of the Bush president's bloody and costly wars of opportunity.

We are not any safer for our invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. We are, in fact, less safe as a result of Bush's blundering mimic of military commander. In his occupation, he contradicts the most basic of our nation's values of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

With his theft of the industry and resources of Iraq, our country has joined the long line of oppressors and brutal opportunists who have sought to dominate that region for greed and power. History will wonder at our nation's arrogance, and at our citizen's inability to restrain our military and its agents from pursuing ambitions far outside of the mandate of our constitution or conscience.

And yet, the damn fool presses on unabated, unrestrained by those we elected to hold him accountable.

Come November . . .