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Connecting The Dots
By Larry Kelley
"Washington doesn't respect a president for
telling the truth. They think he has to lie because the American people are
too immature for the truth."-Eric Alderman, "When Presidents
Lie."
"The fact is, we are terrified of the truth."-Todd Rundgren,
"Liars."
* * *
The world was stunned by the news. As president, George W. Bush had never
done such a thing. But on March 20 (Palm Sunday) the president actually
interrupted his vacation, flying from his ranch in Crawford, Texas to Washington, D.C. to sign unprecedented legislation designed by Congressional
Republicans for one person, Terri Schiavo.
Never mind that he could have signed the bill at his ranch. This was a
photo-op and he was "defending life," even if it was just one life
and one that had been in a "persistent vegetative state" for 15
years. Bush's Christian conservatives were determined to persuade some court,
any court, to re-connect her feeding tubes.
Some examples of how important the president's vacations are to him:
August 2001. Bush is given a President's Daily Brief titled, Bin Laden
Determined to Strike in US." George goes fishing.
September 11, 2001. Bush is told the US is under attack. After staring into space for 14 minutes,
George returns to reading aloud "My Pet Goat" to a class of 2nd
graders. Does he fly to Washington to take control of the government?
No. He is flown from air base to air base to keep him safe from terrorists.
December 26, 2004. The president is told a massive
Tsunami has caused "unimaginable devastation" all around the Indian Ocean. He continues his vacation in
Crawford and it takes him three days to finally make a public announcement
about the tragedy.
* * *
So what would cause the president to interrupt his precious vacation? One
clue may be the strategy memo distributed to Republican Senators that day
describing the Schiavo matter as a "great political issue," one that
would score big points with Christian fundamentalists and at the same time
embarrass the Democrats, especially Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida who had argued
against the bill and faces re-election next year. An ABC News poll reported
that 63% of America feels that the Republicans acted
for "political purposes." Compassionate Conservatism at its best.
* * *
United Press International recently reported that Saddam Hussein was NOT
found hiding in a hole on Saturday Dec. 13, 2003, as announced by the Bush
Administration, but actually had been firing a gun at his attackers from the
window of "a modest house in a small village" on Friday Dec. 12. It
couldn't be that news of his capture was delayed one day for the Sunday TV talk
shows, could it?
"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of
Saddam" capture in a hole, which was, in fact, a deserted well," UPI
reported. The 67-year-old former friend of Washington was denied legal representation for more than a year after his capture.
* * *
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Christopher Cox, chairman of
the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, recently told a group
of conservatives that "We continue to discover biological and chemical
weapons of mass destruction and the facilities to make them in Iraq." When Bush was "re-elected" last
November, 60% of those who voted for him believed that weapons of mass
destruction had been found in Iraq, that
Saddam was involved in 9-11 and that he was in close league with al Qaeda.
* * *
During the election campaign, John Kerry lambasted Bush for his failure to
capture Osama bin Laden when he was trapped at Tora Bora in Dec. 2001. Bush
and Cheney denied it and Tommy Franks, then commander of US forces in Afghanistan wrote in the New York Times that Osama was "never
within our grasp." Now, the Associated Press has reported that the
terrorist leader indeed was in Tora Bora and escaped when the US sent Afghani soldiers after him instead of going in
themselves.
* * *
The "Coalition of the Willing" is diminishing faster than
corporate taxes. Fourteen countries already have pulled out of Iraq and three others will do so soon, according to AP.
The US has 150,000 troops there, Great Britain, 8,000 and South Korea, 3,600. Of the remaining 19
countries, six have under 100 soldiers, the rest under 1,000.
* * *
According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the war will create
50,000 homeless vets in America. (Perhaps they could take
advantage of Iraq's depressed real estate market.)
Thirty percent of the returning soldiers will require psychiatric services,
according to the Pentagon.
* * *
During the president's European trip a few months ago, a Bush spokesman described
proposed "town hall" meetings with citizens as the
"cornerstone" of his trip to Germany. The meetings were cancelled, however, when the president learned that
the questions from the audience would not be scripted, according to ABC. American
democracy in action.