American Fascism

It has come to light recently that the reason for attacking Iraq put
forth by the United States government that Iraq attempted to buy
nuclear material from Africa was at best, based on forged documents
that the administration missed or at worst, was a blatant
fabrication.
Fabrication is not that hard of an idea to swallow considering Colin
Powell's use of 'diagrams' of possible trucks and weapon machines in
his briefing to the Security Council of the United Nations, rather than
using reconnaissance photos, that should have been easy to obtain
considering the continued fly-over and bombings of the past 12 years in
Iraq.
President Bush rose to the occasion on 9/11 and after. Three days
after 9/11 with his arms around a firefighter, he responded to someone
in the crowd and said, "I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you
and the people who knocked these buildings down will here all of us
soon."
President Bush's poll numbers went sky high. From 55 percent prior to
9/11 to almost 90 percent right after and his approval rating for the
war remained high, until now. Those numbers are starting to reverse for
the first time since 9/11.
Within a month, American forces were dispatched to fight, and continue
to fight in Afghanistan because of the belief that Al-Qaida operatives,
including Osama bin Laden were still in that country. We had the
Taliban on the run. We don't know whether bin Laden is alive or dead
and American soldiers are still being shot at, but the puppet regime is
in tact.
Two months after 9/11 when President Bush delivered his State of the
Union Address January 29 2002 with Shannon Spann, wife of a slain CIA
operative and Marine who died at Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan in
attendance.
"Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support
terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas
and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has
already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens,
leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is
a regime that agreed to international inspections then kicked out the
inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the
civilized world," he said.
As a matter of fact, Iraq did not 'kick' out the inspectors in 1998.
Chief Weapons Inspector Richard Butler had ordered all non-essential
personnel and inspectors out of Iraq on November 11 1998 in preparation
for an American attack due to Iraq's refusal to allow UNSCOM to conduct
inspections unobstructed.
There is also no evidence that Iraq had plotted to develop anthrax,
nerve gas, or nuclear weapons, an issue now overgrown with suspicion.
However, our President wanted war and used masterful propaganda
techniques via the media in his attempt to persuade the American people
to approve of a pre-emptive strike on another country. These included
sound bites that exploited the American anger and spurred patriotism to
the highest level since the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The words "Lets Role" reverberated throughout the land, spoken by one
of the victims of Flight 93 that was deliberately crashed by the
passengers to avoid crashing into national building. A heroic and
valiant deed exploited by the administration and the media.
It was not long before Bush attempts to equate Al-Qaida with Iraq via
Colin Powell's presentation Feb 5 2003 at the Security Council. Powell
asserted that, Iraq harbored a terrorist network headed by Abu Mussab
al-Zarqawi, an alleged collaborator of Osama bin Laden.
"When our coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped
establish another poison and explosive training center camp. And this
camp is located in northeastern Iraq," Powell said.
Again, there is no evidence of this connection, not then and not
now.
With the war on terrorism now nearing the end of its second year,
America has changed. We have seen erosion of our constitutional rights
with the so-called Patriots Act. Alleged terrorist do not have a right
to an attorney, to a public trial and can be placed in a jail for years
awaiting secret military tribunals. Critics of the war were and are
labeled as treasonous.
We have refused to recognize the International Criminal Court and have
threatened invasion of the Netherlands if they dare put an American on
trial for war crimes, as if we are above the law.
Homeland Security, a new governmental bureaucratic machine allegedly
introduced to 'protect the homeland' except that it is under funded and
states can't seem to get enough money to boaster their security measure
in the form of more police and fire terrorist training. At one time,
there were power issues as to how much power former PA.governor Ridge
would have. In New York City, several fire houses had to be closed due
to lack of money. Liability insurance rates for homes and apartment
houses rise nearly 20 percent in some places due to the possibility of
another terrorist attack.
Although employees of the Homeland Security department are federal
employees, the President wants to ignore the rules and regulations
governing federal employees in order to have the right to hire and fire
at will and for any reason, due to 'National Security'.
Terrorism is an issue that needs to be dealt with. It should be dealt
with in an honest and forthright way without fear tactics, erosion of
civil rights and pre-emptive strikes where no evidence exists as to the
culpability of those we would want to attack. Cooperation between
Intelligence agencies, sanctions and other peaceful measures should be
instituted. An attempt to understand why those who would want to attack
us and an understanding of their religion and culture should be
investigated. The war on terrorism has thus far left many Americans
with a hatred of Muslims and crusade mentality to rid the Middle East
of troublesome Muslim states. President Bush is now eying Syria and
Iran.
The majority of the hijackers that we know who were involved were
Saudi nationals yet we have been 'friends' with Saudi Arabia for years
and until recently, we had a military base established there. It is
known they too harbor terrorist. They have allowed the former Ugandan
dictator Idi Amin, who is accused of killing at least 300,000 people,
sanctuary along with a government stipend for the past decade.
Terrorism has been with us for decades and no doubt will still continue
to be with us for decades to come. Terrorist are an amorphous group
because they generally incorporate members from many countries or
people without a country of their own and therefore it is difficult to
pin down those who utilize the suicide blitz of bombings or
hijackings.
Attacking a country that had been bombed continuously for the past 12
years, weakening their military equipment and men is not fighting
terrorism when a much bigger threat looms on the horizon. North Korea
is 'in our face' telling us that they are in the process of making
nuclear weapons. What other proof does one need? Yet, we attack Iraq
because of its proximity to Israel and its oil.
Prior to 9/11, we saw the crash and burn of several major corporations
starting with Enron with other major corporations following, all due to
greed and out right fraud with employees loosing out on everything from
stock options to pensions. Enron was not unique. Greed and fraud
appears to be standard operating procedure.
Vice President Cheney continues to fight efforts to look into the
energy police he established, after the rolling black-outs in
California and the crashing of Enron. Ken Lay, CEO of Enron is referred
to as 'Kenny Boy' by President Bush and is known to have had talks with
Cheney. That in itself is reason enough for an investigation. Mr. Lay
got off scott free.
This administration has balked at investigation of any sort, refusing
an independent investigation into 9/11 mishaps prior to the event,
investigations after the event as well as investigations into Cheney's
energy program. This administration has attempted to do away with the
normal checks and balances of American government, has belittled the
weapons inspectors because they were unable to find what our President
wanted them to find and has virtually disallowed the U.N. any say in
anything having to do with the war in Iraq including the war
itself.
We are fast becoming a fascist government. Every definition of fascism
is seen in the way our government is governing.
The next four years could possibly be the scariest time our nation has
had to face when this Democratic Republic becomes a thing of the
past.