Greg’s Corner March 2006
One American’s Response to The State of the Union Address, Part I
By Greg Petty

“Jingoism…. fear, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you’re trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.”  – Noam Chomsky

People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction……  – James Baldwin

I will state it right up front. This is not going to be a kind, gentle article. If you are concerned about the direction of our country and the state of our politics, please read on.

This article is about reality. Reality is defined as “the world or the state of things as they actually exist” and it does not appear to have been a concern for either the President or any of his writers for the State of the Union speech delivered January 31, 2006. As far as I can tell, Mr. Bush is good at only one thing – spewing rhetoric totally separated from facts OR from what his administration is ACTUALLY doing. George Orwell would be proud of Mr. Bush and his ability to misdirect, confuse and obfuscate on any given issue. Time and again, fear is used to direct our national conversation away from the facts and from what we should be debating. I invite you to read along as I provide an excerpt from the speech and then a “realistic” counterpoint.

Bush – “No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction and opposition is radical Islam – the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death. Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder---and all of us take their declared intentions seriously.”

Counterpoint – Here are the ACTIONS of the Bush Administration against terrorism since it took office. I suggest you read the BI-PARTISAN 9/11 Commission report in its entirety. In it you will find:

• The Bush administration failed to stop 9/11 and ignored the intelligence warnings given by both the CIA and FBI. Tenet and Rice were explicitly told by Bill Clinton and Sandy Berger (National Security Advisor) that bin Laden was our biggest threat. The threat posed by him should “OCCUPY MOST OF THEIR TIME.”
• Mr. Bush either did not understand or failed to read the Presidential Daily Brief of August 6, 2001 directly addressing bin Laden attacks.
• After 9/11, Mr. Bush was forced by national opinion and victims’ families to agree to the 9/11 Commission investigation. Once the Commission was under way, the Administration delayed releasing important documents to the Commission.
• Mr. Bush accepted the extensive findings of the 9/11 Commission and told the American people the findings would be implemented. On December 5, 2005, more than TWO MONTHS AGO, the Commission stated “the U.S. is at great risk for more terror attacks because Congress and the White House haven’t done enough to secure the nation.” Their report card gave more C’s, D’s and F’s than A’s for implementing the recommendations. No true leadership from the White House and Congress... instead we receive more rhetoric.
  1. The FBI still isn’t sharing information with other agencies.
  2. Radio systems, critical in a crisis, have not been upgraded. Responders cannot communicate with each other.
  3. Billions of dollars misdirected, used for inappropriate purposes or sent to non-critical states which are not likely targets. In other words wasted money and effort.
     
• Invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban. This was the right action as it was the SOURCE of terrorist threats. However we have not finished the job because we quickly went to war in the wrong place. Troops in Iraq should instead be deployed to Afghanistan. We have taken our eyes off of the prize.
• Bin Laden and al Zawahiri have not been captured. Not enough American troops were put into place to capture him when we had him surrounded in Tora Bora. Inexplicably, the job of capturing our most deadly enemy was given to local militias. Why? These people had conflicting loyalties to begin with. Did we really not want to catch bin Laden or was this just sheer incompetence?

Without international support, America electively invaded Iraq. Terrorist threats DID NOT come from a militarily-contained Iraq. There was no evidence then, and none exists today, that Iraq supported or cooperated with al Qaeda.

The chief reason for invading Iraq, its possession of weapons of mass destruction, has been proven spectacularly incorrect. The faulty intelligence was not questioned by the Administration. Instead, unsubstantiated reports, some known to be false, were presented to the American people as truths and reason to wage war.

Terrorist threats come from individual radical groups dispersed around the globe. We have weakened our defense and the efforts against the terrorist groups likely to strike us again by waging war in Iraq. You know it and I know it: Mr. Bush had his mind made up to invade Iraq no matter what the facts were.

Bush – “In a system of two parties, two chambers, and two elected branches, there will always be differences and debate. But even tough debates can be conducted in a civil tone, and our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger.”

Counterpoint – Really nice thought. If you want a civil debate, then go talk to your own party first. Republicans tried to impeach Bill Clinton over lying about a personal, private act. The 2004 campaign run by Republicans, Karl Rove and friends, contained vicious, dishonest personal attacks on John Kerry who is a legitimate war hero. Remember the Swift Boat ads? This campaign tactic comes from a man, who avoided the war and supposedly completed his obligations in the National Guard. That great patriot Dick Cheney has never served a day in the military. Neither man has the experience, personal character or moral authority to have smeared John Kerry as they did in 2004.  Mr. Bush, start practicing what you preach.

Democrats have not even come close to the level of animosity served up by Republicans in spite of the presence of much more serious issues emerging. REAL CONSTITUTIONL ISSUES such as waging an elective war with information known to be false, “outing” our own CIA agents for spiteful political motives and the illegal invasion of our personal privacy.

If it is true that Scooter Libby was ordered by Dick Cheney to leak Valerie Plame’s identity, then he must resign as Vice President. Failing that, Congress must impeach him. George Bush has failed to hold anyone in his administration responsible for their actions. The only exception has been the dismissal at FEMA of the incompetent Michael Brown. Brown was clearly not qualified and should not have been appointed to begin with. Cronyism gone bad.