MAD NEWS FROM THE FIFTH DIMENSIONJune 16, 2003
Learning from Hitler
Bernard Weiner on American Politics says, "A goodly number of folks wonder if they're living in America in 2003 or Germany in 1933. All this emphasis on nationalism, the militarization of society, identifying The Leader as the nation, a constant state of fear and anxiety heightened by the authorities, repressive laws that shred constitutional guarantees of due process, wars of aggression launched on weaker nations, the desire to assume global hegemony, the merging of corporate and governmental interests, vast mass-media propaganda campaigns...a timid opposition that barely contests the administration's reckless adventurism abroad and police-state policies at home." Dennis Kucinich for president! Mark Morford says it best: See SFGate Jimmy Breslin: "Today, the two dead Marines are the symbol for everybody who died in a war that was started because of a series of coordinated lies in Washington that said that Iraq had nuclear bombs. 'Weapons of Mass Destruction.' The Bush administration used the term so much that it turned into initials, WMD." According to a Knight Ridder report, a CIA agent, speaking under condition of anonymity, said the CIA warned Bush that the report about Saddam trying to get nuclear material from Nigeria didn't check out in March 2002. A full year before the war the White House was told the report didn't check out, and he still used it to justify the attack. Possession is nine-tenths of the law, they were thinking. We'll take it now, worry about justifying it later. It won't matter what they say because we'll have it. We'll be pumping that oil and watching our bank accounts getting bigger. So far they have gotten away with everything. You can't blame them for trying. Now, will the American public let them get away with it? They are trying to depose Constitutional law and install a corporate dictatorship. Will Americans let them get away with it? They are dismantling the social support systems established during the mid-20th Century under a series of presidents. There are rumblings in the land, a sign that the people who inhabit the country that started the world democratic revolution will not allow a junta to turn democracy into a dirty word. The White House is claiming the CIA never passed on the information that the allegation of an attempt to buy uranium from Nigeria was false. Condo's line about "someone in the bowels of the agency" is a classic. But according to Eleanor Clift on MSNBC, it's not credible that the White House was duped into believing bad intelligence. The State of the Union message in which Bush used the bogus information to stir support for his war, is the most highly vetted speech a president makes. Nothing has been found to verify Colin Powell's claim to the U.N. Security Council in February: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents . . . enough agents to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets. " According to the San Francisco, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "If the intelligence community had such certainty, how come they couldn't lead us to (the weapons)? Why couldn't they lead the United Nations to them?" And the War Drags On. Oh it's a fine mess you got us into this time Georgey Porgy. Didn't Bush do a big dramatic jet landing photo op not-"victory" celebration on an aircraft carrier. Looks like the war ain't over. The New York Times reports that "Thousands of American troops backed by tanks, planes and helicopters carried out extensive raids early this morning in this restive city and in at least two other Iraqi cities, military officials said." Now get this: "The military operation was one of the largest in Iraq since the end of major fighting. No American casualties were reported, and no figures were released for Iraqi casualties." Since when is "thousands of American troops backed by tanks, planes and helicopters" not "major fighting"? To what Alice-in-Wonderland dimension have I been transported? There are about 20,000 ways this really sucks. "Iraqi figures not released"? It sounds like extermination of resistance, which will never die as long as their are people there. It is not, as the papers imply "loyalism" that is driving this stubborn, daring resistance. And yet the US has put the country in the position of needing "the strong man." to defend itself. In this never-ending game, the US enhances his value. Then uses him as its excuse to slaughter people. This is not worthy of the United States of America. Kerry: "Sleep with me" -- The LA Times did a Q&A with John Kerry, and Kerry is so cautious and middle-of-the-road, he seems afraid to make any strong statements. Asked "Should we have gone to war in Iraq? What would you have done differently?" Kerry says: "I voted to disarm Saddam Hussein, and I believe I voted responsibly I think President Bush made an enormous mistake in not building a broader coalition or winning the support of the United Nations because, after all, Saddam Hussein broke an agreement with the world, not just the United States. If we'd secured a broader coalition, and we could have, the work of postwar Iraq would be far easier." Say what? Kerry's criticism of Bush is so moderate it's hard to pinpoint it. He doesn't mention that the Bush administration attacked a sovereign country based on allegations that it had no proof of. He says Saddam "broke an agreement..." What agreement? The WMD agreement? That seems to be what is implied. If so, Kerry is still totally going along with the WMD justification, though subsequent events have shown that the administration didn't have the evidence it claimed to have. And of course the WMD justification was bogus anyway. You can't justify an invasion that killed tens of thousands of people because a country has weapons. It's a ridiculous proposition.
Kerry is extremely disappointing. He's not even presenting himself as serious opposition to Bush. It's like Peter and Paul, the fraternal twins. He disagrees with Bush on details, almost technicality. We need a real democrat, not a Democrat. Are there any out there?