Bush Takes Responsibility - about 4 Years Too Late
By Cheryl Seal - CHERDAV44@aol.com
Propped before the cameras "on the ground" in New Orleans nearly two weeks after Katrina hit, Bush says he "takes responsibility" for failures after the hurricane. But Bush and his handlers just don't seem to get it: the American people needed their leaders to take responsibility BEFORE the storm - not merely to claim to take responsibility after the fact...after hundreds lay dead. As the old saying goes, "It's too little, too late." Not to mention a scripted ploy born of plummeting poll fears.
If this ploy works for Bush, the consequences are truly scary. What he and his cohorts will learn is that they can get away with ANYTHING. All they have to do is appear contrite AFTERWARD. So then what will be next? An announcement that Bush "takes responsibility" for the Iraq war debacle? For a bankrupted federal government? For the millions of Americans now without health insurance? For the 1 in 4 American children now living below the poverty line? For overturning 200 years of struggle to achieve an international model of human rights? For forcing continued US dependence on fossil fuel and all its consequences by refusing to adequately fund and promote alternatives? The list goes on and on.
A president who thinks he can get away with anything - then make it OK simply by claiming to "take responsibility" in a photo-op later is strikingly similar to the abusive husband who never fails to express remorse after giving his wife yet another black eye. Of course, we all know what a good shrink would say to an abused wife: If you let him stay and keep smacking you around.... no matter how many times he cries "I'm sorry!" - eventually, he'll probably kill you.
America has had enough! We do not need to wait around for the next "black eye," the next after-the-fact protestations of responsibility. We need to have a government that is accountable NOW, before the fact. If we had had such a government, the money for improving flood control in New Orleans would have been made available and applied to action years ago. The flood mitigating wetlands would never have been decimated by unchecked developers. FEMA would have had a plan in place for the Gulf Coast that would have been put in motion three days BEFORE the storm hit, when forecasters warned that a hit along the coast was inevitable. There would have been no needless war in Iraq and there would have been thousands more National Guardsmen available and in place AS the storm struck, not days afterward.
Instead, Bush is likely to exploit the tragedy, just as he did 9/11, as a pretext for whittling away even more human rights and undermining US security even further. In the days immediately following the storm, before he'd even bothered to go for his first wham-bam-thank you-ma'am "tour" of the disaster zone, Bush was trying to use the disaster and its impact on gas prices as a validation for his war on Iraq.
As to Bush's claim that he wants to take responsibility, I say it's about 4 years too late.
============================
Congratulations to all the winners of tickets to take part in the greatest
rebuilding show on earth
Terry Jones,
The Observer (UK)
Sunday April 13, 2003
Well the war has been a huge success, and I guess it's time for
congratulations all round. And wow! It's hard to know where to begin.
First, I'd like to congratulate Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and the Bechtel
Corporation, which are the construction companies most likely to benefit
from the reconstruction of Iraq. Contracts in the region of $1 billion
should soon coming your way, chaps. Well done! And what with the US
dropping 15,000 precision-guided munitions, 7,500 unguided bombs and 750
cruise missiles on Iraq so far and with more to come, there's going to be
a lot of reconstruction. It looks like it could be a bonanza year.
Of course, we all know that KBR is the construction side of Halliburton,
and it has been doing big business with the military ever since the Second
World War. Most recently, it got the plum job of constructing the prison
compound for terrorists suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Could be a whole lot
more deluxe chicken coops coming your way in the next few months, guys.
Stick it to 'em.
I'd also like to add congratulations to Dick Cheney, who was chief
executive of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and who currently receives a
cheque for $1 million a year from his old company. I guess he may find
there's a little surprise bonus in there this year. Well done, Dick.
Congratulations, too, to former Secretary of State, George Schultz. He's
not only on the board of Bechtel, he's also chairman of the advisory board
of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group with close ties to
the White House committed to reconstructing the Iraqi economy through war.
You're doing a grand job, George, and I'm sure material benefits will be
coming your way, as sure as the Devil lives in Texas.
Oh, before I forget, a big round of appreciation for Jack Sheehan, a
retired general who sits on the Defense Policy Board which advises the
Pentagon. He's a senior vice president at Bechtel and one of the many
members of the Defense Policy Board with links to companies that make
money out of defense contracts. When I say 'make money' I'm not joking.
Their companies have benefited to the tune of $76bn just in the last year.
Talk about a gravy train. Well, Jack, you and your colleagues can
certainly look forward to a warm and joyous Christmas this year.
It's been estimated that rebuilding Iraq could cost anything from $25bn to
$100bn and the great thing is that the Iraqis will be paying for it
themselves out of their future oil revenues. What's more, President Bush
will be able to say, with a straight face, that they're using the money
from Iraqi oil to benefit the Iraqi people. 'We're going to use the assets
of the people of Iraq, especially their oil assets, to benefit their
people,' said Secretary of State Colin Powell, and he looked really
sincere. Yessir.
It's so neat it makes you want to run out and buy shares in Fluor. As one
of the world's biggest procurement and construction companies, it recently
hired Kenneth J. Oscar, who, as acting assistant secretary of the army,
took care of the Pentagon's $35bn-a-year procurement budget. So there
could also be some nice extra business coming its way soon. Bully for
them.
But every celebration has its serious side, and I should like to convey my
condolences to all those who have suffered so grievously in this war.
Particularly American Airlines, Qantas and Air Canada, and all other
travel companies which have seen their customers dwindle, as fear of
terrorist reprisals for what the US and Britain have done in Iraq begins
to bite.
My condolences also to all those British companies which have been
disappointed in their bid to share in the bonanza that all this wonderful
high-tech military firepower has created. I know it must be frustrating
and disheartening for many of you, especially in the medical field,
knowing there are all those severed limbs, all that burnt flesh, all those
smashed skulls, broken bones, punctured spleens, ripped faces and mangled
children just crying out for your products.
You could be making a fortune out of the drugs, serums and surgical
hardware, and yet you have to stand on the sidelines and watch as US drug
companies make a killing.
Well, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, has some words of comfort for
us all. As he recently pointed out, this adventure by Bush and Blair will
have created such hatred throughout the Arab world, that 100 new bin
Ladens will have been created.
So all of us here in Britain, as well as in America, shouldn't lose heart.
Once the Arab world starts to take its revenge, there should be enough
reconstruction to do at home to keep business thriving for some years to
come.
http://www.apfn.org/APFN/IRAQ_WAR.HTM
====================================
AMERICAN PATRIOT FRIENDS NETWORK
".... a network of net-worker's...."
Dedication:
I was born an American. I live as an American; I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career. I mean to do this with absolute disregard to personal consequences. What are the personal consequences?
What is the individual man with all the good or evil that may betide him, in comparison with the good and evil which may befall a great country, and in the midst of great transactions which concern that country's fate? Let the consequences be what they will, I am careless, No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall, in the defense of the liberties and Constitution of his country.
...Daniel Webster
http://www.apfn.org/
By Cheryl Seal - CHERDAV44@aol.com
Propped before the cameras "on the ground" in New Orleans nearly two weeks after Katrina hit, Bush says he "takes responsibility" for failures after the hurricane. But Bush and his handlers just don't seem to get it: the American people needed their leaders to take responsibility BEFORE the storm - not merely to claim to take responsibility after the fact...after hundreds lay dead. As the old saying goes, "It's too little, too late." Not to mention a scripted ploy born of plummeting poll fears.
If this ploy works for Bush, the consequences are truly scary. What he and his cohorts will learn is that they can get away with ANYTHING. All they have to do is appear contrite AFTERWARD. So then what will be next? An announcement that Bush "takes responsibility" for the Iraq war debacle? For a bankrupted federal government? For the millions of Americans now without health insurance? For the 1 in 4 American children now living below the poverty line? For overturning 200 years of struggle to achieve an international model of human rights? For forcing continued US dependence on fossil fuel and all its consequences by refusing to adequately fund and promote alternatives? The list goes on and on.
A president who thinks he can get away with anything - then make it OK simply by claiming to "take responsibility" in a photo-op later is strikingly similar to the abusive husband who never fails to express remorse after giving his wife yet another black eye. Of course, we all know what a good shrink would say to an abused wife: If you let him stay and keep smacking you around.... no matter how many times he cries "I'm sorry!" - eventually, he'll probably kill you.
America has had enough! We do not need to wait around for the next "black eye," the next after-the-fact protestations of responsibility. We need to have a government that is accountable NOW, before the fact. If we had had such a government, the money for improving flood control in New Orleans would have been made available and applied to action years ago. The flood mitigating wetlands would never have been decimated by unchecked developers. FEMA would have had a plan in place for the Gulf Coast that would have been put in motion three days BEFORE the storm hit, when forecasters warned that a hit along the coast was inevitable. There would have been no needless war in Iraq and there would have been thousands more National Guardsmen available and in place AS the storm struck, not days afterward.
Instead, Bush is likely to exploit the tragedy, just as he did 9/11, as a pretext for whittling away even more human rights and undermining US security even further. In the days immediately following the storm, before he'd even bothered to go for his first wham-bam-thank you-ma'am "tour" of the disaster zone, Bush was trying to use the disaster and its impact on gas prices as a validation for his war on Iraq.
As to Bush's claim that he wants to take responsibility, I say it's about 4 years too late.
============================
Congratulations to all the winners of tickets to take part in the greatest
rebuilding show on earth
Terry Jones,
The Observer (UK)
Sunday April 13, 2003
Well the war has been a huge success, and I guess it's time for
congratulations all round. And wow! It's hard to know where to begin.
First, I'd like to congratulate Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and the Bechtel
Corporation, which are the construction companies most likely to benefit
from the reconstruction of Iraq. Contracts in the region of $1 billion
should soon coming your way, chaps. Well done! And what with the US
dropping 15,000 precision-guided munitions, 7,500 unguided bombs and 750
cruise missiles on Iraq so far and with more to come, there's going to be
a lot of reconstruction. It looks like it could be a bonanza year.
Of course, we all know that KBR is the construction side of Halliburton,
and it has been doing big business with the military ever since the Second
World War. Most recently, it got the plum job of constructing the prison
compound for terrorists suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Could be a whole lot
more deluxe chicken coops coming your way in the next few months, guys.
Stick it to 'em.
I'd also like to add congratulations to Dick Cheney, who was chief
executive of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and who currently receives a
cheque for $1 million a year from his old company. I guess he may find
there's a little surprise bonus in there this year. Well done, Dick.
Congratulations, too, to former Secretary of State, George Schultz. He's
not only on the board of Bechtel, he's also chairman of the advisory board
of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group with close ties to
the White House committed to reconstructing the Iraqi economy through war.
You're doing a grand job, George, and I'm sure material benefits will be
coming your way, as sure as the Devil lives in Texas.
Oh, before I forget, a big round of appreciation for Jack Sheehan, a
retired general who sits on the Defense Policy Board which advises the
Pentagon. He's a senior vice president at Bechtel and one of the many
members of the Defense Policy Board with links to companies that make
money out of defense contracts. When I say 'make money' I'm not joking.
Their companies have benefited to the tune of $76bn just in the last year.
Talk about a gravy train. Well, Jack, you and your colleagues can
certainly look forward to a warm and joyous Christmas this year.
It's been estimated that rebuilding Iraq could cost anything from $25bn to
$100bn and the great thing is that the Iraqis will be paying for it
themselves out of their future oil revenues. What's more, President Bush
will be able to say, with a straight face, that they're using the money
from Iraqi oil to benefit the Iraqi people. 'We're going to use the assets
of the people of Iraq, especially their oil assets, to benefit their
people,' said Secretary of State Colin Powell, and he looked really
sincere. Yessir.
It's so neat it makes you want to run out and buy shares in Fluor. As one
of the world's biggest procurement and construction companies, it recently
hired Kenneth J. Oscar, who, as acting assistant secretary of the army,
took care of the Pentagon's $35bn-a-year procurement budget. So there
could also be some nice extra business coming its way soon. Bully for
them.
But every celebration has its serious side, and I should like to convey my
condolences to all those who have suffered so grievously in this war.
Particularly American Airlines, Qantas and Air Canada, and all other
travel companies which have seen their customers dwindle, as fear of
terrorist reprisals for what the US and Britain have done in Iraq begins
to bite.
My condolences also to all those British companies which have been
disappointed in their bid to share in the bonanza that all this wonderful
high-tech military firepower has created. I know it must be frustrating
and disheartening for many of you, especially in the medical field,
knowing there are all those severed limbs, all that burnt flesh, all those
smashed skulls, broken bones, punctured spleens, ripped faces and mangled
children just crying out for your products.
You could be making a fortune out of the drugs, serums and surgical
hardware, and yet you have to stand on the sidelines and watch as US drug
companies make a killing.
Well, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, has some words of comfort for
us all. As he recently pointed out, this adventure by Bush and Blair will
have created such hatred throughout the Arab world, that 100 new bin
Ladens will have been created.
So all of us here in Britain, as well as in America, shouldn't lose heart.
Once the Arab world starts to take its revenge, there should be enough
reconstruction to do at home to keep business thriving for some years to
come.
http://www.apfn.org/APFN/IRAQ_WAR.HTM
====================================
AMERICAN PATRIOT FRIENDS NETWORK
".... a network of net-worker's...."
Dedication:
I was born an American. I live as an American; I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career. I mean to do this with absolute disregard to personal consequences. What are the personal consequences?
What is the individual man with all the good or evil that may betide him, in comparison with the good and evil which may befall a great country, and in the midst of great transactions which concern that country's fate? Let the consequences be what they will, I am careless, No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall, in the defense of the liberties and Constitution of his country.
...Daniel Webster
http://www.apfn.org/
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
