Beth Henry
Axis of Logic Commentary, October 30, 2003
Thu Oct 30 15:42:51 2003
64.140.158.147

Axis of Logic Commentary, October 30, 2003

By Beth Henry
Oct 30, 2003, 11:37
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_2844.shtml


Well, Mr. Bush, your press conference turned out to be remarkably
appropriate viewing just prior to Halloween. It was, in its way,
more frightening than any of the tales of horror and twisted reality
that run non-stop on TV in October.

The star of the show was indeed a monster. You invoked its evil,
its pervasiveness, its imminent threat approximately fifty-one times
within forty-five minutes.

Terror. Terrorists. The War on Terror. Over and over and over
again, cropping up more often when the questions got a little
pointed.

No mention of al Qaeda. Not one. No mention of bin Laden (dead or
alive?). But George, you invoked the painful memory of the
September 11, 2001 attacks three times. You have feigned
bewilderment over how so many of our citizens came to believe that
Saddam Hussein was involved in those attacks. Families of its
victims have asked you to refrain from using their grief as a
platform for your every pet policy. Yet you continue to trot to
that well, dry from the beginning, as justification for the clearly
illegal and unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

You seemed nervous, halting in your speech when answering questions,
and looked like you might bolt at any second, but you stayed "on
message" (terror) with your trademark 180-degree spin on the facts
concerning every issue you addressed. If you are anything, you are
consistent in insisting that things are just the opposite of what we
see with our own eyes.

You began by describing your trip to Asia in glowing terms. I'm so
glad you feel good about it. From reading the papers, even in this
country, it looked to me as though you were spirited about under
heavy guard, just one step ahead of thousands of angry citizens.
John Howard and Tony Blair faced withering criticism for their
alliance with you, and Asian leaders were obliged to hold you at
arm's length. Frankly, I was embarrassed for our country.

You made great claims for having secured Afghanistan and Iraq such
that they could never again harbor threats to global security. For
instance, "…the Taliban are gone." Now, George, I know you don't
read newspapers, but surely your "daily briefs," have included
intelligence that the Taliban is regrouping and gaining power in
Afghanistan.

And speaking of Afghanistan, this is what I don't understand. I
thought the whole purpose of bombing what little remained of that
country and taking out at least five thousand civilians was to get
rid of al Qaeda and "smoke out" bin Laden. You do remember those
guys, don't you? Trained and financed in Saudi Arabia, your
family's favorite country. Home of your buddy, "Bandar Bush." And
weren't the bin Ladens among Poppy's business associates? Perhaps
one of them even bailed you out of that Harken mess, back in the day.

Speaking of bail money, how about that supplemental? You claimed
that most of this money would go to pay our troops in Iraq, and to
provide ammunition, body armor, vehicles, fuel, and whatever they
need to be successful.

I ask this, then. If Congress gives you and Cheney and your no-bid
buddies 87 billion dollars, will these troops' combat pay be
restored to its original amount? Will the wounded, who wait for
weeks, even months, for medical care in the most austere facilities
available, finally be afforded prompt and proper treatment? Will
these men and women, whom you claim to support, finally be able to
get enough water, enough food, and reinforcements? Will they no
longer have to pay their own way home on their 2-week leaves? Will
they be able to get counseling, educational benefits, and long-term
medical care after they come back from the horror into which you
have thrust them?

Will you really hug their mothers, attend their funerals, and go
face-to-face with those whose shattered hearts come home in flag-
draped boxes, and in enforced anonymity?

Sorry, George. Don't mean to discombobulate you. But when we start
talking about bills, I invariably think about what Napoleon called
the "butcher's bill."

You continually describe the occupation of Iraq as the latest front
in the war on terror. Damn, W, do you even know what that word
means? Terrorism consists of acts of destruction of life and
property inflicted on populations for the purpose of intimidation
and political leverage. You know, like the campaign of "shock and
awe" inflicted on Baghdad in March of this year.

As for your claim Hussein was a "gathering threat," that is at least
as inane and empty a claim as those you made that he was a terrorist
threat. To whom, besides his own people, was Hussein a threat?

If there is a "gathering threat" in that region, it is Ariel Sharon,
Likud, and the Israeli Defense force. Ask Iraq's neighbors whom
they feared more before the invasion of Iraq - Saddam Hussein or
Ariel Sharon.

The Israeli Defense Force and the Israeli settlers have seized land,
destroyed homes and crops, and murdered Palestinian civilians, UN
workers, journalists, and at least one U.S. peace worker. And,
again, the Israeli government is in material breach of many times
more UN resolutions than Iraq.

You say that Iraq was in "material breach" of one resolution, and
claim that that was your casus belli. But the United States
government does not penalize Israel for its many violations. In
fact, my tax dollars go to finance their genocidal acts. My taxes,
and those of my fellow citizens, amount to billions of dollars per
year of such support. That money is used to amass the largest, and
at this point, the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East. It is
used to finance the daily oppression and murder of civilians,
including many children. It is used to build what you call
a "fence," which you say is a problem. That fence is a wall,
George. It is, in effect, a wall enclosing what can only be called
a concentration camp with concrete and razor wire.

Tens of thousands of human beings have been blown out of existence
as a result of the policies pursued by you and Ariel Sharon, in a
holocaust that continues on a daily basis.

But the Palestinians, the Iraqis whose children have been
slaughtered or are starving or dying for want of medical care, and
the Afghan civilians bombed out of their homes, orphaned, or maimed –
should they respond in the same spirit of self-defense with which
you would have our citizens respond to the September 11, 2001
attacks – they are terrorists.

Referring to terrorism fifty-one times in a forty-five minute press
conference; invoking the trauma and grief of the attacks of 2001 to
support policies, which violate international law, our own
Constitution, and the most basic tenets of human decency – that is
psychological terrorism. The slaughter of tens of thousands of
civilians in order to effect a "regime change" that will further
your imperial ambitions – that is terrorism

So the next time you say the word, Mr. Bush, say it to your mirror.

Because you are the most dangerous terrorist in the world today.

Beth Henry lives near the Texas Gulf Coast with her husband and two
children. She has worked as a technical writer and security analyst
for NASA contractors. She does not hate neo-conservatives; she just
feels better when they're not in charge.


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