Hypocritical Bush - August 18, 2004

For all of Bush's talk about being tough against terror, he's prompting exactly what the terrorist want us to do... to cower and hide behind fear. Bush's supreme talent lies in the ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He calls for us to not stop living our lives, but then continues to scare us at every turn with years old information. Information that's nicely dressed up before showing its head to the light of the news channels.

How does George Bush expect to project anything but weakness when he puts the fear of terrorists attacks on everyone's minds whenever the polls show that his numbers are down? This so-called war on terror is not simply fought with guns. This is a battle of a psychological nature. Crying wolf every second because of three year old information, and because the poll numbers are down, is no way to wage this battle.

Neither is the way we were fighting it before. Before 9/11 the U.S. lived with this false sense that oceans between us and "them" would keep us safe from terrorist attacks. That myth was shattered on September 11th. We were never as safe as we thought we were. Nevertheless, since that day there has been a mandate to shore up our defenses. The question is, has Bush done all he can to protect us from terrorism? I say no. First, his actions in Iraq, supposedly his greatest accomplishment, has created more terrorists than anything Bin Ladin could have done. Bush, not happy with that, has cut the budget for border patrols. The news theses days is a wash with stories of the ease of passage, from Mexico and Canada, into the U.S.. But, Bush would rather spend that money going to Iraq.

Not happy with that, Bush fought the creation of the 9/11 commission. Then later he took credit for its creation. The families of the 9/11 victims fought hard to get the commission started. Bush opposed it all the way, but finally acquiesced when the calls for the creation of a 9/11 committee were a loud roar. Now he calls for the creation of a so-called "Intelligence Czar" to oversee the intelligence gathered by many different sources, a key recommendation of the 9/11 commission. Yet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come out opposing such a position be created. From Wednesday August 18th's Washington Post, "Adding another layer of bureaucracy, he (Rumsfeld) said, could place 'new barriers and filters' between the Defense Department's intelligence offices and the field commanders who rely on their data. He added that he prefers having separate agencies that can focus on their specialties rather than a 'single and preeminent national intelligence organization.'"

Again, this administration tells the masses what they want to hear, but then works behind the scenes to do the opposite. All the time using the fear of terrorism to bend the resolve of Americans who don't wish to give up their rights in order to feel safe. This administration will go down in history as being the most outright deceitful presidency ever to hold office (or should I say stole office). The level of mendacity has gone far beyond the little political white lie we come to expect from politicians. Rather it has been elevated to a methodic brainwashing of an entire nation. Along with an indoctrination into the Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) school of humanity. "... greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."