Shouting Truth to Depraved Power (and Its Unwitting Accomplices): Stephen Lendman Sounds Off

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Jason Miller (about the author) Page 5 of 7 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

Shifting our perspective to the Bush Regime's actions and policies on the domestic side, do you believe that they will utilize the power they have acquired under the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act to essentially abolish the Bill of Rights, eradicate habeas corpus, declare martial law, imprison and torture US citizens with impunity, and suspend the 2008 election to remain in power?

"I've written a lot about Patriot (I and II), Military Commissions and (revised) Insurrection Acts along with the new National ID Act and other abuses against the public. I've also explained Bush declared himself a "unitary executive" claiming the right to go around the law on his own authority pursuing whatever policies he wishes in the name of national security with no corroborating evidence to show justification and no checks and balances allowed to challenge him. Is there any better definition of a dictator than that? He's using this authority to subvert the Constitution making no one in the country or around the world safe from the power he's given himself to inflict his harsh summary judgment on anyone without cause or restraint. So far, it's selectively aimed at so-called "Islamofascists," illegally-immigrating dark-skinned people (mainly NAFTA-impoverished Mexicans) and poor people of color in general always unable to defend themselves against state-inflicted abuses. The Constitution and Bill of Rights have effectively been suspended, and we're at the mercy of a rogue leader and his government that, at their discretion, can reach out and snatch any of us, secretly rendition us to an offshore torture-prison without anyone knowing where we are, try us in a military tribunal without competent counsel or right of appeal, convict us and dispense with us as they please."

If impeaching Bush and Cheney was a realistic possibility, what then?

"I believe nothing will happen from the top down, and it's up to the public en masse to make things happen from the bottom up. That applies to impeaching Bush and Cheney as the new Democrat-led 110th Congress took that off the table including by new House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers who once advocated holding them to account and now backed off after getting the authority to do it. And he's one of the good ones in the Congress. It shows what the public is up against going into the new year. Expect nothing substantive from the new Democrat Congress that, on issues that matter most, will be little different than the Republican one preceding it. It's part of the culture of corruption infesting both dominant parties in collusion with the other institutions of power in the country equally corrupted."

If we lived in an ideal world, what consequences would you like to see Bush, Cheney and their numerous accomplices face?

"In a perfect world, I want Bush, Cheney and all those complicit with them held fully to account and made to pay like the criminals they are. We should demand the book be thrown at them all showing them the same kind of mercy they inflicted on millions of others - none at all."

Do you believe the collapse of the American Empire is imminent, and if so, how do you envision it transpiring?

"I believe the US Empire is in decline and has been for over 30 years, but the Bush administration greatly accelerated the process. In the Middle East alone, I go along with expert Gilbert Achcar who believes the Bush administration was so incompetent and "stupid" it will go down as the "undertaker" of US interests in the region. The only area we'll end up being superior in at some point is the military one, and that won't last forever. My greatest fear is that as we head toward losing it and the empire, we may unleash it full force and end up destroying the planet in trying to save ourselves unless we first do it environmentally. This is how Chomsky feels, and I agree with him along with the other great loss he fears - our democracy. I think that's already lost.

I don't think the US Empire will implode any more than I feel the economy or weak US dollar will either. I believe these things will happen slowly over time including at some point reaching an economic calamity great enough to make The Great Depression seem like a garden party. We don't have space enough to discuss this here in detail, but this is a view shared by astute observers whom I agree with."

What are your views on 9/11?

"I absolutely agree with people like David Ray Griffin that either the Bush administration knew in advance about the 9/11 attack and did nothing to prevent it or their operatives actually were behind it. Unlike Chomsky, who thinks it's near impossible the Bush administration was behind it because if it had been someone high up enough would have leaked the truth by now. I think that hasn't happened (yet) out of fear of retribution, including to the families of those involved, but one day maybe it will be.

Frankly, I don't know or care who was on those planes any more than I care who pulled the triggers killing JFK, RFK or MLK. I only care who ordered the "hits." Paid assassins are a dime a dozen. It's the paymasters and their motives that matter. In the case of 9/11, the Neocons tipped their hand well in advance in their Project for a New American Century think tank document called Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century that was and is an imperial grand strategy for US global dominance to extend well into the future to be enforced with unchallengeable military power. In the document they practically preordained the future saying to pull this scheme off they needed a "new Pearl Harbor," and they'd hardly settled into high administration positions before, low and behold, their fondest wish came true - happenstance or a little advance planning? I made my choice."

If you had the judicial authority, what you would you do with members of the Bush administration?

"If I had judicial authority, I'd throw the book at these people. The evidence against them is so overwhelming and their crimes are so many I think prosecuting them on them all might take the rest of their natural lives to have enough time to get it done. It's time we got on with it."

A final comment from Stephen:

One more thought on a major issue you didn't ask me about. I'm a committed pacifist (except in self-defense--if attacked for real). I'm passionately anti-war and believe as Tom Paine did, quoting him in my new article and have done it before. He wrote as an anti-militarist that all nations should reduce their armaments by 90% to ensure world peace. No other way will do it. Wars are fought for wealth and power because those winning them get it. If the profit alone were taken out of wars most all of them would never be fought.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Jason Miller, Senior Editor and Founder of TPC, is a tenacious forty something vegan straight edge activist who lives in Kansas and who has a boundless passion for animal liberation and anti-capitalism. Addicted to reading and learning, he is mostly (more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.