Someone is benefiting from our presence in Iraq, but it is not the Iraqi people and it is not our own soldiers. It is the vast military-industrial complex with its long tentacles weaving its way through Washington. Congress must stand up to the President and vote to cut the funding for this war.
Not until we hold our own leaders accountable
On March 21, Nancy Pelosi visited the Dalai Lama and stated that if freedom-loving people did not speak out against China’s oppression in Tibet, “we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.” Speaker Pelosi is wrong about that.
The United States lost all moral authority when its leaders lied to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq and violated the terms of the Geneva Convention by holding prisoners without access to legal representation and by employing torture during interrogations. Speaker Pelosi herself, who took impeachment off the table from the minute she assumed leadership, has further compromised our position as a beacon of Democracy.
If Richard Nixon (illegal wiretapping and resulting cover-up) and Bill Clinton (illicit affair and lying to a grand jury) both passed the litmus test for impeachment, it’s certain that both George Bush and Dick Cheney have passed with flying colors. They have committed several impeachable offenses, like illegal wiretapping, lying to Congress and the American people, violating the articles of the Geneva convention, and invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses. It strikes me as hypocritical that we should be calling China’s leadership to the whipping post when we simply refuse to hold our own leaders accountable for their actions. It is not different because it is America. It is just as despicable.
Should we boycott the opening ceremonies, the United States will almost certainly be conspicuous by its absence. The mainstream media will, of course, turn it into a grand gesture in the name of democracy and the American public could well buy into that propaganda. For the rest of the world, that message will be lost in translation.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
