BUSH ACTIONS SIMILAR TO HISTORY’S TYRANTS

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/22400

BUSH ACTIONS SIMILAR TO HISTORY’S TYRANTS
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-05-11 19:25. Media

By Sherwood Ross

As public sentiment begins to build for impeachment, it might be worthwhile to examine the many characteristics President Bush shares with history’s tyrants. Here are 10 areas that come readily to mind.

First, tyrants tend to see themselves, as Hitler did, at the head of some kind of “master race.” President Bush and his backers would deny it, but their work for a “New American Century” betrays them. They’re world-beaters. Republicans at their last Convention jeered the very mention of the words “United Nations.” Those who contradict them are disparaged. Domestically, recall how Bush’s hatchet men impugned Senator Kerry’s Vietnam War record. This was reminiscent of Nazis claims that Germany’s Jewish veterans of the Great War did not deserve the medals they won. Another manifestation is how Neocons would reduce gay and lesbian Americans to second-class citizenship status. Bush and his backers truly believe in their superior status.

Second, tyrants tend to be congenital liars. Bush lied about Iraq’s threat to America just as Hitler lied when he claimed Poland attacked Germany first in 1939. The UN told Bush there was no WMD in Iraq, yet Bush said there was and made war. As many as 600,000 Iraqi civilians are dead and a nation is being destroyed before our eyes. Bush also lied when he claimed “we do not torture” prisoners.

Third, tyrants will use a “crisis” to grab total power. After the massacre of 9/11, President Bush pushed through the Patriot Act. Recall 1933, when Hitler declared a “state of national emergency” after the Reichstag (Parliament) fire, which likely was set by the Nazis. The new law gives Bush the power to arrest any American citizen on his say-so and he has allowed his intelligence agencies to spy on American citizens without a court order.

Fourth, tyrants torture. Of all people, Bush picked Alberto Gonzalez for Attorney General, the very man who rationalized the torture of captives for the top legal position in the nation. Bush also lavishes billions on dictatorships such as Egypt, whose Gestapo obligingly tortures individuals the CIA kidnaps from other countries. Bush has turned back the clock of history to the Spanish Inquisition.

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[louis-t]

1. Thanks for posting.

Man, I've added a bunch to my 'favorites' today.