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And my own image of Marshal Petain may be taken exactly the same way.
It's interesting that today a significant number of Americans, such as many here, feel that we are fighting wars on two fronts: one against terrorism and on the other against the federal government in general and the executive branch in particular.
In spite of the fact that Osama was able to take down about 3000 Americans in a single morning and a fear that he could do it again, many have the uneasy feeling that the greater threat to Americans comes from the Bush regime. After all, we should be relying on the Commander in Chief to direct a war or police action or however one wishes to characterize it against those responsible for the September 11 attacks. Instead, Bush and his aides used the attacks as a smoke screen to dust off and implement the programs that many of Bush's aides put on the table while they were out of power in the papers of the Project for the New American Century. The centerpiece of this program was not a defensive war on terrorists but an imperial war against Iraq and other Middle Eastern states.
By September 10, 2001, it was becoming plainly obvious that the Bush regime was going to be like no other in US history. For one thing, it wasn't even legitimate. Bush's lieutenants stole the election of 2000 in the key state of Florida with a combination of an illegal purge of voter rolls, a willful failure to recount votes, mob violence instigated by Republican congressional aides (most employed by Tom DeLay) and judicial manipulation. It was also obvious by this time that the regime existed to remunerate those who had been footing the bill for Mr. Bush's political career. What was plainly obvious wass that this regime is crooked.
With his power resting on a rigged election and his exercise of it directed at distributing public funds to political and corporate cronies, the only thing that separated Bush from a banana republic dictator was a wholesale suppression of civil liberties. Then came September 11. Bush waisted no time in invading Afghanistan, a weak state that allowed Osama and al Qaida to operate on its soil, but that was the only even remotely right thing Bush has done in the war on terror. Even then, he failed to capture Osama the Terrorist. In addition to a flash war in Afghanistan came the Patriot Act, the initial assault on American civil liberties, the secret domestic spying on American citizens, the indefinite detention without charges of a handful of others and well coordinated propaganda war aimed at the invasion of Iraq, a state that had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, as Bush and his people knew very well. This propaganda war, aided by a supine mainstream media, left most of the American people in the dark about the true nature of the threat posed by Iraq, which was none whatsoever.
So the Bush regime, like a Latin American banana republic, represents illegitimate power based on rigged elections, crony capitalism and suppression of civil liberties. In addi ton, beyond the usual banana republic paradigm, the regime has used its power to garner support for a dubious military adventure as a way to gain popular support through fear. This misadventure has cost to date over 2400 lives of American soldiers, tens of thousands of Iraqi dead and America's reputation in the world. Juxtaposed to a religious fanatic with the ability to occasionally set off a well-planned coordinated attack, even one that can kill thousands at a time, a tyrant with a large nuclear arsenal is the greater threat. Bush is the greater threat not only to the world at large, but to the American people and to the foundations of American government.
Yet for five and a half years the Democrats in Congress have acted as if Bush is just another conservative president with whom they have a few differences in economic and social philosophy. It is far past the time that they should realize that he is no such thing. Those who continue to actively support his follies, like Senator Lieberman, or remain silent while knowing of his tyranny, like Ms. Harman, appear to us to be as much appeasers and collaborators with the enemy as if they were feeding information to al Qaida.
For the safety of the world and the American people, the Bush regime needs to be removed from power as soon as possible. The future of American liberty is at stake.
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