The Real Criminals Are Neither Lynndie England nor the AIG Traders-by Thom Hartmann

[kpete]

The Real Criminals Are Neither Lynndie England nor the AIG Traders

... the important point is that the real criminals of the Iraq War were not those like Lynndie England: they were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld (and their neocon buddies).

by Thom Hartmann Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com


Whenever a politician or commentator bloviates about the brokers at AIG who are getting bonuses, we should all be remembering Lynndie England and Charles Granger. AIG brokers are to the financial meltdown what England was to the Iraq war.

Certainly she did things that were deplorable. But she thought they were legal (England, operating under orders to "soften up terrorists," even though she was helping defend our nation). And to the extent that John Yoo's memos were law, arguably her actions were legal (although the Bushies never wanted it tested, so threw them to the wolves).

..............

Like Lynndie England, the brokers at AIG are the small fish. Sure they shouldn't have been doing what they did, and it's insane that they were compensated the way they were. And even worse is the fact that those compensation packages were worked out in September and October of last year by the Bush administration, and that convenient little fact is almost always ignored by politicians and commentators in their faux populist outrage.

But the real criminals of the AIG mess - and the entire financial meltdown that was set up between 1999 and 2006 and crashed starting in 2007 - were Grover Norquist, Phil and Wendy Graham, Tom Delay, and, sadly, Bill Clinton.

....................

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Real-Criminals-are-Nei-by-Thom-Hartmann-090323-601.html

[arcadian]

1. "even though she was helping defend our nation"

I fucking hope that is sarcasm. It better be. :mad:

[azmouse]

2. Probably should be 'thought' she was defending our nation...

It wouldn't make sense otherwise, especially coming from Thom Hartmann.

[arcadian]

5. I doubt she even thought that.

The army was just a way for her to get out of West Virginia.

[Smith_3]

3. Sorry, but I see it the other way. The real problem are all those Lyndie England's out there.

People who think they can get a free pass by not knowing the big picture and by delegating responsibility for any matter of importance to their representatives/superiors. Our country is full of Lyndie England's. Bush is just a symptom of that.

[Winterblues]

4. What you don't think Lyndie England deserves a huge Bonus or how about Medal of Freedom?

It isn't the amount of the Bonus although millions is a lot of money it is the idea that those that did the worst to us get rewards..It would be exactly the same if all who tortured in the name of the USA got medals and promotions, and in fact many did...

[bullwinkle428]

6. Unfortunately, a concept that will probably go over the heads

of most Americans...