I have contemplated writing this article for several months. First,  I was hesitant because of the gravity of the matter and secondly, I was concerned about the length of the article necessary to present my position.

 

But I dedicate this to Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coultor and Rush Limbaugh…my true inspirations.

 

I am so sick and tired of people like Sean Hannity saying, “Aren’t we better off without Saddam Hussein?” When they can’t concoct a semi-believable answer to a question, they just spout that line, thinking it will change the subject. What a stupid reply to cover all of the lies, distortions and misrepresentations given by this administration. Saddam Hussein has nothing to do about why we can’t get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from our elected officials. Unfortunately, our president gives the same answer.

 

These same people also frequently say, “Why do Democrats hate George Bush? And that’s what did it.

 

Well, hate is a strong word, but I strongly believe Democrats asked that question are cautious about giving the true answers. It takes a long time to give all the answers and it is a politically hot issue. Those looking for votes would have to think twice. But, as an average American citizen, here is the truth.

 

Not being an expert in politics by any means, I did some research on the dangerous political course I believe our present administration is taking us. As a Vietnam vet I was understandably nervous at times while in-country, but I was never really scared or terrified. Now, 37 years later, I am very scared.

 

 Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the direction this administration is going and what I determine a willful determination to diminish our democracy as we know it. I am not afraid for myself though; I will be gone soon. I am afraid for my  country, our great and patriotic United States of America.

 

As a youngster growing up in this great country I had the greatest respect for the president, no matter who he was or what party he belonged to. I mean, it really didn’t make any difference to a youngster not yet involved in the nuances of political parties; the president  was still the president, and by default, he would protect and look out for us all. I put the President of the United States on a pedestal; so did other citizens and nations around the entire world.  As a youngster, I thought the president was the most honorable, most trustworthy and most honest person in the country or he couldn’t be president.

 

How things have changed! Or perhaps I have just become more informed?. I suspect the answer is probably both.

 

What bothers me most is just a question of honesty and simply telling the people of this great country the truth. I mean, unless someone was trying to hide something, why would they have to lie? Why would they have to keep information from the public? Why is everything “Classified”? Why won’t the news media ask the hard questions?

 

This is the crux of the situation we are in today. The Bush administration is trying to hide something.

 

Many people may not know or believe plans for the Iraq War were made years before George W. Bush was elected. The Neocons and members of our Department of Defense were just sitting and waiting for a president gullible enough to believe their ideology and plan to dominate the Middle East. These Neocons wrote Rebuilding America’s Defenses, A Report of the New American Century, in 2000.  This is not a conspiracy theory. It is available for all to see and read. The project was established in 1997. Page two of the document says, “ Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership.”  

 

These individuals who later came to play key roles in the Bush administration - including Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz - now guide current U.S. foreign policy. Anyone interested in understanding U.S. policy is sure to find a study of this document invaluable.” Here is a link to the entire 90-page document. http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf One of many similar articles on the subject says, “Vice President Cheney is a founding member of the Project for a New American Century. Plans for US military control of the Gulf region were clearly defined in 2000, in a treatise titled, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century;” The paper concluded that, “The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.”

 

It appears, now three years after 9/11, a Pearl Harbor like catastrophe, the theory to control the Middle East, well at least Afghanistan and Iraq, did not go well. We weren’t welcomed with flowers and open arms. Bush,Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith knew Americans would not approve going to war without an immediate threat against our country.  Threats of Weapons of Mass Destruction and nuclear bombs and mushroom clouds would be accepted if we were scared enough.  Fear is a strong tool used by this administration to meet their political goals. The Neocons, some say Chicken Hawks, failed to plan on the strong  resistance inside Iraq to oppose democracy. The Middle East does not want democracy, just like Vietnam didn’t want it. How long will this imperialistic surge endure?

 

Many say President Bush was so intent on the Iraq War, based on false WMD allegations, he put the true war on terrorism on the back burner. Former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his recent book, The Price of Loyalty, that, at the new administration's very first cabinet meeting, the decision to invade Iraq was presented as a given. This was eight months before the terrorist attack of 9/11. Bush and other zealous supporters (Neocons) for war with Iraq, especially in the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney and in the Defense Department of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, recruited long-time proponents (Neocons) of use of American military power in the Middle East like Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Abraham Shulsky, and Michael Malouf, to bypass the CIA, DIA, and State Department's INR whose professional analysts were skeptical about Iraq's allegedly hostile capabilities and intentions. That is why DOD set up the Office of Special Plans (OSP) to second-guess and misrepresent the information from CIA and other intelligence agencies..

 

An editorial review of The Price of Loyalty, by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill states, “The George W. Bush White House is a world out of kilter. Policy decisions are determined not by careful weighing of an issue's complexities; rather, they're dictated by a cabal of ideologues and political advisors operating outside the view of top cabinet officials. The President is not a fully engaged administrator but an enigma who is, at best, guarded and poker-faced but at worst, uncurious, unintelligent, and a puppet of larger forces.”

 

A much less publicized, but very explosive declaration of the intentional misrepresentation and bending of the truth concerning the reasons to invade Iraq, comes from Karen Kwiatkowski; a person most of the world has never heard of. But her now public personal account based on her work in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans is very enlightening. This information is exposed in an article by Marc Cooper, of The LA Weekly, February 2 2-26, 2004, Soldiers For The Truth-Exposing Bush’s talking-points war. Kwiatkowski says, “…but developing policy is not the same as developing propaganda and pushing a particular agenda. And actually, that’s more what they really did. They pushed an agenda on Iraq, and they developed pretty sophisticated propaganda lines which were fed throughout government, to the Congress, and even internally to the Pentagon — to try and make this case of immediacy. This case of severe threat to the United States.

 

 “The very phrases they used are coming back to haunt them because they are blatantly false and not based on any intelligence. The OSP and the Vice President’s Office were critical in this propaganda effort — to convince Americans that there was some just requirement for pre-emptive war.”

 

To the best of my knowledge, no president has ever been accused of lying more than  our present George W. Bush. Here are just a few books that address the subject:  "The Lies of George W. Bush" (Corn), "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" (Scheer, Scheer, Chaudhry), "Weapons of Mass Deception" (Rampton, Stauber), "Big Lies" (Conason), "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" (Franken). And don’t forget Michael Moore’s  Fahrenheit 9/11.

 

At the same time, we can’t forget other huge mistakes of the Bush Administration: how he failed to react to or recognize terrorist threats leading to 9/11, Cheney's energy task force, WMDs and other pre-Iraq war claims, the environment, the cost of the Medicare Bill and how it was passed, the size of the deficit, the number of jobs lost, the role of the Saudis and Pakistan in terrorism, Halliburton contracts, Ken Lay, actions taken under the Patriot Act, the Florida 2000 recount, collusion between the executive and judicial branches, failure to support our Veterans and fully equip our military, the White House outing of a CIA agent, and, well, the list goes on. You can't get the truth out of the Bush administration about virtually anything. Congressional oversight is almost a thing of the past. While corporate America is getting rich from looting our Social Security Trust Fund, Middle-Class America is doing without health care and going bankrupt.

 

President Dwight Eisenhower addressed the Military Industrial Complex in his 1961 speech. He said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

 

“We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

 

Our leaders, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove and many others are all part of this Military Industrial Complex. They believe a knowledgeable citizenry is a thing of the past. They are getting rich from the funds American taxpayers are forking over to support the war. This does not even include their involvement in the oil business. The rich are getting richer and the poor and middle-class are getting poorer. This is no accident. Deplete, spend, give away all the funds for social programs, and spend tax money on the military.

 

I believe religion is everyone’s right, but I believe what a person believes should be private and not forced on everyone, especially if you happen to be the President of the United States or the Attorney General . I believe that is why we have a separation of church and state. It is vital that the American people and our elected officials understand that the civil rights of American citizens should not be curtailed at the behest of politically powerful religious groups that seek to impose their beliefs on all Americans by constitutional fiat.

 

The subject of religion comes up frequently by our government officials. Some of Bush’s comments on religion and God are down right scary.

 

The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz was given transcripts of a negotiating session between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and faction leaders from Hamas and other militant groups. According to Abbas, Bush said: 'God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.'"

 

Or how about this one: Pat Robertson of the"700 Club" also had a vision from God concerning Bush’s reelection. In January, Pat Robertson said, "God told me President Bush will be re-elected in a landslide. I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way," Robertson said. "The Lord has just blessed him," Robertson said of Bush. "I mean, he could make terrible mistakes and comes out of it. It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad, God picks him up because he's a man of prayer and God's blessing him."

 

And then on July 16, President Bush said, "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job."

 

Perhaps the most poignant is when Bush said during his  Inaugural Address January 21, 2001: “After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: 'We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?' " This statement caused a flurry among many. Was this a signal that George W. Bush was a committed Illuminist and would continue to work toward the global plan to so change the world that a One-World Government, Economy, and Religion could exist?

 

Up until now I have presented well known and well publicized events involving our president and the present situation this country finds itself in. I could go on forever. Now consider the following.

 

I really hesitate to bring this up, but I think it is very pertinent. Many of us hate to hear, say or think about the word “Fascism.” It evokes images of communism and Nazism. Completely put that aside for a few moments and consider the article below by Dr. Lawrence Britt.

 

“The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

 

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined fascist regimes and found 14-defining characteristics common to each:

 

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

 

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

 

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

 

4. Supremacy of the Military -
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

 

5. Rampant Sexism -
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

 

6. Controlled Mass Media -
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

 

7. Obsession with National Security -
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

 

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

 

9. Corporate Power is Protected -
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

 

10. Labor Power is Suppressed -
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

 

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

 

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

 

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

 

14. Fraudulent Elections -
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

 

An interesting note to end this article: As of January 2004, the United States fulfills all fourteen points of fascism. It is not too late to reverse this in our country, but it will be soon. The first step is realizing it. The second step is getting involved. As the propaganda slogan disguising our current war goes, "Freedom isn't free." True. But our war for freedom isn't abroad, it's here at home.

 

Now like I stated at the beginning of this article, I am not a Political Science major, but I am increasingly worried about where our country is headed. I am convinced it far surpasses partisan politics. This is more than Republicans and Democrats not agreeing on issues. This is an attempt to have a one-party government. There is a large population in this country, at least half and probably much more, who have no voice in the present administration. And it is getting worse.

                                       -30-