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SEPTEMBER 29, 2003 – What an embarrassing day to be an
American. I mean, we are supposed to be the tough guys, the bad ass,
“Cross us and you’ll wish you were never born,” Constitution
discarders. After all, we passed the PATRIOT Act getting
Constitutional protections out of the way of our self-proclaimed War
On Terror, we assailed and destroyed the usefulness of the UN for not
doing as we said. President Bush is supposed to be tough, that is
what people love about him.
So how then did he let his toughness be outdone by some wussy little
British man. Prime Minister Tony Blair sounds like he would make a
nice commentator for a National Geographic special – certainly not
like a man’s man.
But, when Blair was faced with a man – his weapons advisor, David
Kelly – undermining the lies he was spewing about WMD’s with facts,
and so subsequently he unleashed the dogs of his administration to
bring the man down, their actions resulted in Kelly’s death.
Then, President Bush was faced with the same situation. Ambassador
Joseph Wilson IV, who had gone to Niger to investigate claims about
Iraq’s nuclear program, came public after the President’s mis-State Of
The Union address to point out that the claims should never have been
included.
So, it was then President Bush’s turn to amorally attack and try to
destroy someone for undermining his efforts to win public support with
lies. But while Tony Blair’s people managed to draw blood in return,
all the Bush administration could do was out Ambassador Wilson’s
wife. His wife. They didn’t even manage to attack him, never mind
drive him to his mutilated death, as Blair did with Kelly.
No, the Bushies instead destroyed the career and undermined the
security of his wife. Lower, more pathetic than what Blair did, to
attack a woman and not the man directly. But even worse was that
their actions didn’t lead to anyone’s death at all.
What sort of wussy attempt at intimidation is this? What sort of weak
smear that draws no blood? And most importantly, how can we count on
the Bush administration to squelch opposition and intimidate the good
people of the nation not to point out their untruths if they can’t
manage to have the people end up dead in the woods shortly thereafter?
There haven’t been many moments that I have felt ashamed and
vulnerable as an American. But the Bush administration’s inability to
have Wilson turn up Kelly-corpse-like is a true blight on the Stars
and Stripes. Now that the world sees that even the gayly speaking
British are far tougher and more amoral than we are, will we ever be
safe again? |
