by Stephen Lendman, Andrew Hughes, Prof. Benjamin G. Davis
January 14, 2009
George W. Bush. US president: January 20,
2001 - January 19, 2009.
Born of privilege. Unimpressive by every measure. A history of
underachievement. Chosen by big money. Arranged through electoral fraud.
Installed by the Supreme Court. Empowered by a dubious "terrorist" act, and
ending with a record unmatched by the worst of his predecessors. Assessing
the Bush legacy - from its illegitimate birth; through its lawless,
belligerent years; to the world potentially on the brink at its end.
Exploring it fully as a change of command approaches, and an unenviable task
awaits the new incumbent.
As Texas Governor
Looking to Election 2000, big monied interests knew what they wanted and got
it in George W. Bush. In his 2000 book, "The Dirty Truth," Rick Abraham (a
former Texas environmental law enforcement officer) documented his record as
Texas governor from 1995 - 2000 when "he championed the agenda of the
state's biggest and worst corporate polluters," according to commentator,
author, and former Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Jim
Hightower. In return for huge political contributions and jump-starting his
presidential bid, he:
-- lobbied for a national radioactive waste dump in Texas;
-- told the public it was mostly for x-rays and other hospital waste;
-- solicited nuclear power waste from other states;
-- corrupted the state's environmental standards to accommodate polluters;
-- failed to provide protection from industrial pollution, air toxins, and
hazardous wastes;
-- did it all secretly;
-- stripped municipalities of local control over land use and environmental
protections;
-- let state parks languish in decay and disrepair, and this was only his
environmental record.
He was staunchly pro-business, anti-civil liberties, unresponsive to public
needs, and presided over more state executions than any other governor in
the nation since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
His own aides at the time called him a man who enjoys killing, and not one
to trust with the presidency as it turned out.
Elections 2000 and 2004 - Tainted by Fraud
On December 12, 2000 the Supreme Court hijacked an electoral process that
was deeply flawed and rigged to elect George Bush. It coronated him
president after three days earlier halting the Florida vote recount on the
spurious grounds that it violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection
clause. It was the first time ever in US history that the High Court
reversed a popular vote (5 - 4) to install its own preferred candidate.
For its part, the media cheerled the process and wholeheartedly approved.
They, too, got their man in Washington. The rallied around him ever since,
ignored his high crimes and misdemeanors, the economy in disarray, and
continue to support him in spite of his lowest-ever approval rating for any
president. He surpassed Harry Truman at the depth of the Korean War and
Richard Nixon during Watergate, and will be judged by history as our worst
and most disgraceful president ever.
Election 2000 made it possible. Investigative journalists like Greg Palast
documented how mostly poor African- Americans and Latinos were removed from
voter roles for having falsely been "identified" as ex-felons and thus
unable to vote in states like Florida. Various other obstructions were also
used. Ballot boxes in African-American districts were missing and uncounted.
State troopers were positioned near polling sites in black precincts to
intimidate and delay voters by searching their cars and setting up
roadblocks. Some precincts demanded two photo IDs. Florida law requires only
one.
African-American students at schools like Florida A&M signed up in force as
first-time voters but were obstructed at polling stations. They were turned
away because they couldn't show a registration card or drivers license.
However, Florida lets eligible residents sign an affidavit (not provided)
and swear they hadn't voted.
In African-American and other Democrat districts, voters were turned away
and directed to vote elsewhere. They were never mailed registration cards,
and they were told they showed up too late and polls were closed. Many
requesting absentee ballots never got them, and evidence emerged of forged
ones for George Bush. Similar practices showed up in other states like Ohio,
New Hampshire, Missouri and Tennessee that narrowly went for Bush over Gore.
And all the above was besides the hanging, dimpled, and pregnant chads or
otherwise disqualified Florida votes that never were counted but should have
been.
Election 2004 was even worse than 2000 because technology smoothed the way
with electronic ease. In 2002, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed as a
way to facilitate fraud. It ushered in the age of privatized voting on
touchtone electronic voting machines - owned, programmed, operated and
controlled by giant corporations with close Republican ties. Today, over 80%
of all votes are cast and counted this way. Most states require no
verifiable paper receipts, so it's easy to manipulate outcomes, and not just
for president.
They helped reelect Bush at a time his approval rating hovered around 40%.
Most voters believed the country was headed in the wrong direction, and most
polls had Kerry a heavy favorite. In addition, a record 16.8 million new
voters registered, mostly Democrats. Nonetheless, Bush got 11.6 million more
votes than in 2000, won with a comfortable three million vote margin, and
Florida and Ohio made the difference. Either one going for Kerry would have
changed the outcome, and again electoral fraud was rife and well-documented.
Some of it included:
-- millions of absentee ballots never mailed to Democrats or arrived too
late;
-- malfunctioning voting machines in Democrat districts wiped out huge
numbers of crucial votes;
-- according to Greg Palast, over three million votes cast but never counted
because of rejected "provisional ballots" (for registered voters unlisted on
rolls); "spoiled ballots" (ones malfunctioning machines didn't count);
uncounted absentee ballots for minor reasons; and black and Latino voters
stripped from the roles for the same reasons as in 2000;
-- major deviations in 30 states between exit polls and final results; way
beyond margins of error and indicative of fraud; in all but four states,
discrepancies favored Bush;
-- Ohio was ground zero, much like Florida in 2000 that also went for Bush
in 2004; 357,000 Ohio voters, overwhelmingly Democrat, were prevented from
voting or their votes weren't counted; Bush carried the state by 118,599;
clear proof he lost; Kerry won, and was elected president;
-- Democrat precincts got too few voting machines; voters were obstructed by
long lines, malfunctioning machines, numerous instances of being told they
were at the wrong precinct, and most disturbing:
-- one in every four Ohio registrants showing up to vote discovered they
weren't listed on the rolls because Republican Secretary of State and
co-chair of Bush's reelection committee, Kenneth Blackwell, ordered them
purged.
These and other fraudulent practices greased the way for George Bush's
illegitimate reelection and the continued fallout from it.
Transformed by September 11, 2001
The widely followed Cook report assessed Bush's first five months in office
as follows: After "start(ing) off strong....his future seems far less
certain. Not only are (his) overall job approval ratings slumping, but his
disapproval ratings are climbing....the last three months (especially) have
been less than auspicious for this new President....they have a lot of
repair work to do and had better get started."
Bush entered office with an approval rating around 50%. It first rose
slightly, then dipped below 50% in late August. It all changed on September
11. Bush's rating skyrocketed to a temporary high above 90% and stayed above
80% through year end. That event transformed a mediocre president overnight
to a combination of Lincoln, FDR and Churchill, according to some observers
and hyperactive media pundits. It was beyond laughable then, and hugely more
so now.
After he peaked, it was downhill to 60% at yearend 2002, around 50% in late
2003, then around 40% or lower to more recent months when he's ranged from
the low to higher 20s. Until American Research Group's September lowest ever
for a US president at 19%, Research 2000 scored him lowest at 22% in late
July. CBS in early August had him at 25%, and even Fox/Opinion Dynamics gave
him a 27% rating at month end July. Others had him slightly higher with
every incentive to keep him from submerging and failing thereafter to
surface.
The Cook Report's Charlie Cook may have thought that on June 21 when he
wrote in the National Journal: Ronald "Reagan drew a whole generation into
the Republican Party....some observers wonder whether George W. Bush may
have driven another (one) away," and McCain won't likely bring them back.
But it wasn't that way in late 2001 through the March 2003 Iraq war start
with the public still traumatized by 9/11 and the hype about Saddam's WMDs.
Deconstructing the Bush Legacy - The Bush Doctrine
Below is a review of the Bush administration's record, including related
events before he took office.
On September 11, 1990, GHW Bush addressed a joint session of Congress
following Saddam's August 2 Kuwait invasion. It became known as his "Toward
a New World Order" speech. He said: "This invasion shall not stand, because
it threatens the New World Order." Then in his January 29, 1991 State of the
Union address, he spoke of "a defining hour....Halfway around the world
(where) we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and
sands....facing down a threat to decency and humanity (and for) a victory
over tyranny and savage aggression." He called for a "new initiative in
government....to prepare for the next American century (and) seize this
opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise for a 'new world order....' "
After the Cold War ended in 1991, GHW Bush's Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
and undersecretary Paul Wolfowitz designed what they called the Defense
Planning Guidance or Wolfowitz doctrine. It was an early plan for what
later emerged in the late 1990s and in the Bush Doctrine. The New York Times
"leaked" it in March 1992 and caused an uproar. It was an imperial design
for unchallengeable dominance using preemptive military action to suppress
potential threats - no holds barred anywhere.
In 1997, the plan was revived by the Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
in a (2000) document called "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies,
Forces and Resources for a New Century." It reasserted an imperial design
for global dominance and stated: "America should seek to preserve and extend
its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of US
military forces." It further called for "American hegemony" and "full-sprectrum
dominance," and said achieving it would be long-term "absent some
catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor.
A host of PNC members joined the Bush administration, key among them Dick
Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz - fully committed to what emerged
as a "Global War on Terrorism" starting off in Afghanistan, Iraq, and
against any perceived homeland threats. Their vision:
-- unchallengeable dominance;
-- ignoring the rule of law;
-- waging wars of aggression called liberating ones;
-- making torture official state policy;
-- suppressing civil liberties for our own good;
-- targeting Muslims, Latino immigrants and others of choice for political
advantage; rounding them up; denying them due process; incarcerating and/or
deporting them, and much worse as discussed below;
-- building Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mass detention camps for
"enemies of the state" or threats to "national security;"
-- deploying paramilitary enforcers (like Blackwater Worldwide, formerly
Blackwater USA) on US streets;
-- silencing dissent;
-- turning elections into farces; pre-determining outcomes for favored
candidates; letting kabuki theater, horse race journalism, and trivia
substitute for real news and information; turning democracy into fantasy;
-- fostering social decay at home; and
-- institutionalizing spying and police state repression for enforcement.
Key Administration and Earlier Policy Documents
The US Space Command produced a 1998 document called Vision for 2020. In May
2000 ahead of Bush taking office, it was released as a (neo-con influenced)
imperial grand strategy called the Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Vision
2020 with a sweeping aim - to achieve "full spectrum dominance" over all
land, surface and sub-surface sea, air, space, electromagnetic spectrum and
information systems with enough overwhelming power to fight and win global
wars against any potential challengers with all weapons in our arsenal,
including nuclear and others of mass destruction.
The December 2001 Nuclear Policy Review reasserted the same prerogative to
unilaterally declare and wage future wars preemptively with first strike
nuclear weapons, and by inference, all others as well.
Plans were well in place long before September 11, but that event provided
the pretext. It gave the Bush administration "reason" to attack Afghanistan
on October 7 (long planned in advance), invade with ground troops on October
19, and look ahead to the grand scheme against Iraq.
On September 11, 2001, Bush addressed the nation and declared a "war on
terrorism," asked for world support to win it, and began what became "our
government's emergency (preventive war strategy) response plans." He planned
to ignore the law and wage a global war throughout an "arc of instability"
from the South American Andean region (mainly Colombia) to North Africa
through the Middle East to the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere in
Eurasia.
On January 29, 2002 in his first State of the Union address, he declared war
on a "terrorist underworld (in) at least a dozen countries....in remote
jungles and deserts (and) in centers of large cities." He asked "all nations
(to) heed our call and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their
countries and our own (and) If they do not act, America will." He singled
out North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil....seeking out weapons of
mass destruction (and) posing a grave and growing danger." Things headed
downhill from there.
On September 20, 2002, Bush issued what became known as the Bush Doctrine or
self-declared right to wage global (imperial) wars against "terrorist"
states or ones that harbor or aid them. The 2002 National Security Strategy
(NSS) made it policy and in stronger terms in 2006 - the unilateral right to
wage preventive, preemptive and later "proactive" wars against perceived
threats or potential challengers and to control the world's energy and other
resources in key regions like the Middle East, Eurasia, Latin America,
Africa and now the Arctic. The 2006 version mentions Iran 16 times and
states: "We may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran."
Current developments suggest that position is unchanged, at least in
belligerent rhetoric.
The Air Force's "Strategic Master Plan FY 06 and Beyond calls space "the
ultimate high ground of US military operations." It aims to link the
Pentagon with NASA, militarize its operations, "own outer space," and
weaponize it with the most advanced, destructive current and future
technology, including unmanned space vehicles for planetary surveillance.
The October 2006 National Space Policy embraced this agenda without so
stating it. It called on NASA to "execute a sustained and affordable human
and robotic program of space exploration and develop, acquire, and use civil
space systems to advance fundamental scientific knowledge of our Earth
system, solar system, and universe." The nuclear input is from language "to
ensure space capabilities....to further US national security, homeland
security, and foreign policy objectives (with) a robust foreign space
intelligence collection and analysis capability" to assure it and have the
heavens militarized for enforcement.
Seizing full advantage from the 9/11 event and follow-up anthrax attacks,
the Bush administration subverted the rule of law, abandoned restrictive
treaties, militarized more than the rest of the world combined, and
rescinded the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) so as to illegally
develop new biowarfare weapons. It further renounced the 1989 (GHW
Bush-signed) Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that prohibits
"the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological
(Biological) and Toxin Weapons...."
According to international (and biowarfare) law expert Francis Boyle, it's
to fight and win a future biowar. It also makes "a catastrophic biowarfare
or bioterrorist incident a statistical certainty" and makes everyone
unwitting subjects of a recklessly endangering experiment. To go along with
a potential nuclear holocaust and turning democracy into fantasy.
Homeland Police State Enforcement
Implementation follows planning. At home, it's been high-octane repression
in the forms reviewed below and covered earlier in this writer's December
2007 Police State America article. Here it's reviewed more briefly. The
topic is hugely important and explains the current state under George Bush
with little or no likely change coming under Barack Obama.
Post-9/11, "national security" and the "war on terrorism" became buzzwords
to rally the public for what lay ahead. On the evening of September 11, Bush
asked for public and world support and began the "government's emergency
(preventive war strategy) response plans," but not as people envisioned.
Policies were explained above. Ignore the law. Wage aggressive wars. Destroy
homeland civil liberties, and more in defense of privilege over beneficial
social change.
In so doing, he turned momentary world support and sympathy into mass public
condemnation and rather quickly. He also risked the unimaginable. Replacing
democracy with tyranny and ending planetary life with first-strike nuclear
weapons - far more destructive than used against Japan in 1945.
Throughout history, going back to George Washington, presidents issued
Executive Orders (EOs) even though nowhere does the Constitution let them
make new law through one-man decrees. Compared to Bush, however, past
presidents were almost discrete. He, in contrast, signed a blizzard of them
as well as the equally unconstitutional practice of changing legislation
with "signing statements."
Until 2001, all presidents combined challenged new laws with less than 600
of them. Through almost mid-2008, Bush issued at least 157 in changing over
1150 provisions of law and about which the Congressional Research Service
said 78% of them raised constitutional objections. He abused his authority
to rewrite laws as he wished, continues doing so to the present, and
Congress and the courts let him get away with it.
Bush also usurped unconstitutional "Unitary Executive" authority or what
Chalmers Johnson calls "a ball-faced assertion of presidential
supremacy....dressed up in legalistic mumbo jumbo" to act as he wishes on
all matters, foreign or domestic, law or no law - a practice that "flies in
the face of the Constitution itself."
Justice Louis Brandeis' dissent in Myers v. United States (1926) cited the
separation of powers and said it exists "to preclude (this type) exercise of
arbitrary power, (divide) government powers among three departments, to save
the people from autocracy." A clear and present danger under George Bush
with no Brandeis on the High Court to object. Nor in Congress with enough
power to matter. Not the House Speaker, party leaders in both Houses, or key
committee chairpersons.
Post-9/11 on September 17, Bush signed a secret presidential finding
(similar to EOs) empowering the CIA to "Capture, Kill or Interrogate Al-Queda
Leaders." It authorized establishing a secret global network of facilities
to detain, interrogate and otherwise mistreat whomever is called a
"terrorist threat" and began his administration's official sanctioning of
torture. More on that below.
On November 13, he issued Military Order Number 1. It disturbed one analyst
enough to call it a "coup d'etat" and "watershed moment in (the) country"
and hinted at what would follow: violating the rule of law, suspending civil
liberties, and usurping absolute authority to act against anyone - later
called "unlawful enemy combatants" or "terrorist" threats, including US
citizens stripped of their constitutional protections. At the president's
discretion, they're gone. And it was only the beginning. From then followed:
-- the use of National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives (NSPDs
and HSPDs); they're much like EOs and presidential findings with the "full
force and effect of law;" they relate to national security and remain
classified unless made public; Bush issued dozens of NSPDs and over 20 HSPDs;
-- the October 25, 2001 NSPD-9 signed into law official administration
policies adopted on September 4, 2001 - seven days before 9/11 with every
expectation they'd be implemented; it's titled "Defeating the Terrorist
Threat to the United States" and referred to Al Queda and so-called
terrorist networks of Muslim fundamentalist extremists;
-- later NSPDs related to combatting WMDs, the Iraq war, biodefense (aka
biowarfare), using space for "full spectrum dominance," and much more;
-- the combined NSPD-51/HSPD-20 deserves special mention; it was similar to
Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 12656 that empowered the executive in cases
of "any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack,
technological emergency, or other emergency, that seriously degrades or
seriously threatens the national security of the United States;"
-- it established "Continuity of Government (COG)" procedures under a
"Catastrophic Emergency" that may be anything from a real or contrived
"terrorist" act to whatever the president calls a justifiable "emergency;"
it established unprecendented powers free from constitutional constraints -
to claim a "national emergency," declare martial law, and govern as a
virtual dictator with limitless police state powers; some COG powers were
invoked on September 11, 2001; they've remained in force since, and on
August 28, 2008, George Bush continued "the powers and authorities adopted
to deal with that emergency;"
-- the USA Patriot Act (over 300 pages long) - written well in advance of
9/11; passed and signed into law 45 days later on October 26; it capitalized
on a window of hysteria; granted unchecked powers to the executive; and
subverted sacred constitutional liberties of free expression, religion,
right to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for redress of
grievances; due process; and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures
- in all the ways now allowed through a process of institutionalized spying
and monitoring of all our behavior and practices at the government's
discretion; the Act also (for the first time) created the crime of "domestic
terrorism" to apply the definition to US citizens as well as aliens;
-- the November 25, 2002 Homeland Security Act (HSA); also written well in
advance of 9/11 as a companion anti-terrorism bill and included the
repressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) - to terrorize
legal and undocumented immigrants, mainly Latinos and Muslims; DHS
centralizes unprecedented military and law enforcements powers in the
executive branch for greater global dominance; like the Patriot Act, it
sweeps away constitutional protections and justifies it in the name of
"national security;" it coordinates it with the October 2002-created US
Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in violation of the 1807 Insurrection Act and
1878 Posse Comitatus protections against US military forces deployed inside
the country except as expressly authorized by the Constitution or in cases
of internal insurrection;
-- the late September 2006 Pentagon Global Strike Command called the Joint
Functional Component Command for Global Strike and Integration; it followed
from the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) that planned policy five to ten
years ahead and remains classified except for excerpted parts; they relate
to offensive strike systems and a revitalized defense infrastructure to meet
emerging threats; the tone is belligerent and declares preventive wars on
any nation, groups or force anywhere (including internal ones) and allows
NORTHCOM, DHS, and other domestic security agencies unrestricted
countermeasure powers - indicative of a police state;
-- within days of 9/11, torture became official US policy and was authorized
by a blizzard of presidential directives, memoranda, and other official
documents from the highest levels of government; domestic and international
laws and norms were rendered invalid, and a new repressive order replaced
them; the rule of law no longer applies, and constitutional protections no
longer exist at the president's discretion;
-- Congress was fully obliging; in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, it
officially sanctioned torture after intervening against the Supreme Court's
Rasul v. Bush (June 2004) ruling granting Guantanamo detainees habeas
rights; it also ruled they had none.
--in the Military Commissions Act (MCA - aka the torture authorization and
habeas revocation act), it subverted the High Court a second time in Hamdan
v. Rumsfeld when it held as follows: Guantanamo Bay military commissions
lack "the power to proceed because (their) structures and procedures violate
both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions
(of) 1949;" Congress responded with sweeping MCA powers, reaffirmed torture
as official US policy, and let the president designate anyone anywhere in
the world (including US citizens) "unlawful enemy combatants" and empowered
him to arrest, detain, and torture them indefinitely in military prisons as
well as deny them due process in civil courts;
-- Sections 1076 and 333 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization
Act for FY 2007; they ended the 1807 Insurrection Act and 1878 Posse
Comitatus protections against US military forces used for law enforcement
inside the country, except as explained above;
-- Congress passed the Real ID Act of 2005 that, if implemented, threatens
personal privacy; originally, it was to become effective in May 2008 to
require states to meet federal ID standards; so far, however, it's in
question as at least two dozen states passed laws prohibiting it use; it
requires every US citizen and legal resident to have a national identity
card that in most cases is a driver's license; it's to contain personal
information required to open a bank account, board an airplane, be able to
vote, or conduct virtually any essential business; in the future it may also
contain a radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chip to track all
our movements, activities and transactions at all times - a police state
dream; the legislation so far remains stalled;
-- institutionalized spying now policy under George Bush with Congress
complicit in its implementation; since late 2001, the National Security
Agency (NSA) did it illegally; the 2007 Protect America Act amended the 1978
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to allow virtually unrestricted
mass data-mining and intercept of all types of domestic and foreign
communications of anyone - foreign nationals and US citizens; it authorizes
unrestricted warrantless spying for any claimed "national security" reason;
-- Congress further violated Fourth Amendment protections against illegal
searches and seizures by passing the 2008 FISA Amendments Act; it gutted
FISA by weakening standards of proof and warrants required for surveillance
and granted telecom companies retroactive immunity for warrantless spying
post-9/11 - now institutionalized unchecked, unrestrained and easily abused;
-- through late November 2008, Bush issued around 280 Executive Orders in
additional to his signing statements, presidential findings, and official
executive memoranda; the July 17, 2007 EO was particularly egregious:
"Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in
Iraq;" under it, Bush usurped authority to criminalize the anti-war
movement, make First Amendment protests illegal, and assert power to seize
the assets of persons violating this decree; he effectively criminalized
dissent and moved the nation closer to tyranny;
-- the Bush administration may be the most secretive one ever in a
democracy; he placed limits on presidential records, the Freedom of
Information Act, and a free and open society by usurping power to classify
information for "national security" and create a new array of categories
called "sensitive;"
-- in November 2006, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) amended the
1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act; it criminalized First Amendment
activities advocating for animal rights - like peaceful protests,
leafleting, undercover investigations, whistleblowing and boycotts; it makes
these forms of animal protection advocacy a crime;
-- the House overwhelmingly passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007; it's now in the Senate where if passed and
signed into law will effectively criminalize "thought" and further erode
constitutional protections;
-- Sections 1615 and 1622 of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act; they
authorize DOD to militarize state and local law enforcement authorities
during a national emergency described as "an accident of national
significance or a catastrophic incident;" they effectively established a
martial law apparatus at state and local levels to work alongside federal
agencies - without congressional approval.
For the past eight years, these and other administration policies explain
the current state in America - a swift descent from a deeply flawed
democracy to the tipping edge of tyranny. This is what awaits Barack Obama
and the challenge he faces. Given his past record and disturbing campaign
rhetoric, he's unlikely to deliver meaningful change in spite of the public
pleading for and expecting it.
Permanent Wars for Global Dominance
Afghanistan, Iraq, Occupied Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan,
Somalia, North Korea, Venezuela, Bolivia, Haiti, Cuba as well as China,
Russia and the Caucasus; a likely 1000 + US bases worldwide in around 150
countries; current defense spending exceeding $1 trillion annually with all
domestic and foreign related items included - plus unknown multi-billions
kept secret off-the-books; and a state of permanent war abroad for global
dominance and at home for total control as discussed above. Parts of the
Bush legacy today in America.
Afghanistan came first - a nation John Pilger calls more abused,
long-suffering, and less helped than any other in living memory. Today, its
agony continues. The country is occupied. Some estimates cite over three
million deaths since 2001. War continues to rage. Little of it makes
headlines, but Afghans are victimized by America's "war on
terrorism."
So are Iraqis from nearly three decades of war. First against Iran in the
1980s. Then against America from August 2, 1990 to the present - the savage
Gulf War causing about 200,000 deaths; 12.5 years of genocidal sanctions; an
unimaginable toll of at least 1.5 million deaths; two-thirds of them
children; and unmeasurable amounts of illnesses and human misery through
March 2003. Then George Bush's Iraq War. At least another million deaths.
Some estimates as high as two million. Around four million internally and
externally displaced. Mass unemployment and poverty. A near-total absence of
essential services - fresh drinking water, sanitation, electricity, medical
care, education, security and for many enough food.
Emergency needs are unmet. It's an overall humanitarian disaster of epic
proportions unreported in the mainstream. The "cradle of civilization" was
erased for plunder. A nation was transformed into a "free trade" paradise.
The message for others is it's coming - "shock and awe," invasion,
occupation, lost sovereignty, mass deaths, illness and disease,
incarcerations, torture, and utter deprivation. A testimony to "democracy,"
liberation, and "free market" majesty. A ghoulish dystopia; a living hell
heading everywhere unless stopped.
It afflicted Haiti for over 500 years. Most recently beginning on February
29, 2004, in the middle of the night, from a Bush-ordered coup d'etat, when
US Marines abducted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and forcibly flew him
to the Central African Republic. Today he's exiled in South Africa. He vows
to return, and Haitians want him back in any capacity.
Haiti is now occupied. UN Blue Helmet paramilitaries control it. So do other
repressive internal security forces. The people are deeply impoverished.
They're the poorest in the Hemisphere. Unemployment is rampant. A tiny 5% of
elites control everything - the economy, media, universities, professions,
and what passes for Haiti's polity. Washington holds an iron grip. Six
powerful families and US corporate interests profit. Another "free market"
paradise. Human deprivation is unimaginable and now much worse with Haitians
unable to afford high food prices. Most are undernourished. Many are
starving and forced to eat "mud cookies" from edible clay. They lack
nutrition, contain dangerous bacteria, and are just stomach-filler.
They protest for relief. Washington-directed UN "Peacekeepers" respond
violently. They patrol streets and neighborhoods, crush dissent, shoot to
kill, arrest the innocent, incarcerate them under horrific conditions, and
hold them indefinitely with little hope for judicial relief. Today's Haiti.
More of Bush's legacy.
Venezuela might have been the same if Washington's April 2002 coup
succeeded. Since taking office in February 1999, President Hugo Chavez was
targeted for removal, and maybe assassination, especially after George
Bush's election. Luckily he survived; continues to lead his nation; was
elected and reelected impressively; prevailed in every presidential,
parliamentary, municipal and referendum election since December 1998 until
hitting a momentary speed bump last December.
He nonetheless remains strongly popular. Venezuela is a democracy. Chavez
delivers vital social services. He redistributes national wealth to his
people. He's rewarded with their support, and that makes him target one in
the Hemisphere for removal - so far without success but not because Bush
didn't try. To be continued under the new incumbent.
Iran is also targeted and has been since the Islamic Revolution. After
George Bush's election, pressure built and today remains intense. The
Israeli Lobby wants regime change. So do Bush neocons and the Democrat
leadership, at least most of them. A large US naval presence is in the
region. Reinforcements may be sent. A potential blockade is threatened. It's
unclear if it's planned or just bluff. Pending H. Con. Res. 362 with around
250 co-sponsors calls for it. It remains undebated and referred to the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. A companion S. Res. 580 was also introduced. It's
also undebated and referred to the Foreign Relations Committee for
consideration.
Things will likely remain on hold until Barak Obama assumes office in
January. Nonetheless, the situation is tense and worrisome as both parties
are hostile to the Iranian government and very responsive to Israeli Lobby
pressure. In or out of office, Bush neocons have power and exert
considerable influence. Another testimony to his legacy that gives reason
for Iranians to worry. All humanity as well.
Then there's the Caucasus crisis over Georgia's willful aggression against
its breakaway South Ossetian province. It erupted on August 7, subsided a
few days later, but ignited a new Cold War with Georgia a US proxy and
Russia falsely accused of aggression.
Another key headline-making act of America v. Russia, more Bush legacy
fallout, and what the new president will face in 2009. As well as Russia's
justifiable anger at being surrounded by US bases. Most in place since
George Bush's election. And now "advanced tracking missile defense radar"
for the Czech Republic by 2012 and offensive "interceptor (and Patriot)
missiles" for Poland - neither of which Russia will tolerate nor should it.
It suggests a potential 1962 Cuba scenario when the world came within an
eyelash of nuclear war. It also echos Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" on
how WW I began and its early weeks. Either possibility shows the perils of
Bush's legacy on which the fate of the world may now hinge.
The Special Relationship between America and Israel
It began in March 1948 when Harry Truman met secretly with Chaim Weizmann
(Zionist leader and first Israeli president) and pledged support for a new
Jewish state. On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate ended at midnight. At the
same time, National Council members in Tel Aviv signed the Declaration of
the Establishment of the State of Israel. Minutes later, Washington followed
through on a 1922 congressional resolution in support of a Jewish homeland
and became the first country to extend recognition. Harry Truman signed the
following statement:
"This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed
in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional
government thereof.
The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto
authority of the new State of Israel."
It established an enduring alliance under successive administrations that
became more special than ever under George Bush. At its core, realgeopolitik
in a strategic part of the world. The mutual advantage for both sides, and
how the influential Israeli Lobby cemented it. James Petras explained it in
his important 2006 book: "The Power of Israel in the United States."
At its heart is the high proportion of wealthy and influential Jewish
families in the country - despite the small percentage of Jews in the
population overall. Allied with others, they created a "tyranny of Israel
over the US" that threatens world peace and security and the future of
democracies in both countries and elsewhere.
At least since 1967, the Lobby secured Washington's unconditional support
for Israel's wars of aggression. Also the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 Iraq War,
and a scheme to isolate and possibly blockade and/or attack Iran to solidify
regional dominance for both countries and a lock on that nation's vast oil
and gas resources.
Most important is what Washington provides in aid. Shirl McArthur explained
the direct part in his July 2006 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
article titled "A Conservative Estimate of Total Direct US Aid to Israel:
$108 billion. He used data from a January 5, 2006 Congressional Research
Service Report to Congress from 1949 through a 2006 FY estimate. It totaled
$98.72 billion. McArthur then added further DOD "special projects" amounts
of $9.24 billion for a grand $108 billion total. Far and away, Israel is the
largest recipient of US aid in all forms.
It includes:
-- around $3 billion annually in direct aid;
-- billions more in low or no interest loans;
-- millions annually for immigrant resettlement on expropriated Palestinian
lands;
-- multi-billions in waved loan obligations; at least $45 billion since
1974;
-- special multi-billion loan guarantees for aggressive wars and to
militarize and occupy Palestine;
-- billions more in military aid; financial help to develop Israel's defense
industry; state-of-the-art technology; and the latest US weapons;
-- US guarantees for Israel's access to oil; and
-- open-checkbook amounts for joint initiatives in or outside the region -
all with imperial aims plus special requests honored, including secret ones.
The US-Israeli relationship has always been special. More than ever under
George Bush the way Ariel Sharon once boasted. With good reason he said: "We
have the US president under our control." It advantages both sides but
gravely harms most others. Another chilling side of the Bush legacy to be
continued under Barack Obama, who'll be even more committed according to
James Petras. He calls him "America's First Jewish President" in a
compelling new article easily accessible online.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) North American Union (NAU)
It's another Bush administration grand scheme to merge three nations into
one - controlled by Washington and the corporate interests behind it. It's a
coup d'etat against the sovereignty of three nations enforced by
militarizing the continent for exploitation. If implemented, it will create
a borderless North America without barriers to trade and capital - mostly
for US corporate giants. It will ensure America gets free and unlimited
access to Canadian and Mexican resources, mainly oil and gas, and in the
case of Canada fresh water as well.
It will also militarize North America under US dominance in the name of
national and continental security, control it with police state powers, and
empower corporate interests to pillage it. It's a secretly crafted scheme
to:
-- make the region "safe" for business;
-- ruthlessly exploit workers; and
-- steal their future.
Its worst features are withheld from legislators. It's public language is
deceptively benign. Its real design is well hidden. Growing opposition is
significant but way short of stopping it. If in place, it will take Police
State America to a new level. More potential fallout from George Bush's
legacy.
Bush's War on Working Americans
Taking from the poor and middle class. Giving to the rich. That explains a
lot about Bush's plutocratic scheme, his "ownership society." To transfer
trillions of public and private dollars from millions of working Americans
to giant corporations and the wealthiest segment of society.
Corporations alone are hugely concentrated and virtual monopolies. Of the
world's largest economies, at least 51 are corporations. Most are US-based
or controlled and function as what Noam Chomsky calls "private tyrannies."
More than ever under George Bush. They're run by well-connected, powerful
figures comprising the top 1% of the nation's affluent.
According to economist Michael Hudson, they (and others in the top 1%) own
around 70% of the country's wealth in the form of stocks, bonds, land,
business assets, natural resources, and other investments. They're
interlocked for even more dominance and well served by an administration
delivering most everything they want.
In contrast, 90% of American families have little or no net worth with all
their debt burdens taken into account. And millions now face the potential
loss of their homes because of unaffordable mortgages and the nation's grave
economic conditions afflicting them. More as well. Since the mid-1970s,
wages haven't kept up with inflation, and benefits have declined and are
disappearing.
Jobs are offshored for greater profits. High-paying manufacturing and other
good ones are lost, replaced by lower-paying, less skilled, many part-time
ones, and a huge reserve army of unemployed and underemployed to contain
wage pressures. Union membership has plummeted from a post-war 1950s 34.7%
high to around 12% now and only 7.4% in the private sector.
Credit recent developments to George Bush. Post-9/11, he declared war on
working Americans. He took on public sector unions straightaway; denied
170,000 DHS employees civil service protection and the right to bargain
collectively; and targeted all federal workers for lower pay, fewer
benefits, loss of unionized rights, and in many cases their jobs.
He one-sidedly supports business. Stripped workers of their bargaining
rights. Denied pay raises for 1.8 million federal workers on the pretext of
a "national emergency" and millions more overtime pay. He appointed
anti-union officials. Tried to weaken and end Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid, and other social services; and exploited undocumented immigrants
as a wedge against organized labor but failed to secure "immigration reform"
to fully implement it.
Since 1999, and especially under George Bush, consumer debt grew twice as
fast as income. Millions live in poverty, many millions more just above it.
At least 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Millions more have
too little of it, and in some portions of every year at least 80 million
Americans are uninsured - and it's getting worse at a time of economic
crisis and skyrocketing unemployment.
The nation's 140 million working population has been gravely harmed.
Opportunity in America is disappearing. Today's wealth gap is unprecendented.
According to the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), one in three
jobs (around 47 million) pay low wages (defined as two-thirds the median
wage or $11.11 per hour or less) with few or no benefits, including pensions
or retirement accounts. One in four workers (around 35 million) earn poverty
wages. Millions of others as well because official statistics mask the
problem of big city workers earning too little to support their families.
They comprise a permanent underclass that's growing - and a dying middle
class that's eroding.
These conditions have accelerated under George Bush. He shamed the nation
by:
-- targeting the poor, middle America and people most vulnerable;
-- stripping away opportunity;
-- shifting wealth to the rich;
-- making speculation even more of a growth industry;
-- designating everything for privatization;
-- aiming to end public education and hand it to profiteers for plunder; and
-- creating the grimmest and most unparalled economic conditions since New
Deal reforms improved things in the 1930s.
More of his shameless legacy to be handed to the incoming administration
with faint hope it'll improve things.
Additional Bush Administration "Distinctions" - Early Corruption Scandals to
Today's Economy in Disarray
Besides the above, the Bush legacy has two other "distinctions." Its first
two years were tainted by huge corruption scandals, and its final two by far
greater criminal fraud and the greatest ever financial/economic calamity - a
truly unprecedented event. First the scandals with many familiar names.
Most prominent was Houston-based Enron. It began in 1985 shipping natural
gas through pipelines; then transformed itself over the next 16 years into
one of the country's most dominant energy traders - aided and abetted by its
close relationship with Texas Governor George Bush. In return for privileged
favors, he got huge financial contributions and a jump-start for his
presidential ambitions.
Enron prospered and had $111 billion in 2000 revenues. Fortune magazine
named it "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. But
by the end of 2001, a corruption scandal sunk it and forced it into
bankruptcy protection from its creditors.
It turned out that the company engaged in illegal, off-the-books
transactions and partnerships to maximize sales and profits and conceal
growing debt problems. By the time evidence emerged, it was too late for
investors and employees. Top company officials were charged and convicted of
securities, wire and mail fraud. Money laundering and conspiracy as well.
Its accounting firm Arthur Anderson was convicted of obstructing justice for
destroying evidentiary files and preventing the court from seeing financial
records, transactions, emails, memos and other fraud-related documents. On
May 31, 2005, the pro-business Supreme Court reversed the conviction on the
spurious grounds that jury instructions were inappropriate. Merrill Lynch
was just as fortunate. On January 22, 2007, the High Court dismissed a huge
lawsuit for restitution from colluding with Enron to defraud investors. It
immunized other bankers as well from any liability in the company's
malfeasance. Enron wasn't as lucky and no longer exists.
For every uncovered corporate scandal, countless others exist and remain
hidden. Here are a few Forbes.com lists during 2001, 2002 and an earlier
2000 one:
-- Adelphia Communications (2002) involving billions of illegal
off-the-books loans to top executives; also overstating financial results by
inflating capital expenses and concealing debt;
-- AOL Time Warner (2002) for inflating sales by booking barter deals on
advertising; AOL may have overstated revenue by $49 million, and the company
took a dubious $54 billion writedown for "good will" to end 2002 with the
largest loss ever in corporate history - $98.7 billion;
-- Bristol-Myers Squibb (2002) for inflating its 2001 revenue by $1.5
billion by so-called "channel-stuffing" - the practice of forcing
wholesalers to accept more products than they can sell to clean out company
inventory and claim added sales;
-- CMS Energy (2002) for illegally executing "round-trip" trades to
artificially boost energy trading volume;
-- Duke Energy (2002) for the same offense;
-- Dynergy (2002) for the same one;
-- El Paso (2002) - the same one also;
-- Global Crossing (2002) for engaging in network capacity "swaps" with
other carriers - to inflate revenue and for destroying evidentiary documents
to hide them;
-- Halliburton (2002) for inflating sales by booking barter transactions as
revenue;
-- Kmart (2002) - regarding anonymous letters from company employees
alleging the company's accounting practices intended to deceive investors
about its financial health;
-- Merck (2002) - for recording $12.4 billion in consumer-to-pharmacy
co-payments the company never collected;
-- Mirant (2002) - for fraudulent accounting practices that boosted revenues
and understated expenses;
-- Peregrine Systems (2002) - for overstating $100 million in sales by
improperly recognizing revenues from third-party resellers;
-- Quest Communications International (2002) - for illegally engaging in
"round-trip" trades to boost trading volumes and revenues;
-- Tyco (2002) - for its CEO's indictment for tax evasion, improper use of
company funds, and illegal merger accounting practices;
-- Xerox (2000) - for falsifying financial results for five years to boost
income by $1.5 billion, and last but not all
Worldcom (2002) - the second most notable scandal after Enron for
overstating cash flow by $3.8 billion; booking operating expenses as capital
ones; for SEC charges of $9 billion in fraudulent accounting practices; and
for founder and CEO Bernard Ebbers illegally taking $400 million in
off-the-books loans.
By late 2002, the Afghan and Iraq wars created an illusion of prosperity.
Alan Greenspan engineered it with 1% interest rates and huge liquidity
infusions. Ben Bernanke continued it. The administration supported it. The
result was predictable. A bubble economy and credit/debt crisis was allowed
to build and mushroom. It was structured on a foundation of speculative
greed and fraud and is imploding because of excess. It's spreading contagion
globally; creating unparalled risks; and threatening millions around the
world with financial ruin. It reveals predatory capitalism's dark side and
shows nothing this pernicious is sustainable.
Here's a brief look at George Bush's eight year (economic) balance sheet:
-- an unprecedented $8 trillion housing bubble now imploding;
-- millions of foreclosed homeowners and millions more at risk;
-- the likely deepest economic calamity since the 1930s and potentially one
even worse;
-- skyrocketing job losses;
-- rising bankruptcies;
-- failing banks;
-- consumers maxed out on credit and strapped by debt;
-- the American dream an illusion; from eroded household wealth, declining
wages and benefits, and soaring expenses;
-- trillions of dollar losses; likely many trillions more ahead;
-- a potential devastating deflation and eventual potential serious
inflation from excess money creation;
-- multi-trillions in toxic debt; from asset backed securities (ABS); not by
mistake; by design; as F. William Engdahl explains in his new book: "Power
of Money;" to profit hugely and create a banking panic; for greater
concentrated "financial and economic power in a few private hands;" globally
under JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup (if it survives), Goldman Sachs, and Bank
of America; masters of the universe;
-- an unrepayable national debt; in the tens of trillions;
-- speculative finance turned more than ever into a growth industry;
-- toxic waste derivative schemes in place of legitimate investments;
-- massive unchecked fraud;
-- "banksters" rewarded instead of punished;
-- the economy reeling from mountains of debt, frozen credit, mortgage
delinquencies, growing defaults, rising unemployment, and the possibility of
something much more serious ahead.
It's spreading everywhere, touching businesses and households. The result of
speculative finance, corruption, and irresponsible governance, now
threatening the nation with economic decline or possible ruin.
Today's problems are multi-fold and causing at least three simultaneously
imploding bubbles; ones responsible governance and corporate oversight could
have avoided:
-- a property, mainly housing one;
-- a mortgage finance one; and
-- an alphabet soup of toxic CDOs, SIVs, SPVs, CMOs, CMBSs, and a whole menu
of levered-up, high-risk securitized assets amounting to financial alchemy;
defrauding millions, including sophisticated investors and sovereign ones.
No one's sure how this can be resolved or how long it may take. It's a
deplorable administration's final chapter. An odious one as its end
approaches. From stolen elections to corporate scandals. Ruinous
militarization, permanent wars, and imperial madness. Reckless spending and
unrepayable debt. An environment of reckless finance, massive fraud, and
unprecedented wealth transfers to the rich. A war on working Americans.
Repressive police state laws. An absence of checks and balances. Democracy
reduced to fantasy. The nation in decline, and a lawless state with no
regard for the greater good.
Congress is largely supportive. So are federal courts, now stacked with
repressive right wing justices. Nearly two-thirds are from or affiliated
with the extremist Federalist Society. Its advocacy is chilling:
-- rolling back civil liberties;
-- ending New Deal social policies;
-- opposing reproductive choice, government regulations, labor rights, and
environmental protections;
-- allowing the nation's prison population explode to the world's largest;
mostly affecting nonviolent offenders; largely poor blacks and Latinos, and
overall subverting justice to defend privilege.
A full Bush legacy accounting requires volumes. The above is just a
sampling. For good measure, however, more examples are below from the many
during his tenure. They range from neglect to outrage to scandal to high
crimes and misdemeanors:
-- sending young men and women to fight illegal wars; then provided the sick
and wounded with third world health care on return; some even charged for
it; others get little or nothing;
-- irradiating vast areas of Iraq and Afghanistan with depleted uranium
contamination and other deadly toxins; they cause every imaginable health
problem to those exposed and their families;
-- issuing an executive order (EO) revoking Gerald Ford's
ban on assassinations and thus making the practice (along with torture)
official state policy;
-- willfully leaving New Orleans vulnerable to what FEMA in early 2001
called the most likely potential US disaster - a major hurricane and flood
in the city; ethnically cleansing poor blacks post-Katrina to let corporate
predators seize their land and property for profitable development;
-- rejecting the Kyoto Protocol ratified by 182 countries as of May 2008;
-- showing contempt for environmental issues and giving corporate allies
license to pollute;
-- increasing defense spending to over $1 trillion dollars annually with all
budgeted categories included plus multi-billions more in secret
off-the-books allocations;
-- at the least, having full knowledge and allowing the 9/11 attack to
happen; then rigging the 9/11 Commission to whitewash the investigation and
leave the most important questions unanswered;
-- promoting the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection
Act; now hurting homeowners in trouble and facing foreclosure; others as
well from lost jobs and illness;
-- trying to privatize Social Security for Wall Street; to end the most
important federal program keeping millions of seniors out of poverty;
-- ending Medicare through huge annual premium increases; gradually
eliminating Medicaid as well for the indigent;
-- hiring journalists to be paid propagandists;
-- supporting ending Net Neutrality and allowing service providers to censor
content;
-- vetoing stem cell research legislation twice;
-- supporting the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 to give loggers
license to clear cut;
-- spening billions on "missile defense" that, in fact, is for offense;
provocatively installing it close to Russian and Chinese borders;
-- wanting a constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be only between
a man and a woman;
-- adding a signing statement to the 2006 Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act asserting executive authority to open US mail;
-- supporting the 2005 Energy Policy Act and 2007 Energy Independence and
Security Act that mandate biofuel production and use; a scam to create food
shortages; let prices rise and enrich agribusiness; they're also a genetic
Trojan horse for Ag biotech giants like Monsanto to colonize our fuel and
food system, raise prices, control output, and make it all GMO - known to
harm human health;
-- favoring the abolition of the separation of church and state;
-- supporting nuclear proliferation for commercial and military purposes;
-- signing the 2006 Secure Fence Act to build a multi-billion dollar barrier
on our southern border with Mexico to deter unwanted Latino immigrants;
-- in 2003, exempting 20 million acres of wetlands and streams from Clean
Water Act (CWA) protections;
-- letting the dollar depreciate 40% from 2002 - 2008 and now manipulating
it higher to facilitate reckless money creation and borrowing; and
-- allowing market manipulation to let oil and gasoline prices skyrocket to
benefit Big Oil allies.
There's more as in the administration's final days George Bush is rushing
through new "midnight regulations" that will be very hard to change. They
include:
-- allowing uranium mining near the Grand Canyon;
-- permitting loaded firearms in national parks;
-- prohibiting injured consumers from suing negligent manufacturers in state
courts; requiring pro-business federal ones to handle them;
-- further gutting the Endangered Species Act by no longer requiring
government scientists to assess how imperiled species will be impacted by
mining, logging, drilling, highway building, and other development; climate
change and other environmental considerations will also no longer apply;
-- opening two million new acres of mountain state lands to shale oil
development;
-- opening additional acres of undeveloped lands to mining;
-- letting Big Coal dump waste from mountaintop mining into neighboring
streams and valleys; letting the industry build plants next to some sites
formerly restricted for environmental safety;
-- trashing the Clean Water Act by letting Agribusiness dump, or let seep,
animal waste into US waterways; another new regulation will exempt factory
farms from reporting air pollution from animal waste;
-- exempting big chemical companies from monitoring their lead emissions;
also classifying three billion pounds of hazardous waste as "recycling" and
letting another 200 million pounds be reclassified as "fuel;"
-- restricting the government's ability to protect workers from exposure to
toxic chemicals and other substances; also weakening the Family and Medical
Leave Act to make it harder for workers to have time off for serious
illness; another favor to truckers to permit longer driver hours on the road
- up to 11 hours a day with only 34 downtime hours between hauls;
-- a vaguely written rule to make it harder for pharmacies and health care
providers to participate in abortions; also to provide information on
contraception, family planning and artificial insemination;
-- limiting vision and dental care for over 50 million low income Medicaid
recipients to make hard-pressed states and poor people cover more of the
cost;
-- relaxing air pollution standards near national parks;
-- enlisting state and local police to illegally spy for the federal
government; and perhaps more still in the administration's final days - to
add an exclamation point to an ugly legacy.
Once these rules are published in the Federal Register, the new
administration will be hard-pressed to expunge or change them. Doing so
takes time, in some cases years, at a time the economic crisis, foreign
wars, and other priorities take precedence.
The Center for Public Integrity published its "Broken Government By the
Numbers" under George Bush. Some include:
-- 45 million (more likely 50) with no health care and tens of millions more
with too little;
-- 60% of EPA scientists report political interference with their work;
-- of 1273 whistleblower complaints from 2002 - 2008, all but 17 were
dismissed - a mere 1.3%;
-- 190,000 missing US-supplied weapons in Iraq;
-- $212.3 million in Halliburton overcharges for oil construction work in
Iraq plus countless millions more for its other services and products; much
the same is true for other companies with close administration ties;
-- record fiscal deficits, expected to reach or exceed $1 trillion for FY
2009 and successive years thereafter;
-- a record $9.91 billion for government secrecy in 2007;
-- 800 government laptops with sensitive information lost by FBI, DEA, and
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
-- 30 million pounds of tainted beef recalled in 2007 and concern for how
much more is never found or reported;
-- DOD weapons acquisition budget exceeded by over $300 billion plus
trillions of unaccounted for defense allocations;
-- less than 3% of US electricity needs provided by alternative energy;
-- the horrific toll in Iraq and Afghanistan - to US forces and local
populations;
-- $100 billion or more in annual federal tax revenues lost by letting
corporations and the rich use off-shore tax havens;
-- $60 billion in annual Medicare fraud;
-- lax FDA, FAA, OSHA and other government agency enforcement endangering
public health and safety;
-- 20,000 annual US deaths from power plant and diesel vehicle pollution;
-- 60,000 newborns a year at risk for neurological problems because of
mercury emissions from coal-fired plants;
-- 935 "demonstrably false statements" in the run-up to the Iraq war;
-- 760,800 disability claims backlogged and awaiting hearings by the Social
Security Administration as of October 2008, and
-- 806,000 veterans' disability claims in 2006 (mostly from the Iraq and
Afghan wars); the backlog reached 400,000 in February 2007.
These and other policies, measures, rules (or lack of them), actions, and
shoddy under-performance favor the rich and harm most others. In addition,
militarizing the nation is heading it for insolvency, tyranny and ruin -
from overreach to lawlessness to massive corruption and fraud.
The Bush legacy. Tainted from start to finish. Herbert Hoover, Augustus
Caesar and Caligula combined, and now on Barack Obama's plate to handle.
It's doubtful he can or will try. Beware of promised change. It usually
guarantees little, and none on what matters most. A lot rides on that being
wrong at the most perilous time in our history when the task awaiting the
new president may be more than any new head of state can handle.
Given Obama's rogue team, what James Petras calls "ambitious power-driven
operatives (who represent) the biggest threat to world peace and to US
democratic values in recent history," expect his policy initiatives to
advance the worst of them under George Bush, and soon enough we'll know we
were "Fooled Again."
A Final Comment and Tribute to Iraqi Journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi's
Heroism
We heard the story and saw the clip. It's all over the world about a man
who's now a hero to millions. Al Jazeera explained that: "In Iraqi culture,
throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt and (al-Zaidi's action) is
likely to serve as a lasting reminder of the widespread opposition to the
US-led invasion (and occupation) of Iraq - the conflict which has come to
define Bush's presidency."
At the same time he shouted: "This is the farewell kiss you dog....this is
from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." According
to Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan's independent Al-Gahd newspaper:
"Throwing the shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever....it expresses
how Iraqis and other Arabs hate" this man.
Al-Zaidi is now imprisoned. He faces prosecution by the Iraqi "government"
under three articles of the country's criminal code and may be sentenced to
up to 15 years - for insulting a foreign head of state, the Iraqi prime
minister, and possibly the more serious charge of assault.
He's been badly beaten, struck on the head with a rifle butt, has a broken
arm and ribs, facial and other cuts, and reportedly has been tortured. A
signature campaign is circulating to free him. It's easily accessed online.
Sign it in solidarity with him, for the many others he represents, ending
the Iraq occupation, liberation and human rights for its people, and as a
powerful parting gesture against George Bush, his ugly administration, and
its tainted and criminal legacy.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/bushlegacy14jan09.shtml
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Global Research, December
17, 2008
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11421
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11256
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11092
Secret Geophysical Weapons
(earthquake, floods, storms, fires, 9/11) Crimes Against Humanity
in Myanmar, China, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Iran, Yemen,
Turkey, Greece, USA, Central America, the Carribean, and the Pacific killing
well over a million people and massive destruction. (please see the
REFERENCES below)
War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Torture
using Directed Energy and Neurological Weapons to cause the
most horrendous psychological tortures, rapes, sexual abuse, surgical
mutilations, 'mind control', and other mental and physical mutilations on
many, many thousands of people worldwide citizens, combatants and leaders
(coup-de-etats and puppet governments, literally). (please see the
REFERENCES below)
Dirty Wars and Black Operations fomenting and
prolonging conflicts and civil strife in
Algeria, Sudan, Congo, Somalia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa,
Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Russia, the Caucasus, Pakistan, India,
Kashmir, Sri Lanka, China, Tibet, Cambodia, Korea, Thailand, Colombia,
Bolivia causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
in Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in
the deaths of well over a million people and the
ongoing destruction of those countries, as the criminals pretend that the
world's most powerful surveillance and military forces can't establish peace
and stability there in 5 and 7 years respectively.
Crimes Against Humanity using Directed Energy Weapons to
cause electrical and mechanical crashes and disasters (cars, planes, trains,
ships etc.), building and bridge collapses, and violations of the integrity
of electronic data and systems killing thousands of people and causing much
criminal malfeasance. (please see the REFERENCES below)
Active Criminal Complicity in all of the above crimes by the Media
Monopolies and "professionals" as almost all public discourse, and
as much as 80% of 'international news', 'events' and 'history', has been
degraded into produced and managed dramas/atrocities (i.e. wars, disasters,
civil strife etc), and criminally presented as infotainment, endogenous
socio-political changes, propaganda and/or pseudo-science. (please
see the REFERENCES below)
Active Criminal Complicity in all of the above crimes by other
Governments, Agencies and International Organisations as there's no
genuine information or analyses about any of these crimes at all.
Regarding these Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes, Dirty Wars, Black
Operations, And Secret Weapons there is a complete
ORWELLIAN/STALINIST PUBLIC INFORMATION AND INQUIRY BLACKOUT.
ABOUT SECRET GEOPHYSICAL WEAPONS:-
US CONGRESS, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT & UK PARLIAMENT - BRIEFINGS ON
SECRET GEOPHYSICAL WEAPONS & 'MIND CONTROL'
http://www.policestateplanning.com/briefings.htm
GLOBAL RESEARCH - HAARP IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20020104&articleId=205
HAARP is fully operational and has the ability of potentially triggering
floods, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes. From a military standpoint,
HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction
VIDEO:- CHINA CONSIDERS WAR AGAINST USA OVER EARTHQUAKE ATTACK
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=0VX0JvpW5q0&feature=related
http://tinyurl.com/3g4rd5
THE PENTAGON'S SECRET SPACE WEAPONS PROGRAM,
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/WOR406A.html
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27a/239.html
CAMPAIGN FOR COOPERATION IN SPACE - HAARP IS A SPACE-BASED WEAPON OF
MASS-DESTRUCTION
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2008/05/haarp-is-a-spac.html
9/11 WAS DONE BY THE NWO CRIMINALS USING HAARP
The "war on terrorism" is bogus. The 911 narrative as conveyed by
the 911 Commission report is fabricated.
The Bush administration is involved in acts of cover-up and complicity at
the highest levels of government........
Without 911, the war criminals in high office do not have a leg to stand on.
The entire national security construct collapses like a deck of cards
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7718
http://peaceinspace.org/
http://www.911truth.org/
http://www.911truth.eu/en/
http://911proof.com/index
VIDEO:- USA EXTREMISTS STAGED THE 9/11 ATTACKS ON AMERICA TO IGNITE
THE "WAR ON TERRORISM"
"...that war is being fought and paid for with the blood, the
lives, and the tax dollars of terrorised American (and world) citizens"
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=gAcxGD6-c-E
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GQVEwlvm0oc
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=acxmiyubTLs
HAARP AND ITS ROLE IN 9/11/ 2001
http://peaceinspace.org/
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV - "THE THREAT OF NEW
WEAPONRY"
http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/84544-0/
FROM PRAVDA - SECRET GEOPHYSICAL WEAPONS - "UNPREDICTABLE NATURAL
DISASTERS AND MAN-CAUSED CATASTROPHES"
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/01/15/42068.html
SECRET GEOPHYSICAL WEAPONS
http://www.rense.com/general28/deathray.htm
IS IT WEATHER OR GOVERNMENT TERROR?
http://onlinejournal.org/Commentary/102205Mazza/102205mazza.html
VIDEO:- HAARP: GEOPHYSICAL WARFARE
http://www.google.com/search?domains=globalresearch.ca&q=haarp&sa=Google+Search&sitesearch=globalresearch.ca
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=dNrL9o7mh-M
ABOUT DIRECTED ENERGY & NEUROLOGICAL WEAPONS:-
THE SHOCKING MENACE OF SATELLITE SURVEILLANCE by John Fleming
http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1068
JOHN ST. CLAIR AKWEI VS. NSA, FT. MEADE, MD, USA
http://www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/akwei.html
SYSTEMS OF SURVEILLANCE & REPRESSION by Judy Malloy
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/gunterandgwen/resources.html
SPACE-BASED DOMESTIC SPYING: KICKING CIVIL LIBERTIES TO THE CURB
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10864
the link to our OVER 780 DIRECTED ENERGY AND
NEUROLOGICAL WEAPONS, AND ORGANISED STALKING TORTURE AND ABUSE VICTIMS' CASE
SUMMARIES
http://www.freedrive.com/folder/177784 OR
http://www.mydrive.ch username
johnfinch password - TORTURECASES
VICTIMS' ACCOUNTS FROM THE WHOLE WORLD
600 + VICTIMS' ACCOUNTS
WEB:
http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/victm-hm.htm
BAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE ON CIVILIANS PETITION - 370 + SIGNATURES AND
MESSAGES OF VICTIMS & SUPPORTERS
WEB:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/synergy/?e
EMAIL: ti.petition@gmail.com,
ti.synergy@gmail.com,
WANTTOKNOW. INFO/MINDCONTROL
http://www.wanttoknow.info/mindcontrol10pg
MIND CONTROL & SUBLIMINAL SUGGESTION - 100 USA PATENTS
http://www.rexresearch.com/sublimin/sublimin.htm
ON THE NEED FOR NEW CRITERIA OF DIAGNOSIS OF PSYCHOSIS IN THE LIGHT
OF MIND INVASIVE TECHNOLOGY, CAROLE SMITH, JOURNAL OF PSYCHO-SOCIAL STUDIES
, VOL 2(2) NO 3 2003
http://www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/NewCrit-JPSS-CS2.htm
PROJECT CENSORED - HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM OF THOUGHT VIOLATIONS BY
US MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATIONS.
WEB:
http://www.projectcensored.org/articles/story/us-intelligence-community-human-rights-violations/
USA REPRESENTATIVE JIM GUEST'S (MO) LETTER
http://www.freedomfchs.com/repjimguestltr.pdf
http://www.msnusers.com/JAMESWALBERTFILE/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=11
"October 10, 2007
Dear Member of the Legislature and Friends:
This letter is to ask for your help for the many constituents in our country
who are being affected unjustly by electronic weapons torture and covert
harassment groups. Serious privacy rights violations and physical injuries
have been caused by the activities of these groups and their use of
so-called non-lethal weapons on men, women, and even children.
I am asking you to play a role in helping these victims and also stopping
the massive movement in the use of Verichip and RFID technologies in
tracking Americans. . . . . ."
Sincerely,
Representative Jim Guest EMAIL:
Jim.Guest@house.mo.gov ,
jimoguest@msn.com
WEB: http://jimguest.com/
THE HUMAN RESEARCH SUBJECT PROTECTION ACT OF 1997 INTRODUCED BY
USA SENATOR JOHN GLENN
http://www.ahrp.org/InformedConsent/glennConsent.php
OPERATION MIND CONTROL by Walter Bowart
http://d.scribd.com/docs/2aldagk0d36ql3hbr80m.pdf
WALL STREET JOURNAL - NSA's DOMESTIC SPYING GROWS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120511973377523845.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
AUSTRALIA FIRST TO ADMIT "WE'RE PART OF GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM"
- ECHELON OUTED BY THE HEAD OF AUSTRALIA'S DEFENCE SIGNALS DIRECTORATE (DSD),
MARTIN BRADY.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/2/2889/1.html
ABOUT THE NWO-Nazis:-
VIDEO:- PRESIDENT EISENHOWER WARNS OF THE 'MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL
COMPLEX' ENDANGERING DEMOCRACY & LIBERTIES
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rd8wwMFmCeE&feature=related
VIDEO:- PRESIDENT KENNEDY ON THE 'SECRET GOVERNMENT' BEFORE THE
ASSASSINATION/COUP
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces&feature=related
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DxnpujfanUM&feature=related
VIDEO:- USA EXTREMISTS STAGED THE 9/11 ATTACKS ON AMERICA TO IGNITE
THE "WAR ON TERRORISM"
"...that war is being fought and paid for with the blood, the
lives, and the tax dollars of terrorised American (and world) citizens"
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=gAcxGD6-c-E
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GQVEwlvm0oc
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=acxmiyubTLs
VIDEOS:- 9/11 AND THE "WAR ON TERROR" QUESTIONED IN JAPAN`S
PARLIAMENT - LANDMARK SPEECHES BY CONGRESSMAN YUKIHISA FUJITA
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20081101&articleId=10777
9/11 WAS DONE BY THE NWO CRIMINALS USING HAARP
The "war on terrorism" is bogus. The 911 narrative as conveyed by
the 911 Commission report is fabricated.
The Bush administration is involved in acts of cover-up and complicity at
the highest levels of government........
Without 911, the war criminals in high office do not have a leg to stand on.
The entire national security construct collapses like a deck of cards
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7718
http://peaceinspace.org/
http://www.911truth.org/
http://www.911truth.eu/en/
http://911proof.com/index
9/11 AND THE "WAR ON TERROR" QUESTIONED IN BRITAIN`S PARLIAMENT BY
FORMER BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK - SHORTLY BEFORE HIS "UNTIMELY
DEATH"
former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House Of
Commons that "Al Qaeda" is not really a terrorist group but a database of
international Mujaheddin and arms smugglers used by the CIA and Saudis to
funnel guerrillas, arms, and money into Soviet-Occupied Afghanistan.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=1291
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11487
HAARP AND ITS ROLE IN 9/11/ 2001
http://peaceinspace.org/
ASSESSING THE BUSH LEGACY: GLOBAL WAR, WAR ON AMERICANS, TORTURE,
DESTRUCTION OF CIVIL LIBERIES, AND MEGA-THEFT
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11421
l
PENTAGON IMPERIAL BEEF-UP
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JE31Df04.html
"SPACE WAR YOUR WORLD AT WAR"
http://www.spacewar.com/
AMERICA'S "WAR ON TERRORISM" by MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY
http://www.globalresearch.ca/globaloutlook/truth911.html
CELSIUS 9/11: WORLD TAKEOVER AND THE WAR OF TERROR
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE: WHO WAS BEHIND THE OCTOBER 2002 BALI
BOMBINGS?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10931
THE LEGAL ADVICE TO WAGE WAR ON IRAQ WAS NOT JUST "SEXED-UP", IT WAS
CONCOCTED
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11205
STATE-SPONSORED TERROR: BRITISH AND AMERICAN BLACK OPS IN IRAQ
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9447
AFGHANISTAN, ANOTHER UNTOLD STORY
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11279
CREATING AN "ARC OF CRISIS": THE DESTABILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST
AND CENTRAL ASIA
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11313
POLITICAL DESTABILIZATION IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: THE ROLE OF THE
CIA-ISI TERROR NETWORK
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10242
INDIA'S 9/11. WHO WAS BEHIND THE MUMBAI ATTACKS?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11217
ATROCITY UNLIMITED: US SEEKS TO TURN SOMALIA INTO GLOBAL FREE-FIRE
ZONE
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11375
NWO MASS MURDER IN AFRICA
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10815
CONGO RESOURCE WARS
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8310
WESTERN INVOLVEMENT IN THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8189
ONLY LITTLE WAR CRIMINALS GET PUNISHED
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=13148
UNFINISHED BUSINESS FOR AMERICA: TORTURE CRIMES COMMITTED BY HIGH
LEVEL CIVILIANS AND GENERALS
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11092
JUSTICE NEEDS TO BE SERVED IN 2009 IMPEACHMENT IS NECESSARY
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11256
INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND IMPUNITY: THE CASE OF THE USA ed. Nils
Andersson et al.
http://www.claritypress.com/
SECRECY NEWS FROM THE FAS PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT SECRECY
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
MONARCH: THE NEW PHOENIX PROGRAM
http://www.monarchnewphoenix.com/ ,
http://www.monarchnewphoenix.org/,
http://www.myspace.com/marsboy683
COMPUTERSTATE by Paul Baird
http://www.surveillanceissues.com/article_computerstate.pdf
PROJECT CENSORED - NO HABEAS CORPUS FOR 'ANY PERSON'
the new law appears to create a parallel 'star chamber' system for
the prosecution, imprisonment, and possible execution of enemies of the
state, whether those enemies are foreign or domestic
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-no-habeas-corpus-for-any-person/
PROJECT CENSORED - AN ELECTION WITHOUT MEANING
will habeas corpus and posse comitatus be restored to the people?
Will torture stop?...will the us national security agencies stop mass spying
on our personal communications? Will the neo-conservative agenda of total
military domination of the world be reversed?
http://www.projectcensored.org/articles/story/an-election-without-meaning/
PROJECT CENSORED - THE PROPAGANDA MODEL & ACCELERATED MEDIA
CONCENTRATION
a handful of multinational corporations controls nearly everything
we see and hear on the screen, over the airwaves and in print.
http://www.projectcensored.org/articles/story/left-progressive-media-inside-the-propaganda-model/
THE NEW MEDIA MONOPOLY - BEN BAGDIKIAN
describes the cartel of five giant media conglomerates who now control the
media
. They manufacture politics and social values
http://benbagdikian.net/index.htm
RULERS AND RULED IN THE US EMPIRE: BANKERS, ZIONISTS AND MILITANTS
by JAMES PETRAS
http://www.claritypress.com
THE
GLOBALIZATION OF POVERTY AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER by
MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION: THE HIDDEN AGENDA OF GENETIC MANIPULATION by
F. WILLIAM ENGDAHL
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
THE GREAT LAND GIVEAWAY: NEO-COLONIALISM BY INVITATION
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11231
WHO ARE THE ARCHITECTS OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE?
IT TRIGGERS AN UNPRECEDENTED
CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10860
BUSH/USA - WAR CRIMES & HITLER CONNECTIONS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/all-the-presidents-nazis_b_102022.html
ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE 2ND WORLD WAR:-
1. Falsifiers Of History: An Historical Document On The Origins Of World War
Ii
http://www.agitprop.org.au/lefthistory/1948_falsifiers_of_history.php
http://www.amazon.com/Falsifiers-History-Historical-Document-Origins/dp/B000GQ1O9E
2. P. Zhilin, They Sealed Their Own Doom, (Moscow 1970)
3. R. Gibson, Soviet Foreign Policy 1917-1974, (Sydney 1975), Chapter
21
4. D. F. Fleming, The Cold War and its Origins, 2 volumes
PLEASE CONTACT US FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:-
Yours in the search for openness and respect for universal human rights
John Finch, 5/8 Kemp St, Thornbury, Vic 3071, Australia, TEL: 0424009627
EMAIL: tijohnfinch@gmail.com,
MCmailteam@gmail.com
