TERRORISTS AREN’T THE THREAT–OUR GOVERNMENT IS
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistThanks to the bastard legislation–known as the
Patriot Act–our government is now worse of a threat to our own civil liberties than any terrorist we are supposed to fear like a scared little mouse.
The Bush administration contends that it has the
right to spy on us without any legality in place, no checks or balances, no
nothing that demands any oversight. (Kinda like the failed war in Iraq right now. Paul Bremer ring a bell?)
Because if they don’t–as Bush claims–Al-Qaeda will rain down hellfire and brimstone down on us.
Well, since the provisions of the
Protect America Act had expired 2 weeks ago…
nothing has happened.
No attack by Al-Qaeda. No nothing.
Curiously enough, Bush is silent on the matter. Where is his bravado now? Where is his righteousness that spells out all the doom and gloom–if he doesn’t get to spy on us right this very
moment?
Funny thing about law: Once it is in place, even an “above the law” President is contend to follow it–even if he doesn’t like it!
So maybe there are some checks and balances left in place–which haven’t been trampled yet by the Bush administration.
But tell that to the FBI.
Turns out they are worse gross violators of the law than the President is. Under secrecy and covert operations, this little outfit has now replaced the “Dirty Harry” of the mob and done away with being an organization which once prided itself with being thorough and fearless.
Through
national security letters, it has gone after just about
anyone it sees fit–even if they are innocent.
E-mail? Regular mail? Bank records? Everything and anything is fair game to them. It doesn’t matter if you are suspected of being affiliated with Al-Qaeda or not.
The FBI has your number. Quite literally.Director Robert Mueller says that they’ve done nothing improper and that everything is within the law.
Right.And this is the reason why the agency violated the law between 2003 and 2006–misusing the national security letter protocols on such levels that it is
beyond baffling?
Sure, it’s so easy to blame human error when overzealousness is clearly involved.
In this case–not seen since the McCarthy era–both our own government and the FBI is now treating
everyone from every walk of life as the
enemy and a distinct
threat to the nation as a whole.
Which is why they have been so adamant that we allow them to ignore the laws set forth by past administrations, the canon principles set forth by our own Constitution, and the overall definition of what a democracy should act and function like in the real world.
They need to act
above common decency and right–in order to protect us from our own worse fears.
And that…makes them a much bigger threat than any terrorist on the planet.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Al-Qaeda, Bush administration, civil liberties, FBI, illegal spying, Patriot Act, rights
FANTASY BECOMES A NIGHTMARISH REALITY
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistForget Iran.
Let’s worry about a nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Yes.A nuclear-
armed Pakistan.
This isn’t just some fantasy spiel concocted by the Bush administration over the case of phantom weapons of mass destruction with Iraq–or the possibility that Iran
might be developing nuclear weapons.
No.
This is reality.
The US’s worse nightmare imaginable.
For years now, we’ve heard the Bush and neocon cabal tell us that their worse Cold War fears is that terrorists somehow get a hold of some nukes and detonate them abroad or on US soil.
The perfect harbinger to and end to our democracy.
They’ve been telling us that we should be vigilant and fear everyone around us whom is not an American citizen. (a.k.a:
Muslims)
They’ve told us that if we didn’t rat out those whom we saw as a threat–we would only play into the terrorists’ hands.
Oddly enough, Pervez Musharraf’s recent actions in Pakistan seems to have born out some of those fears.
But let’s not get a hold of ourselves here and start preaching doom and gloom just yet.
After all, we supported this latest military strongman (for democracy’s sake–
naturally), and we’ll go on supporting him until it’s convenient for us to either cut ties with that country and our former ally–or
invade.
We did it with Iraq. So why not Pakistan?
Of course, with Musharaff cracking down on dissenters, the media, and the opposition–he’s making the terrorists’ job of obtaining nuclear matériel that much easier.
And given the fact that we practically
gave Pakistan the weapons technology and material to make
nukes–that Cold War fantasy of terrorists getting their hands on them…
Makes it all the more real.
And to think…we have
Bush to thank for that?
Who would’ve thought: A US President supposedly upholding freedom and democracy–by giving the terrorists just what they could’ve wanted and more...?
Only because our esteemed President (George W. Bush) thought it would be swell!–to park some nuclear weapons in the middle of a predominantly Muslim
country?I guess it is really true what they say about people and their ambitions these days:
You really don’t need a brain to become President of the United States of America!Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Al-Qaeda, fantasy, Iran, Iraq, Musharaff, Muslims, nightmare, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, President Bush, terrorists, US
BUSH’S FAILED WAR ON TERROR
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistPersonally, I don’t get tired of saying it: But you
cannot defeat an ideology with military force.
You can knock terrorist groups down for a time, kill some of their followers and maybe–if you’re lucky–nab some of their leadership, but in the end–they always bounce back; stronger than ever.
When President Bush was asked about Al-Qaeda’s resurgence and phenomenal strength of numbers, the
look on his face and body posture looked clear to me that he was about to
throw up.
Why?
Because since 9-11, W has been telling us: “We’re winning the war on terror!” and “We have Osama on the run!” and “It’s just a matter of time before we catch him!”
So the reality of this latest report by some intelligence analysts really shocked Bush to the core.
After blowing billions of dollars, manpower, and military hardware trying to oust and defeat the Taliban–and letting Osama escape at Tora Bora–the stark reality of this “war on terror” has been made perfectly clear:
We haven’t won anything at all.
Because of Bush’s incompetence at Afghanistan, his brazen swaggering into Iraq to topple an impotent dictator–the last 5 years of war in Iraq was just the ambrosia that Osama needed to reconstitute, reconstruct, and literally
remake his organization into an even more deadlier, more
stronger, entity than ever before.
And this time…?
Killing off Al-Qaeda is going to be even more
difficult to achieve than ever before. Even impossible.
All of this because Bush let his eyes off the ball for one split second in Afghanistan.
And do you what’s even more amusing about this whole thing?
Bill Clinton really can’t be
blamed for Bush's failures! Because he wasn’t
President on 9-11!
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: 9-11, Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, failures, Iraq, Osama bin Laden, President Bush, war on terror
BUSH’S DESPERATION IS BECOMING CLEAR
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistIn an effort to paint Iraq the central war on terror, Bush rushed to declassify information that the American public had known since this war on Iraq began:
That Osama bin Laden is going to use Iraq as the central staging point for his attacks.
Does W think we are
stupid?
That one day we would wake up and say, “Hey! You’re right! We should stay in Iraq until the job is done?”
I think not!
The sad fact is, is that Iraq wasn’t the central stage in our terror war. That was Afghanistan.
We should’ve stayed there.
But we didn’t. Or rather
Bush didn’t. Bush made the rash assumption that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and rushed in to overthrow Saddam–by taking his eyes off Osama at Tora Bora for a split second.
And in that split second, Bush blinked, and Osama escaped. The bulk of his leadership escaped, while a great many of his followers were killed in the ensuing US invasion.
After toppling Saddam’s government, Bush inadvertently created a
vacuum in which the insurgency and groups like Al-Qaeda could fill with splintered-association groups, and keep the American-led coalition hopelessly pinned down through constant fighting.
And it’s worked.
Now, Bush is desperately trying to paint this war as the central war on terror–desperate to regain whatever support he still has left to him.
Like he’s done in the past when things have gone south in Iraq.
And they have.
But no matter what, neither Bush or any future President can fight what’s begun.
By shifting the war to Iraq–instead of Afghanistan–we’ve created a nightmare scenario that could’ve only come from a fictionalized movie.
And with each passing day, we are paying for it in both blood and treasure.
All because Bush wanted Iraq for his very own.Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1@yahoo.comLabels: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Bush, civil war, desperation, insurgency, Iraq, Saddam, Tora Bora
