From: "Anna Rosa Kohn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Yom Kippur confessional for Bush Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 13:44:27 -0400
A High Holiday confessional that should be uttered by George W. Bush For the sin I have committed before you by promising to be a compassionate conservative, but showing no compassion. For the sin I have committed before you by waging an unnecessary war in Iraq in the false name of fighting terrorism. For the sin I have committed before you by waging a political campaign built on fear, not hope. For the sin I have committed before you by cynically exploiting the horrors of 9/11 for political gain. For the sin I have committed before you by ignoring the plight of the poorest and weakest among our citizens. For the sin I have committed before you by the unnecessary deaths of 1,000 young Americans, the injuries to thousands more, and the deaths and injuries to untold numbers of Iraqis. For the sin I have committed before you by lying about my record of service in the National Guard. For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement. For the sin I have committed before you by dividing rather than uniting our people. For the sin I have committed before you by ignoring the loss of over one million jobs in the U.S. For the sin I have committed before you by doing nothing to provide health insurance to millions of Americans, and to stem rapidly rising prescription medicine and other health care costs. For the sin I have committed before you by systematically weakening environmental and pollution regulations, thereby endangering public health and destroying precious wilderness resources. For the sin I have committed before you by promising to leave no child behind, and then failing to adequately fund educational programs. For the sin I have committed before you by allowing the assault weapons ban to die, allowing these grotesque weapons to return to our streets. For the sin I have committed before you by bearing false witness about the reasons for going to war in Iraq. For the sin I have committed before you by perpetuating the falsehood that increasing homeland security requires a weakening of civil rights. For the sin I have committed before you by imposing a veil of secrecy on government decision making processes. For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement. For the sin I have committed before you by allowing the ends to justify any means. For the sin I have committed before you by lowering taxes for only the very wealthiest Americans, enriching the few at the expense of the many. For the sin I have committed before you by running a cynical and destructive presidential campaign, designed to destroy rather than just defeat my opponent. For the sin I have committed before you by failing to make any progress in achieving a just peace between Israel and the Arabs. For the sin I have committed before you by turning a massive government surplus into a massive deficit in less than four years, thereby burdening future generations with untold debt. For the sin I have committed before you by unnecessarily damaging relations with American friends and allies throughout the world. For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement. For the sin I have committed before you by promoting a personal ideology rather than the interests of the people. For the sin I have committed before you by arrogance and swagger, speaking with a forked tongue, and for the haughty exercise of power. For the sin I have committed before you by appointing arch-conservative judges to the federal judiciary. For the sin I have committed before you by irresponsibly damaging the reputation of the United States throughout the world. For the sin I have committed before you by enriching my friends in the conduct of government and military affairs. For the sin I have committed before you by encouraging xenophobia on the part of the American people. For the sin I have committed before you by attempting to impose my extreme religious and moralistic values on the entire nation, and weakening the separation between church and state. For the sin I have committed before you by characterizing all who oppose me as evil, and all who agree with me as good. And for the sin I have committed before you by failing to acknowledge my responsibility for all these sins, for attempting to blame others for them, and for all the injury and damage they have caused to individuals, the Nation, and the future. For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement. Anna Rosa *** http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=34125 Rabble.ca Monday, September 20, 2004 Lawlessness hurting America's 'war on terror' by Linda McQuaig Daraz Khan and a couple of friends were scrounging for scrap metal in the Afghan countryside when they were blown away by US forces fighting the war on terror. Khan was very tall, and the US soldiers thought there was an off-chance he might be that other tall guy, Osama bin Laden. The deaths, reported in the New York Times in February, 2002, didn't create much of a ripple in the West, where they were regarded as just an unfortunate side effect of the "war on terror." Mistakes happen; it was all for a good cause. Of course, we in the West would understand if foreign troops invaded our territory and blew away our relatives in their keenness to hunt down someone else. This sort of lawlessness - which seems all but invisible to us over here - is, of course, highly visible to those on the receiving end, and it helps explain the phenomenal growth of anti-American rage in that part of the world in the last couple of years. As the "war on terror" enters its fourth year, with no end or even progress in sight, it's worth asking if things could have been done differently. One option, which was apparently never even considered, would have been to follow the rule of law. Let's just imagine what might have happened if Washington had responded to the 9/11 atrocities by following international law, instead of cutting a swath of violence and lawlessness through Afghanistan and later Iraq. It's long been forgotten, but in the weeks immediately following 9/11, the Taliban government in Afghanistan actually offered to hand over bin Laden if the US provided proof of his involvement in the terrorist attacks. Washington instantly rejected the offer. What right did that primeval, two-bit country have to demand proof from America? But the Taliban had a point, as Michael Mandel, an Osgoode Hall law professor, points out in a provocative new book, How America Gets Away With Murder. Mandel notes that the Taliban's request for evidence was simply standard practice that any nation would follow when asked to extradite a criminal to another country. Oddly, then, it was the primitive leaders of the Taliban who, in this case at least, were following the rule of law Mandel also insists that the US had an obligation under international law to seek a non-military solution. And the Taliban, for all its well-known defects, was keen to negotiate. By the following month, with US bombs falling on them, the Taliban leaders even dropped their demand for proof of bin Laden's guilt, and offered again to hand him over - for trial in a country other than the United States. Clearly, the US could have negotiated whatever terms it wanted. But again Washington flatly rebuffed the offer, and all hopes of a non-violent solution. Instead, the US decided to go get bin Laden itself, launching a war that killed thousands of Afghans, including civilians who simply happened to be in the wrong place or be the wrong height. Mandel argues that this was illegal under international law. "(O)ne is not allowed to invade a country to effect an arrest." And, of course, the US failed to get bin Laden. Which brings us back to the question of whether following international law would have been such a bad option. Of course, it's possible that the treacherous Taliban would never have surrendered bin Laden. On the other hand, maybe it would have. If so, the world's most apparently dangerous terrorist might have been behind bars and out of commission these past three years. Such an approach would have also sent a message that the US respects international law, which ironically, would have undermined Al Qaeda's recruitment efforts. Nothing would dampen Al Qaeda's campaign to turn the Islamic world against America more than an American government that not only preached democracy and the rule of law, but was also seen to practice these things. Astonishingly, America's lawlessness - so offensive to millions around the world - barely registers as an issue in mainstream US politics. Both major parties seem to accept the notion that the US has the right to operate as it chooses in the world. The major lesson drawn from the fiasco in Iraq appears to be: don't invade a country without a good post-war plan. George Bush seems poised to be re-elected, largely on the mythology that he's a strong leader in dangerous times. He's finessed the nation's fear brilliantly. But it's hard to believe that Americans themselves wouldn't be better off with fewer people around the world hating them, and bin Laden behind bars. Linda McQuaig is an award-winning journalist and a columnist with the Toronto Star, in which this column originally appeared. She is the author of It's The Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil, And The Fight For The Planet, (published by Doubleday Canada, 2004). ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. 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