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After sentencing, I would make George W. Bush's hanging required watching by every man, woman and child in America, carried live by each and every broadcast, cable and satellite network. Nor would Bush be offered a hood, either, as was Saddam. Everybody should see the look of surprise on Bush's face as suddenly he falls, then his surprise at the pain, just microseconds before he loses consciousness. I would want everybody to witness him swaying back and forth at the end of that rope, feet twitching uncontrollably.
I want to pull the lever, by the way, but in all fairness perhaps that honor should go to the lucky winner of a national lottery.
The wages of genocide should be a lesson imprinted upon the retinas of every person alive. And nobody deserves them more today than does George W. Bush, despite the fact that he is but a dummied-up figurehead, just following orders. Not to say that Bush wouldn't have plenty of company, of course, were I in charge.
Nickel Ranttm:
~ By Edgar J. Steele
"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."
--- George W. Bush, Governor of Texas
My name is Edgar J. Steele. This is a Nickel Rant.
"Jesus is coming," goes the old joke, "and, boy, is he pissed!" I've no doubt. If Jesus really is coming, I can't imagine His being anything but truly and righteously angry about what has been going on lately.
Not that humankind ever has comported itself with anything resembling the behavior of any but the most whacked-out among us. What the religious fundamentalist, dispensationalist, Zionist nut jobs who have hijacked America already have done, and promise to continue doing, all in the name of God, truly boggles my mind. Your mileage may differ, of course.
Here's the real irony: These peculiarly Judeo-Christian (their term, not mine) religious zealots somehow think they are hastening the Second Coming and, thereby, Judgment Day. That is the last thing they should want.
"Jesus is coming," goes the old joke, "and, boy, is he pissed!" I've no doubt. If Jesus really is coming, I can't imagine His being anything but truly and righteously angry about what has been going on lately.
Not that humankind ever has comported itself with anything resembling the behavior of any but the most whacked-out among us. What the religious fundamentalist, dispensationalist, Zionist nut jobs who have hijacked America already have done, and promise to continue doing, all in the name of God, truly boggles my mind. Your mileage may differ, of course.
Here's the real irony: These peculiarly Judeo-Christian (their term, not mine) religious zealots somehow think they are hastening the Second Coming and, thereby, Judgment Day. That is the last thing they should want.
I've Got Your Judgment Right Here
Regardless of whether one chooses to read from Daniel and The Revelation of St. John in the Old Testament (the first five books of which are embraced by Jews as their Torah) or any portion of the New Testament, clearly it is the American Neocon warmongers who are destined to be cast into the "lake of fire." To think otherwise is as illogical as thinking that God speaks directly to you and tells you to kill Arabs.
That brings us to the single most whacked-out human being alive today: George W. Bush, alleged President of the United States of America. (In reality, America's last two elected Presidents have been Al Gore and Bob Kerry, but that is another story altogether.) Bush is a self-confessed alcoholic, alleged by many to be both a drug abuser and a homosexual pervert. Incidentally, it seems to me that all too many of America's fundamentalist whack jobs are much too fond of little boys.
That brings us to the single most whacked-out human being alive today: George W. Bush, alleged President of the United States of America. (In reality, America's last two elected Presidents have been Al Gore and Bob Kerry, but that is another story altogether.) Bush is a self-confessed alcoholic, alleged by many to be both a drug abuser and a homosexual pervert. Incidentally, it seems to me that all too many of America's fundamentalist whack jobs are much too fond of little boys.
Truth is Stranger than Fiction
George W. Bush quite literally tells other world leaders that God speaks to him. God. A voice in George Bush's head. Honest. Look, I couldn't just make something like this up.
Well, I suppose I could, but I certainly don't have to do so, in the wild and wooly case of George W. Bush. That God speaks personally to George W. Bush is a proposition simply too far-fetched, too ludicrous, for me to expect anybody to believe, had it even occurred to me independently. And I have a very active imagination, folks. Truly, truth is stranger than fiction.
George W. Bush really and honestly reports that he hears voices telling him to kill and chooses to believe that it is God providing America's marching orders. I wonder if that will provide a sufficient insanity defense when, finally, he is tried for his uncountable crimes against humanity. Not if, by some quirk of fate, somehow I am sitting in judgment, rest assured.
If I have anything to say about it, we won't be seeing just furtive little photos and videos of a noose being dropped over Mr. Bush's head circulating around the Internet, as now is taking place regarding Saddam Hussein's very recent execution by hanging.
Well, I suppose I could, but I certainly don't have to do so, in the wild and wooly case of George W. Bush. That God speaks personally to George W. Bush is a proposition simply too far-fetched, too ludicrous, for me to expect anybody to believe, had it even occurred to me independently. And I have a very active imagination, folks. Truly, truth is stranger than fiction.
George W. Bush really and honestly reports that he hears voices telling him to kill and chooses to believe that it is God providing America's marching orders. I wonder if that will provide a sufficient insanity defense when, finally, he is tried for his uncountable crimes against humanity. Not if, by some quirk of fate, somehow I am sitting in judgment, rest assured.
If I have anything to say about it, we won't be seeing just furtive little photos and videos of a noose being dropped over Mr. Bush's head circulating around the Internet, as now is taking place regarding Saddam Hussein's very recent execution by hanging.
At Last: Real Family TV Programming
After sentencing, I would make George W. Bush's hanging required watching by every man, woman and child in America, carried live by each and every broadcast, cable and satellite network. Nor would Bush be offered a hood, either, as was Saddam. Everybody should see the look of surprise on Bush's face as suddenly he falls, then his surprise at the pain, just microseconds before he loses consciousness. I would want everybody to witness him swaying back and forth at the end of that rope, feet twitching uncontrollably.
I want to pull the lever, by the way, but in all fairness perhaps that honor should go to the lucky winner of a national lottery.
The wages of genocide should be a lesson imprinted upon the retinas of every person alive. And nobody deserves them more today than does George W. Bush, despite the fact that he is but a dummied-up figurehead, just following orders. Not to say that Bush wouldn't have plenty of company, of course, were I in charge. I'd have Tony Blair up next, followed by a long line of Western leaders who helped, condoned or merely stood aside while Bush helped Israel fulfill its bloody ambitions.
Dick Cheney will get a special prime-time slot, too, of course, even if he has slipped into a coma by then as a result of one of his many heart attacks. We'll keep him alive, vegetative, just to hoist him up out of that hospital bed by his neck on a gallows built with special handicapped access.
I think I might relegate all the members of Congress who sold us out to the all-night firing squads, along with all the judges who had a chance to say "Stop," but chose to go along, instead.
Alberto Gonzales will be glad to hear that I would resist resorting to torture in his case, simply to extract names that I can pluck from the headlines of today.
I want to pull the lever, by the way, but in all fairness perhaps that honor should go to the lucky winner of a national lottery.
The wages of genocide should be a lesson imprinted upon the retinas of every person alive. And nobody deserves them more today than does George W. Bush, despite the fact that he is but a dummied-up figurehead, just following orders. Not to say that Bush wouldn't have plenty of company, of course, were I in charge. I'd have Tony Blair up next, followed by a long line of Western leaders who helped, condoned or merely stood aside while Bush helped Israel fulfill its bloody ambitions.
Dick Cheney will get a special prime-time slot, too, of course, even if he has slipped into a coma by then as a result of one of his many heart attacks. We'll keep him alive, vegetative, just to hoist him up out of that hospital bed by his neck on a gallows built with special handicapped access.
I think I might relegate all the members of Congress who sold us out to the all-night firing squads, along with all the judges who had a chance to say "Stop," but chose to go along, instead.
Alberto Gonzales will be glad to hear that I would resist resorting to torture in his case, simply to extract names that I can pluck from the headlines of today.
Why? Does Anybody Really Care?
We invaded Iraq on the pretext that Saddam somehow helped Al Qaeda bring down New York's World Trade Center towers, though it now has been proven that Saddam had nothing to do with aiding or training Al Qaeda. Never mind that neither Saddam nor Al Qaeda had anything to do with 9/11, either.
Then, somehow, the explanation for Bush's pre-emptive war in Iraq was to destroy Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction." Saddam said he had none left over from his previous war with Iran and, funny thing, we proved conclusively that he was telling the truth. Of course, we knew that Saddam once had used such weapons because America provided them to him to aid in the killing of Iranian soldiers. He used them up, though, in his ten-year war with Iran, killing millions of Arabs and Iranians and bankrupting his own country in the process.
Then, allegedly, the reason for America's second military presence in modern Iraq was to avenge Saddam's killing of his own subjects. Turns out, however, that the deaths for which Saddam was tried and hung were of those whom he caught plotting his own assassination. Never mind that Bush executes his own citizens for much less and has forced through both the Patriot and the Military Commissions Acts to justify those executions. Never mind that Bush has killed far more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever could have executed, even had he wanted to do so.
The most recent excuse given by Bush for our being in Iraq rests upon our having invested so much there already in the name of America's Orwellian "War on Terror." In other words, since your son died in that Arab hellhole, now my son must give his life there, as well.
Notice, however, that none of the children of America's politicians or true (Illuminati) leaders need make the ultimate sacrifice for George Bush. Just yours and mine.
Then, somehow, the explanation for Bush's pre-emptive war in Iraq was to destroy Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction." Saddam said he had none left over from his previous war with Iran and, funny thing, we proved conclusively that he was telling the truth. Of course, we knew that Saddam once had used such weapons because America provided them to him to aid in the killing of Iranian soldiers. He used them up, though, in his ten-year war with Iran, killing millions of Arabs and Iranians and bankrupting his own country in the process.
Then, allegedly, the reason for America's second military presence in modern Iraq was to avenge Saddam's killing of his own subjects. Turns out, however, that the deaths for which Saddam was tried and hung were of those whom he caught plotting his own assassination. Never mind that Bush executes his own citizens for much less and has forced through both the Patriot and the Military Commissions Acts to justify those executions. Never mind that Bush has killed far more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever could have executed, even had he wanted to do so.
The most recent excuse given by Bush for our being in Iraq rests upon our having invested so much there already in the name of America's Orwellian "War on Terror." In other words, since your son died in that Arab hellhole, now my son must give his life there, as well.
Notice, however, that none of the children of America's politicians or true (Illuminati) leaders need make the ultimate sacrifice for George Bush. Just yours and mine.
About Character and Honor
Notice, also, that virtually all the guilty officials and wielders of power are my generation's proven draft dodgers and/or deserters, just like George Bush and every single one of his henchmen, save only the execrably incompetent Donald Rumsfeld.
I remember those years back in the mid-Sixties. While some went to Canada or phonied up deferments or pulled strings to get National Guard billets, most considered such maneuvers to be dishonorable. Most, just as did I, stepped up and did our duty. Not these guys, though. They had no honor then and they have no honor today.
Mind you, today's America is different. Today, I look with favor upon those who refuse to be a part of American military aggression abroad. Today, those who refuse to return to Iraq are the ones who demonstrate the finest aspects of genuine character. In time, they will be accorded the honor they deserve today.
One's honor is the purest reflection of one's character. Character is the most important ingredient in one's worthiness, both to oneself and to others. Character is at the very core of the thesis of my book, Defensive Racism. Character is everything. Everything worth mentioning, that is. Skin color is meaningless. IQ has little relevance. Behavior devolves from character. Without good character, one lapses into criminal behavior. Without good character, one has no honor, no scruples and no ethical limitations.
I remember those years back in the mid-Sixties. While some went to Canada or phonied up deferments or pulled strings to get National Guard billets, most considered such maneuvers to be dishonorable. Most, just as did I, stepped up and did our duty. Not these guys, though. They had no honor then and they have no honor today.
Mind you, today's America is different. Today, I look with favor upon those who refuse to be a part of American military aggression abroad. Today, those who refuse to return to Iraq are the ones who demonstrate the finest aspects of genuine character. In time, they will be accorded the honor they deserve today.
One's honor is the purest reflection of one's character. Character is the most important ingredient in one's worthiness, both to oneself and to others. Character is at the very core of the thesis of my book, Defensive Racism. Character is everything. Everything worth mentioning, that is. Skin color is meaningless. IQ has little relevance. Behavior devolves from character. Without good character, one lapses into criminal behavior. Without good character, one has no honor, no scruples and no ethical limitations.
We Hung the Wrong Guy
Meanwhile, Saddam's conviction and sentencing hurriedly was reached, coincidentally, of course, just prior to America's recent mid-term elections. Yet another sacrifice to Congressional ambition.
Yes, I know that a great many Americans refuse to believe any of what I say today, though every single thing has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Far too many other Americans refuse, even, to listen.
But, make no mistake, the rest of the world has noticed. And they are speaking out. They say the same thing that I have heard from no other Americans, yet to which I now give voice: We hung the wrong guy!
Saddam may have been guilty of crimes. He may even have deserved execution. But not by America. Not for the charges leveled against him. Not with the haste and sloppiness afforded his "trial." Not by any but his own people, most of whom truly are enraged by this latest insult and indignity inflicted upon their American/Israeli-induced, altogether too-desperate existence.
We hung the wrong guy, I tell you.
Yes, I know that a great many Americans refuse to believe any of what I say today, though every single thing has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Far too many other Americans refuse, even, to listen.
But, make no mistake, the rest of the world has noticed. And they are speaking out. They say the same thing that I have heard from no other Americans, yet to which I now give voice: We hung the wrong guy!
Saddam may have been guilty of crimes. He may even have deserved execution. But not by America. Not for the charges leveled against him. Not with the haste and sloppiness afforded his "trial." Not by any but his own people, most of whom truly are enraged by this latest insult and indignity inflicted upon their American/Israeli-induced, altogether too-desperate existence.
We hung the wrong guy, I tell you.
The Right Guy
We actually have a proven war criminal within our grasp. He has engineered the killing of millions. He oppresses his countrymen. He has bankrupted his country by waging a war that he alone declared illegally and on an intentionally-false pretext - a war that now has lasted longer than America's involvement in World War II. He has executed dissenting countrymen and jailed a great many others who have dared to criticize him and the other lickspittle lackeys of would-be world empire builders. This man's policies present a clear and present danger to the fragile peace that now exists throughout most of the world. He refuses to change. He refuses to back down. He must be stopped.
He is, of course, George W. Bush.
We hung the wrong guy.
George W. Bush should have stood on that makeshift gallows the other night, hands tied behind his back. It was George W. Bush's feet that should have been twitching when the taut rope finally stopped swaying. Pictures of George Bush glaring uncontritely as the noose was dropped over his head now should be circulating around the Internet.
We hung the wrong guy.
He is, of course, George W. Bush.
We hung the wrong guy.
George W. Bush should have stood on that makeshift gallows the other night, hands tied behind his back. It was George W. Bush's feet that should have been twitching when the taut rope finally stopped swaying. Pictures of George Bush glaring uncontritely as the noose was dropped over his head now should be circulating around the Internet.
We hung the wrong guy.
Bush Sets a Precedent
But one good thing has come from Saddam Hussein's pursuit, capture, show trial and hasty execution: A precedent now has been set.
Used to be, national leaders were off limits. One did not target them. One did not assassinate them. One did not capture them. One certainly did not execute them, not even following a military defeat. Especially not following a military defeat. Now, George Bush has changed all that.
So, I join my voice to those being raised internationally: We hung the wrong guy!
Bush led the way and has showed us how. He did it with Saddam Hussein. Clearly, none in power in America today have the courage to put George W. Bush on trial.
In his day, Andrew Jackson simply would have shot Bush himself on the White House lawn, in the manner that a largely-discredited story recounts of President Jackson's once having killed a man for treason. While I hope that Jackson's genes remanifest themselves in a future generation of Americans, those in charge of America today clearly lack Jackson's sense of justice, responsibility, character and honor.
It is up to you now, world. Bush showed the way. Bush legitimized interference in the internal affairs of other nations. Bush legitimized pre-emptive military action. Bush prosecuted a war against a defenseless people. Bush went after a national leader. As a result, we hung the wrong guy.
Surely, other nations can find it within themselves to muster up whatever it now takes to do what must be done, what we Americans cannot and will not do: Pursue, arrest, try and convict the proven war criminals and mass murderers among ourselves today. Now. Before the nuclear exchanges begin. Before millions, if not billions, die simply because one fool cannot admit he was wrong.
I may be only one American citizen, but I hereby grant foreign would-be interveners my permission to emulate George W. Bush, provided you do it for the right reasons, conduct a fair trial and, most importantly, provided you hang the right guy!
My name is Edgar J. Steele. Thanks for listening. Please visit my web site, www.ConspiracyPenPal.com, for other messages just like this one.
Used to be, national leaders were off limits. One did not target them. One did not assassinate them. One did not capture them. One certainly did not execute them, not even following a military defeat. Especially not following a military defeat. Now, George Bush has changed all that.
So, I join my voice to those being raised internationally: We hung the wrong guy!
Bush led the way and has showed us how. He did it with Saddam Hussein. Clearly, none in power in America today have the courage to put George W. Bush on trial.
In his day, Andrew Jackson simply would have shot Bush himself on the White House lawn, in the manner that a largely-discredited story recounts of President Jackson's once having killed a man for treason. While I hope that Jackson's genes remanifest themselves in a future generation of Americans, those in charge of America today clearly lack Jackson's sense of justice, responsibility, character and honor.
It is up to you now, world. Bush showed the way. Bush legitimized interference in the internal affairs of other nations. Bush legitimized pre-emptive military action. Bush prosecuted a war against a defenseless people. Bush went after a national leader. As a result, we hung the wrong guy.
Surely, other nations can find it within themselves to muster up whatever it now takes to do what must be done, what we Americans cannot and will not do: Pursue, arrest, try and convict the proven war criminals and mass murderers among ourselves today. Now. Before the nuclear exchanges begin. Before millions, if not billions, die simply because one fool cannot admit he was wrong.
I may be only one American citizen, but I hereby grant foreign would-be interveners my permission to emulate George W. Bush, provided you do it for the right reasons, conduct a fair trial and, most importantly, provided you hang the right guy!
My name is Edgar J. Steele. Thanks for listening. Please visit my web site, www.ConspiracyPenPal.com, for other messages just like this one.
ed Copyright ©2006, Edgar J. Steele Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate both the written and audio version of this Nickel Rant among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications. The audio version of this Nickel Rant may also be freely used in its entirety by for-profit broadcasting entities, but is not to be included in any recorded format which then is sold to others. The audio version may be rebroadcast, either live or archived on the Internet, either copied or linked directly to my web site, profit and nonprofit alike, so long as it is used in its entirety. In fact, I encourage any and all radio hosts to use it freely. Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved.
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Bringing the "Perps," Bush and Cheney, to Justice
by Walter C. Uhler |
A Review of U.S. v. Bush
By Elizabeth de la Vega
Seven Stories Press, 2006, Pp. 256. $14.95
According to President Bush, Saddam Hussein was brought to "justice," when, after being sentenced to die by a kangaroo court, he was taunted before his hanging by petulant Shiite's from Bush's puppet regime inside the Green Zone -- Baghdad's Alamo, where the quislings can cower and nominally rule on behalf of "democratic" Iraq.
Granted, Saddam was evil and his horrendous crimes demanded justice. After all, he gassed Kurds, executed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and launched unprovoked invasions of Iran and Kuwait, in violation of international law. Yet, the indignities and blasphemies attending Saddam's hanging seem certain to inflame the civil war raging outside the Green Zone bubble.
Moreover, it's a shame that Iraqis couldn't overthrow their own tyrant and criminal, just as it's a shame that the puppet regime's "justice" required death - officially sanctioned murder at a time when sectarian murder has become a way of life. As I heard just the other day, an eye for an eye - taken to its logical conclusion - leaves everybody blind. Somebody must call a halt.
It's also a shame that Americans seem equally incapable of bringing their criminals in the Bush regime to justice. Criminals? Yes! As I've argued in an earlier article ( http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/Reviews/ pelosi.htm ), the Bush administration's decision to launch an unprovoked invasion of Iraq violated the United Nations Charter, which, as a treaty signed by the United States, is "the supreme Law of the Land." Unprovoked war is the highest of war crimes under international law.
But, as a former federal prosecutor, Elizabeth de la Vega, demonstrates in her recent book, U.S. v. Bush, prima facie evidence indicates that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, former National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, also broke the law by violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 "prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States." [p. 13] Or, as Ms. de la Vega puts it: "It is still the law of the United States that once politicians become Executive Branch officials, they are legally required to be honest and forthright about public matters." [p. 197]
A "conspiracy" is "an agreement between two or more persons to join together to accomplish some unlawful purpose." [p. 49] Moreover, "a standard jury instruction is that proof of a conspiracy does not require evidence that the defendants explicitly discussed details of the scheme or made some formal agreement." [p. 51]
"Fraud" includes lying, "but it's much more than lying." [p. 53] Under law, "a 'false' or 'fraudulent' representation is one that is: (a) made with knowledge that it is untrue; (b) a half-truth, (c) made without a reasonable basis or with reckless indifference to whether it is, in fact, true or false; or (d) literally true, but intentionally presented in a manner reasonably calculated to deceive a person of ordinary prudence or intelligence. The knowing concealment or omission of information that a reasonable person would consider important in deciding an issue also constitutes fraud." [p. 30]
Moreover, "continuing to assert something as true, even after receiving notice that would cause a reasonable person to inquire further about whether his statement is in fact true, is the same a knowingly and intentionally making a false statement." [p. 54]
Ms. de la Vega claims that Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (conspiracy to defraud) is as applicable to the Bush administration as it was in securing the convictions of former Enron CEOs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Which is to say: "As the [Enron] jury was instructed - anyone who makes representations intending that the public will rely on them, has an affirmative obligation to make sure that they are true and accurate. Representations made with reckless indifference to their truth are as false as outright lies." [p. 21]
For example, Mr. Lay "tired to convince his employees to buy stock by telling them that he had bought $4 million in stock that very month. What he didn't mention was that he had also sold $24 million." [p. 58]
Similarly, on August 26, 2002, Vice President Cheney asserted: "Simply stated there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction, " [p. 173] a claim subsequently proven to be false after the U.S. invaded Iraq and found no such weapons. In support of his claim, Cheney cited evidence provided by Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, who had defected. Yet, in a blatant act of criminal fraud, Cheney failed to mention that the son-in-law also claimed that all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed.
Two examples - among hundreds -- of the Bush administration' s criminal indifference to the truth occurred on October 2, 2002 and October 7, 2002, just days before Congress would approve a resolution authorizing him to use force against Iraq. On October 2nd President Bush asserted: "The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency - it has developed weapons of mass destruction. " [p. 192] And on October 7th President Bush gave a nationally televised speech in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he claimed that Iraq "stands alone" as a unique threat.
Yet, just days before the October 7th speech, "a State Department representative was specifically informed by North Korean officials that North Korea already possessed nuclear weapons." [p. 225] Thus, the Bush administration fraudulently concealed information indicating that North Korea stood alone as the "unique" threat until after Congress approved its resolution concerning Iraq.
But, both speeches constituted attempts to defraud Congress and the American public. For, as we now know, the Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, testified in February 2004 that "the intelligence community had never informed the President that Saddam Hussein presented an imminent or urgent threat,"[p. 192] let alone a threat that stands alone.
Thus, the October 2nd speech, the concealment of information about North Korea's nuclear weapons and the October 7th speech constitute prima facie evidence of a conspiracy to defraud Congress.
Want more evidence of Bush's criminal violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371? Consider that, in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address, Bush asserted that the "British have recently learned that Iraq was seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Although literally true, Bush's assertion was fraudulent because it was inserted as a way to weasel around the fact that "less than four months earlier, Tenet and the CIA had excised the sentence from the president's speech in Cincinnati because the assertion could not be confirmed and was thought to be shaky." [Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack pp. 294-95]
As Ms. de la Vega notes: "Much has been written regarding what the President knew when he made this statement, but the analysis of whether this statement is fraudulent in a criminal context is very simple." Consider the following: "this President is highly involved in the speech-writing process. At the time of the speech, the public's support for the war was waning and the President wanted specific proof. If he could have phrased this assertion more strongly, he would have. It may have been literally true - the British did acquire this information - but it already had been debunked. Bush's phrasing was an attempt to deceive the American public into believing that he was vouching for the British intelligence information when he knew he could not do so." [p. 231]
Ms de la Vega also makes an impressive prima facie case demonstrating that Condoleezza Rice criminally defrauded both the Congress and the American people on September 8, 2002, when she asserted that the aluminum tubes that Iraq had attempted to purchase were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs." [p. 196] She's equally persuasive when indicting Vice President Cheney and President Bush for similarly fraudulent assertions about the tubes on September 8th and September 12th respectively.
Why so persuasive? Because fourteen U.S. intelligence assessments about the tubes had been produced by September 8th and twelve had "discussed problems with - or differences of opinion about - the CIA's contention that the Iraqis wanted the tubes for nuclear- centrifuge work." [p. 203] Thus, no government official possessing honesty and integrity could have made the reckless assertions that Rice, Cheney and Bush made about the aluminum tubes in September 2002.
Moreover, as Ms. de la Vega reminds us, the September 7, 2002 issue of the New York Times reported: "White House officials said today that the administration was following a meticulously planned strategy to persuade the public, the Congress and the allies of the need to confront the threat from Saddam Hussein." [p. 184] Given the facts available to us today, it appears to have been a meticulously planned strategy to defraud.
Consider that the Times article also reported, "White House officials said they began planning more intensively for the Iraq rollout in July." Then consider that, during that same month, George Tenet apparently communicated elements of this "meticulous" plan to his British counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Sir Richard Dearlove.
For, it was Dearlove - confidentially reporting to Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Cabinet about his recent talks in Washington (according to a "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL, - UK EYES ONLY" memo dated July 23, 2002) - who asserted: "There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable, Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy." [pp. 137-38]
This "fixing" of the intelligence explains Cheney's August fraud about Saddam's son-in-law, the frauds about the aluminum tubes perpetrated by Rice, Cheney and Bush in September, Bush's attempt to defraud Congress in early October, as well as his "uranium" fraud in January 2003 State of the Union speech.
Yet, Colin Powell's efforts to defraud America and the world about the tubes were among the most egregious. For, when he made his false assertions about Iraq's aluminum tubes to the United Nations on February 5, 2003, Powell already knew that his own State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research "was not persuaded that the tubes in question are intended for use in centrifuge rotors." [p. 212] And he already knew that the International Atomic Energy Agency had already denounced 'the possibility that the tubes had a nuclear application. "[p. 213]
Ms. de la Vega also presents persuasive evidence indicating that Bush also defrauded Congress and the American public when he claimed to have no war plan on his desk and when he diverted funds ($700 million) and resources (some "1,800 U.S. troops, including the elite Fifth Group Special Forces who had tracking Osama bin Laden") from Afghanistan to Iraq. [pp. 107-112]
Nevertheless, Ms. de la Vega could have strengthened her legal case against the Bush administration' s fraud, had she included the following information:
(1) Beginning in October 2001, a rogue intelligence office headed by Douglas Feith (and subsequently called Feith's "Gestapo office" by Colin Powell, (See http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/Reviews/ Gestapo.html ) funneled bogus intelligence about Saddam's ties to al Qaeda up the DOD chain of command, through Paul Wolfowitz to Rumsfeld and Cheney. Throughout 2002, this bogus intelligence was given preference over the legitimate intelligence reports, which correctly found no such ties.
(2) On August 29, 2002 Bush signed a TOP SECRET National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD), titled: "Iraq: Goals, Objectives and Strategies." The product of weeks, if not months of work, the directive "was a good way to make sure everyone was operating with the same instruction. " [Woodward, p. 154] One of the goals was to "free Iraq in order to eliminate Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. " One of the objectives was to "minimize disruption in international oil markets." One of the strategies was "to work with the Iraqi opposition to demonstrate that we are liberating, not invading Iraq." [Woodward, pp. 154-55] Although not the "Ten Commandments, " [Woodward, p. 154] this NSPD locked in the Bush drive for an invasion before he opened his so-called dialogue with the Congress and the American public, and before he took his case to the United Nations.
(3) On September 6, 2002, General Tommy Franks informed Bush: "Mr. President, we've been looking for scud missiles and other weapons of mass destruction for ten years and haven't found any yet, so I can't tell you that I know that there are any specific weapons anywhere." [Woodward, p. 173]
Unfortunately, the conspiracy to defraud continued after Bush illegal, immoral invasion. On March 30, 2003, Rumsfeld lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." Yet, not only was Rumsfeld present when General Franks expressed his doubts about WMD to President Bush the previous September, on October 12, 2002, he also made his own list of what could go wrong in Iraq. Item 13 was: "U.S. could fail to find WMD on the ground." [Woodward, State of Denial, p. 99]
And, in December 2003, some nine months after the Bush administration' s invasion of Iraq proved his reckless assertions about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to be false, ABC's Diane Sawyer pressed Bush about justifying a war to the American public by stating "as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he [Saddam] could move to acquire those weapons." Put on the spot, Bush defrauded Ms. Sawyer and all Americans when he responded: "So what's the difference?"
The difference is precisely this: You, President Bush, commit fraud when you deceive the Congress and the public by making the case stronger than it actually is! You punk!
Equally unfortunate, the Bush administration conspires to defraud Americans to this very day. Thus, notwithstanding the unabated and uncritical news coverage of the "perps," you should approach all of their pronouncements with extreme skepticism.
Why? Because, by presenting evidence gained from "speeches, public remarks, White House press briefings, interviews, congressional testimony, official documents, all public intelligence reports and various summaries of intelligence, such as the reports of the Senate Select committee on Intelligence and the 9/11 commission," [p. 12] in a hypothetical grand jury setting, Elizabeth de la Vega persuasively has demonstrated that "our highest government officials employ[ed] the universal techniques of fraudsters - deliberate concealment, misrepresentations, false pretenses [and] half-truths - to deceive Congress and the American people." [p. 14]
Which prompts one final question: "When will 'our highest government officials' ACTUALLY be brought to justice?"
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About author Walter C. Uhler is an independent scholar and freelance writer whose work has been published in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of Military History, the Moscow Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is President of the Russian-American International Studies Association (RAISA). waltuhler@aol.com
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