Wednesday, February 12, 2003

 
The First Attack Made Bush. Would a Second Attack Unmake Him?

To anyone who has not lived under a rock for the past two years, it is abundantly clear that Bush, his administration and the Republican Party have benefited greatly from the tragedy of 911. Indeed, it was this mind-numbing catastrophe that saved the Republican Party from certain collapse. Of course, to suggest that the proximity of the administration's need for a savior to the events of 911 were any more than a miraculous coincidence is to invite accusations of conspiracy theories, however well documented.

It's true. Bush benefited greatly from the 911 attacks. Ironically, his undoing might come with the next attack. Nevertheless, before we seriously pose the question of what happens in the event of a second attack, let's firmly establish that Bush has no regrets about the first one. After all, he did hit the "Trifecta". Lucky boy!

How did Bush Benefit from 911?

Rocketing Approval Ratings - Even as he sat reading his self-proclaimed favorite childhood book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (Which incidentally was written after he graduated college), the nation was being attacked and Bush's approval ratings were rocketing from sub-50% to 92%. See what great leadership can do for you.

Republican Control - What good is an absolute disaster if you can't fool everyone into thinking that they are doomed if they don't vote for your party. Well, the public fell for it hook, line and sinker this time. Of course, Democrats didn't seem to help themselves much here. In addition to the Election 2002 fiasco, Bush decided that it was well within his power to institute a secret, "Shadow Government" made exclusively of... ...You guessed it. Republicans. Of course there was no need to tell congress. Don't want to rile anyone's nerves. How thoughtful.

Distraction - Economy? What economy? Hey look! Terrorists! Quick! Everyone focus on this and nothing else. We must be vigilant. Let nothing non-war related distract us from our goal of battling terrorism and tin-pot dictators.

Rationalization - 911 gave Bush a reason to do absolutely anything (at least in his mind). All he had to say was, "It's in the interest of national security," and it was done. ANWR drilling? National Security. Tax cuts for the wealthy? National Security. Double the military budget? National Security. Eliminate public education, Social Security and the spotted owl? NATIONAL SECURITY. Get it?

Central Asian Oil - According to intelligence analysts Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie (as written in their book "Forbidden Truth"), the administration threatened the Taliban with threats of a "carpet of bombs" if they did not accept a "carpet of gold" in exchange for their cooperation in helping the US attain central Asian oil. In the book "Black Gold Hot Gold", the authors report that the oil expected to flow from the vast oilfields under the Russian Caspian Sea, discovered about 20 years ago remains undrilled and untapped. The only possible oil pipeline routes at the present time to handle the massive flow of oil from the Caspian Sea region is either through Kosovo to the Mediterranean Sea, or through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean."

Iraq Oil - This is what it's all about. Everything boils down to oil, Iraqi oil. The ultimate goal of this whole charade. If you need further elaboration, please refer to these previous articles that address the administration's quest for Oil in Iraq: "Seeds of Destruction: What Keeps Bush From Planting Evidence of WMD in Iraq?", "If Blix n' Bush Were Under Oath", "Blix n' Bush: Guilty Until Proven Innocent"

Tax Cuts - When we were posting record surpluses, Bush cited the fiscal condition as a reason to offer bold tax cuts. When the economy started tanking and the surpluses turned to deficits, Bush cited this precarious fiscal condition as a reason to offer bold tax cuts. So, it is not surprising that, in the event of a war on terrorism, an imminent war on Iraq and a possible war with North Korea (and Iran and Syria?), Bush cites tax cuts as the perfect remedy to the situation.

Common Enemy - Ahhh, there is nothing like a common enemy to force your adversaries in line behind you.. This is the mantra of the post-cold-war Republican. They lose on every issue to the Democrats, so they have to invent a source of fear that paralyzes the populace and forces them into right-wing compliance.

Military Budget - Missile Defense System - Homeland Security - Here was another reason that the administration was salivating over 911. This was just what the doctor ordered to justify a $344 Billion Military Budget when the federal government currently spends only $42 billion on education, $26 billion on housing and $1 billion on school construction. And then there is the Missile Defense System. Try and stop it now. In fact, this is where North Korea truly begins to hold some value for Bush. We certainly can't let those pesky North Koreans start lobbing bombs on America.

Cuts to Social Programs - Want to see a Republican cringe? Start talking about how a wealthy, advanced society should provide a safety net for its most vulnerable citizens and you will see a cringe-fest like none you could imagine. It's true, if it were up to the hard-liners, there would be no Social Security or unemployment insurance or Medicaid. Don't even suggest keeping any sort of Welfare. Heck. Public School is just a social program for those that can't afford a private school. Why do you think they constantly undermine funding for the public school system? Luckily for Republicans, 911 happened. Now, fiscal restraint is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, some social programs will have to tighten their belts. Remember, it's all about the bootstraps.

Never-ending War - Orwell and others have pointed out that nothing puts the citizenry in line like never-ending war. It makes "getting your way" a simple proposition (if you’re the one who instituted it). Indeed, according to the Times of London (9/20/01), "America and Britain are producing secret plans to launch a ten year "war on terrorism. " They even gave it a catchy name, "Operation Noble Eagle." Isn't that nice?

Black and White - Nuances have never been a friend of the Republicans. Indeed, it's always in these that the difficulties arise. The situation is never as simple and clear cut as the GOP would like you to believe. Along comes 911 and…Voila! "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." (Washington AFP 9/21/01)

Quash Dissent - Ugh! If there's one thing that the administration can't handle, it's dissent. It exposes the administration as the illegitimate, non-mandated, minority-partied farce that it is. That is why they instituted "First-Amendment zones", rarely let Bush loose unscripted and frequently disallow the press from asking him questions. 911 smoothed this out a bit. Republicans have made it well known that anyone who is not 100% behind the President is considered a traitor. This is particularly appealing because they can rip into dissenting Democrats as traitors and tag them un-American. (as though they didn't before)

Corporate Interests - For Republicans, life isn't worth living if they aren't serving corporate interests. 911 just gave them a few more opportunities to serve their masters. For example, the Bush government ordered 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine for $343 million in preparation for a possible bioterrorism assault. The contract has been given to a small, Cambridge-based firm, Acambis, a British biotechnology company who reported a net loss of $8 million in the six months prior to the announcement. Thanks G. W. ("Preparing the Population For Bioterrorism" Reuters News, London 9-20-01 ). Remember that Bush quickly agreed to bail out the airlines with billions of dollars, an industry that was swimming in red ink long before the 911 attacks. And let's not forget that Bush Sr. benefits from military spending via the Carlyle Group and that all the Administration's oil connections benefit heavily from the central Asian and Iraqi oil soon to be seized.

Identify and Quash the Opposition - Considering the volume and shrillness of Republican's rhetoric against the evils of government control over anything, it is shocking, the degree to which they favor government control when it is focused on the individual instead of corporate interests. The recent increase in government surveillance capabilities, although useful in finding terrorists, also serves the dual purpose of spying on government opposition. How are they doing this?

1) They instituted a Homeland Defense Czar who "would probably not need Senate confirmation, which other Cabinet jobs require, nor legislation to create," White House officials said. Thus, there would be no investigation, oversight or accountability. (Reuters - Washington 9-21-01)

2) FBI agents, using a system dubbed "CARNIVORE", can now legally spy on Internet users without a court order. The "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001", passed only two days after 911, enhanced police wiretap powers and permitted monitoring in more situations.

3) A global surveillance system known as Echelon has the ability to eavesdrop on telephone calls, faxes and e-mail messages, (Lycos Network 9-20-01)

4) Face-ID Technology gained new support. "State lawmakers who were planning to sponsor legislation restricting its use now say they are reassessing their plans." (Denver Post Capitol Bureau, 9-20-01)

5) "Experts See a High-Security America of Surveillance & Seizures": Security Experts in the United States are describing a new kind of country that could emerge, where electronic identification might become the norm, immigrants might be tracked far more closely and the airspace over cities like New York and Washington might be off-limits to all civilian aircraft." (The International Herald Tribune 9-19-01)

6) Bush Suspended Habeas Corpus. Legal Immigrants May Be Held Without Cause:

"The Bush Administration today announced it is using its powers under the National Emergency Act to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus for all immigrants in the country, including legal immigrants, meaning that any immigrant in the U.S. right now can be held indefinitely by the police or government without trial or demonstration of cause to hold them."

This has also been implemented on U.S. citizens that the government has labeled "Enemy combatants". What are the criteria necessary to be labeled an "enemy combatant"? Only the government knows.

Global Influence - We need go no further than our own backyard to see how the administration wants to involve themselves with the international community. The Bush-Administration-backed, failed coup of the democratically elected leader of Venezuela is evidence. Since 911, Bush has followed up by reversing the 25 year ban on using covert agents to assassinate foreigners. (New York Times, 9/16/01)

Secrecy - Setting the standard for secrecy, the Bush Administration had already concealed the details of the Cheney Energy Task Force, Sequestered all documents from the Reagan-Bush 1 era due for public release, and moved Governor Bush's Documents to the secret caverns of the Bush 1 presidential library. This was all prior to 911. Following the attacks, courtrooms become secret and more documents were sealed:

"The U.S. terror investigation that has hauled in hundreds of Middle Easterners is being conducted with closed court hearings and sealed documents on a scale legal experts say may be unprecedented. Federal authorities have detained more than 500 people without releasing the paperwork that usually accompanies nearly any type of court proceeding." (Associated press, Sacramento Bee, 10/5/01)

Control - Remember the details surrounding Bush's dealings with the Texas Rangers? Recall the Texas-sized, criminal land-grab that Bush pulled off in order to build a taxpayer created baseball stadium. Recall that Bush and his cronies made millions from this crime. Well, that's what you can do when you have influence and control:

"The President has the power to seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, call reserve forces amounting to 2 1/2 million men to duty, institute martial law, seize and control all means of transportation, regulate all private enterprise, restrict travel, and in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of ALL Americans...While the danger of a dictatorship arising through legal means may seem remote to us today..."

This was a prophetic, joint statement by Senators Frank Church (D-ID) and Charles McMathias (R-MD) made back in September 30, 1973. The only thing missing for the Bush Administration was a compelling reason to institute these powers. 911 provided that reason.

New Bigotry - With racism and even homophobia and religious intolerance finding less public acceptance as the years go by, Republicans have been struggling to find a new, socially acceptable target for their hatred and intolerance. Thanks to 911, they can show their disgust with the "diaper heads", "bomb Mecca" and force them to rescind their "evil" beliefs in favor of conversion to Christianity. After all, as Tom Delay has reminded us over and over again, "The United States is a Christian Nation." Right?

So the question is, "What happens if we are hit with another major attack on American soil during the reign of G. W. Bush?" Does he become more popular or do people finally come to their senses and demand his resignation (or at least vote him out of office)?

Common sense tells us that the administration will pay the price for dismissing the al Qaeda threat in favor of an Iraq invasion. Unfortunately. Commonsense is not so common and facts seem to have taken on a subjective quality as of late. The single thing that will determine whether Bush pays the price for a second major terrorist attack on US soil is…Perception.

Once again, the propaganda battle will ensue. The Bush Administration, Fox News, right-wing hate radio and "fear" vs the Democrats, the Progressive web and "common sense". Who do you think will win? Yup. Me too.

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posted by Thomas Ball 4:37 PM