Democracy demands vigorous dissent
By DAN LOURIE
Bozeman Coalition Against War in Iraq
In 1918, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “. . . to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Roosevelt could not have known that 85 years later those words would serve as a stern warning to an American public being stifled in its attempt to criticize the policies of a president waging an immoral, illegal, unprovoked and incompre- hensibly stupid war of aggression in our names.
The white house propaganda machine cranking out lies, exaggerations and hyperbole to bolster support for this war would have us believe that we are fighting for the “liberation” of the Iraqi people, to disarm the evil dictator and bring democracy to an oppressed people. In fact the war is being fought to further the economic interests of the corporations who financed Bush’s election campaign, expand our political and economic control of that region and, eventually, of the entire world, and to deflect attention from the collossal diplomatic and domestic failures of the Bush administration.
It is a war that was conceived and planned before the president ever took office, and which proceeded despite the overwhelming opposition of the entire world community. The plans were formulated by the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz axis of warmongers left over from the senior Bush’s administration, and have been pursued without regard to the certainty of loss of life on the part of Iraqi civilians and our own brave young service men and women. Those plans also ignored the anger of most of the world’s people, the dissolution of generations of political alliances and treaties, the squandering of the world’s good will toward our nation in the aftermath of the atrocities of September 11, 2001, the likelihood of increased terrorism against American interests by extremists infuriated by the administration’s bullying and arrogance, and the wasting of the resources crucial to the solution of pressing social problems here at home.
Public information has been manipulated by willing media outlets (who can argue that the FOX network is a mouth-piece for the Bush administration?) and features a stunning array of outright lies.
In addition to the disparity in current reports from the front and from the Pentagon, one need look no further than the makeup of the group of ragtag, bedraggled, impotent, bribed and bullied third rate nations that the president is currently calling his “Grand Alliance,” formerly known as the “Coalition of the Willing,” and more correctly called the “Coalition of the Coerced.” In addition, the entire world recognized as fabrication the supposed evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the linking of Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda, as presented to the United Nations by Secretary of State Colin Powell. The administration’s media-promulgated lies are so pervasive that a substantial number of Americans polled actually believe Saddam to be responsible for the 9-11 attacks – a stunning stretch of credulity, with absolutely no credible corroborating evidence.
In the spirit of the Roosevelt quote, we must not only resist being cowed into silent acquiescence to the atrocities being perpetrated in our names by our government, but must exercise our responsibility as citizens of this democratic republic to actively, vocally, and aggressively oppose the illegal policies of this president and those who promote and implement the agenda of his administration.
“It is always patriotic to support your country against your government; it is never patriotic to support your government against your country.” (R. Holmes – Helena, MT)
If the administration continues to refuse to hear us and to adhere to the rule of law, we need to pursue the constitutional remedy of impeachment.