Just Part Of Bush's Upside Down World

[Guest guest]

http://www.rense.com/general60/updie.htm

 

Just Part Of Bush's Upside Down World

By Sam Hamod, PhD

12-6-4

 

 

To understand just how upside-down Bush has taken America, consider

these simple facts:

 

1. Conde Rice, responsible to a large degree for ignoring warnings

about a possible airplane attack on America, has now been elevated

from National Security Advisor to Secretary of State. Add to this that

Putin and others in the world have refused to speak with her because

of their disdain for her integrity and intelligence; this leaves our

foreign policy (already in the basement) in careless and dangerous

hands. With her new authority, what new and tragic mistakes will she

make as Secretary of State? Will she be as careless with information

she receives from her subordinates as she was with the Clark and State

Department she received prior to the 9/11 attacks?

 

2. Albert Gonzales, the man responsible for giving wrong legal advice

to the Pentagon and to the Bush White House on the right to violate

the Geneva Conventions at both Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture camps

is now nominated for Attorney General. There is no telling how he,ll

decide to violate our Constitution even more than John Ashcroft. What

Civil Rights we have left may be eroded very quickly under his

destructive hand. His new position gives him a very large budget, a

cabinet position and thousands of lawyers to call upon to attack any

area of the Constitution he desires. Our democratic future is on

tenuous grounds.

 

3. Paul Bremer, the man who destroyed what was left of Iraq once he

took over as 'administrator,' or as some called him, 'viceroy', who

was unable to account for billions of dollars that was to go for

'reconstruction in Iraq', a man who helped to unite the Sunni and

Shi'a (something no one had been able to do for over 1300 years)

against the U.S., and a man who ran, in fear, to the airplane taking

him back to Washington, DC in disgrace, is being given the valued,

Medal of Freedom for his failures. Not only this, but he allowed the

continued looting of archives, museums and resources of Iraq, while

awarding billions of dollars of sweetheart contracts to his friends

for the 'reconstruction of Iraq' now and in the future; seconded by

the puppet, Allawi, his hand-picked 'prime-minister' of Iraq. If this

continues, Bremer, who never before held a major position in life, may

have to run for office as a senator or take a high-level cabinet

position or be allowed as an 'expert' on Iraq on the fatuous 'talk

shows' on cable TV - futures seats for failure.

 

4. General Tommy Franks, the man whose attack on Iraq was a misguided

effort at conquering the country, instead destroyed all the Iraqi

infrastructure of water, electricity, medical care, sewage disposal

and cultural buildings - and was applauded by President Bush who said

he " Knew Tommy Franks was the right man for the job. And you know why?

Because he went to school with my wife, Laura! " General Franks, who

had no real master-plan for controlling Iraq or for the correct number

of troops to keep order in Iraq once his 'invasion' was complete, and

who allowed all the Iraqi government and cultural buildings to be

looted down to the ground, who ignored the advice of wiser and

experienced military men, including the president's own envoy, General

Zinni, about matters in Iraq, is now being rewarded with the

prestigious, Medal of Freedom, as well. It seems failure is the

primary criterion for receiving this medal these days. I wonder what

it does to those who actually succeeded in something and were awarded

the medals for something that actually aided " freedom " or our country?

 

5. General Ricardo Sanchez, the officer in charge of the privates and

corporals who were given the go-ahead by him (and who are the ones

being punished for Abu Ghraib) at Abu Ghraib, was brought back

stateside to a 15-gun salute and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz are quietly

trying to get him his 5th general star. My God, what would Generals

Eisenhower, Pershing, Patton and Bradley think of this man becoming a

5 star general? How many of our generals fought and died in WWII and

elsewhere to honor their ranks and their commands - endured death

marches, torture and all else - for this disgraceful lot? What would

this say about the integrity in our U.S. military? Just imagine, the

failed Tommy Franks, the confused General Myers, the disgraced Ricardo

Sanchez - these men lead our military - and yet we want the public and

the world to respect our military?

 

These few matters, plus Bush's continual mantra that we are 'winning

the war in Iraq' and we are bringing 'democracy to Iraq and

Afghanistan,' and 'freedom to these people,' while we kill them in the

thousands just because they resist our occupation and our domination -

all these things help make up Bush's upside-down world. Sadly, this

upside-down world view is being seconded and confirmed by the majority

of our mass media and opinion-makers because our media is now owned

entirely, and this includes even NPR and PBS, by the corporate rulers

who benefit for this unending 'war on terror' that Bush has declared

with the willing consent and obedience of the U.S. Congress and Senate.

 

While we pour billions into failed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan,

our economy is now on the 'watch list' of the IMF, our currency is

downgraded to almost 'junk' status in world currency markets, our

trade balance is precarious, our health care ranks among the lowest

among industrialized nations, our care for the homeless and elderly

has fallen off the map, our important educational structure is failing

and lacking support, our infrastructure is in dire need of repair, our

food and medical safety has been shown to be totally corrupted by

pharmaceutical and hospital holding companies and our national and

regional elections have been shown to be fraught with errors (so much

so that many nations are asking sarcastically if they may come

supervise our elections, much as America has done in 3rd world

countries) " all this, and yet the people in America, led by the media

and false advertising on all fronts and the continuous coverage of

Bush,s speeches, have not awakened to realize that Bush has turned the

country upside down.

 

Some have asked me why I, and others, keep writing our articles on the

internet - it is because we have to keep speaking aloud so that others

who have the same thoughts who do not write or speak for a variety of

reasons, realize that they are not alone in their vision of truth and

that they are not wrong because they can't believe the talk shows and

their incessant distortions of truth.

 

This is also to keep others sane; some have written me saying that at

times, they thought they had lost their minds because of the incessant

media pounding of the Bush upside/down version of reality, but on

reading my work and that of others like Alexander Cockburn, Robert

Fisk, Jeff St. Clair and such sites as

www.informationclearinghouse.info, www.counterpunch.com,

www.aljazeerah.info, www.todaysalternativenews.com , www.rense.com,

www.axisoflogic.com, www.ishmaelreedpub.com and the indymedia sites,

they realized that they were SANE - it was just that the major media

was wrong.

 

So, we carry on, as best we can-for your sake and for the sake of what

is left of our democracy. All we ask is that you pass our articles on;

for all of our sakes. Perhaps then, others will understand just how

upside/down America has become. No, I am not saying we have ever been

as good a country as we thought we were, or wanted to be-it's just

that many have done the best they could to improve it; it appears Bush

and the media are doing/or allowing, all of what we are supposed to be

and supposed to value to go upside/down.

 

 

_____

 

Sam Hamod is an expert in world affairs; he often writes on the Middle

East and Islam, but also on American social and political concerns. He

is the former editor of 3rd World News in Wash, DC; he taught at

Princeton, Michigan, Iowa and Howard. He is also editor of

www.todaysalternativenews.com . He may be reached at shamod

[Guest guest]

-

 

To:

Monday, December 06, 2004 7:27 AM

Just Part Of Bush's Upside Down World

 

 

Just Part Of Bush's

Upside Down World

By Sam Hamod, PhD

12-6-4

 

 

 

To understand just how upside-down Bush has taken America, consider these

simple facts:

 

 

 

1. Conde Rice, responsible to a large degree for ignoring warnings about a

possible airplane attack on America, has now been elevated from National

Security Advisor to Secretary of State. Add to this that Putin and others in the

world have refused to speak with her because of their disdain for her integrity

and intelligence; this leaves our foreign policy (already in the basement) in

careless and dangerous hands. With her new authority, what new and tragic

mistakes will she make as Secretary of State? Will she be as careless with

information she receives from her subordinates as she was with the Clark and

State Department she received prior to the 9/11 attacks?

 

 

 

2. Albert Gonzales, the man responsible for giving wrong legal advice to

the Pentagon and to the Bush White House on the right to violate the Geneva

Conventions at both Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture camps is now nominated for

Attorney General. There is no telling how he,ll decide to violate our

Constitution even more than John Ashcroft. What Civil Rights we have left may be

eroded very quickly under his destructive hand. His new position gives him a

very large budget, a cabinet position and thousands of lawyers to call upon to

attack any area of the Constitution he desires. Our democratic future is on

tenuous grounds.

 

 

 

3. Paul Bremer, the man who destroyed what was left of Iraq once he took

over as 'administrator,' or as some called him, 'viceroy', who was unable to

account for billions of dollars that was to go for 'reconstruction in Iraq', a

man who helped to unite the Sunni and Shi'a (something no one had been able to

do for over 1300 years) against the U.S., and a man who ran, in fear, to the

airplane taking him back to Washington, DC in disgrace, is being given the

valued, Medal of Freedom for his failures. Not only this, but he allowed the

continued looting of archives, museums and resources of Iraq, while awarding

billions of dollars of sweetheart contracts to his friends for the

'reconstruction of Iraq' now and in the future; seconded by the puppet, Allawi,

his hand-picked 'prime-minister' of Iraq. If this continues, Bremer, who never

before held a major position in life, may have to run for office as a senator or

take a high-level cabinet position or be allowed as an 'expert' on Iraq on the

fatuous 'talk shows' on cable TV - futures seats for failure.

 

 

 

4. General Tommy Franks, the man whose attack on Iraq was a misguided

effort at conquering the country, instead destroyed all the Iraqi infrastructure

of water, electricity, medical care, sewage disposal and cultural buildings -

and was applauded by President Bush who said he " Knew Tommy Franks was the right

man for the job. And you know why? Because he went to school with my wife,

Laura! " General Franks, who had no real master-plan for controlling Iraq or for

the correct number of troops to keep order in Iraq once his 'invasion' was

complete, and who allowed all the Iraqi government and cultural buildings to be

looted down to the ground, who ignored the advice of wiser and experienced

military men, including the president's own envoy, General Zinni, about matters

in Iraq, is now being rewarded with the prestigious, Medal of Freedom, as well.

It seems failure is the primary criterion for receiving this medal these days. I

wonder what it does to those who actually succeeded in something and were

awarded the medals for something that actually aided " freedom " or our country?

 

 

 

5. General Ricardo Sanchez, the officer in charge of the privates and

corporals who were given the go-ahead by him (and who are the ones being

punished for Abu Ghraib) at Abu Ghraib, was brought back stateside to a 15-gun

salute and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz are quietly trying to get him his 5th general

star. My God, what would Generals Eisenhower, Pershing, Patton and Bradley think

of this man becoming a 5 star general? How many of our generals fought and died

in WWII and elsewhere to honor their ranks and their commands - endured death

marches, torture and all else - for this disgraceful lot? What would this say

about the integrity in our U.S. military? Just imagine, the failed Tommy Franks,

the confused General Myers, the disgraced Ricardo Sanchez - these men lead our

military - and yet we want the public and the world to respect our military?

 

 

 

These few matters, plus Bush's continual mantra that we are 'winning the

war in Iraq' and we are bringing 'democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan,' and

'freedom to these people,' while we kill them in the thousands just because they

resist our occupation and our domination - all these things help make up Bush's

upside-down world. Sadly, this upside-down world view is being seconded and

confirmed by the majority of our mass media and opinion-makers because our media

is now owned entirely, and this includes even NPR and PBS, by the corporate

rulers who benefit for this unending 'war on terror' that Bush has declared with

the willing consent and obedience of the U.S. Congress and Senate.

 

 

 

While we pour billions into failed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, our

economy is now on the 'watch list' of the IMF, our currency is downgraded to

almost 'junk' status in world currency markets, our trade balance is precarious,

our health care ranks among the lowest among industrialized nations, our care

for the homeless and elderly has fallen off the map, our important educational

structure is failing and lacking support, our infrastructure is in dire need of

repair, our food and medical safety has been shown to be totally corrupted by

pharmaceutical and hospital holding companies and our national and regional

elections have been shown to be fraught with errors (so much so that many

nations are asking sarcastically if they may come supervise our elections, much

as America has done in 3rd world countries) " all this, and yet the people in

America, led by the media and false advertising on all fronts and the continuous

coverage of Bush,s speeches, have not awakened to realize that Bush has turned

the country upside down.

 

 

 

Some have asked me why I, and others, keep writing our articles on the

internet - it is because we have to keep speaking aloud so that others who have

the same thoughts who do not write or speak for a variety of reasons, realize

that they are not alone in their vision of truth and that they are not wrong

because they can't believe the talk shows and their incessant distortions of

truth.

 

 

 

This is also to keep others sane; some have written me saying that at

times, they thought they had lost their minds because of the incessant media

pounding of the Bush upside/down version of reality, but on reading my work and

that of others like Alexander Cockburn, Robert Fisk, Jeff St. Clair and such

sites as www.informationclearinghouse.info, www.counterpunch.com,

www.aljazeerah.info, www.todaysalternativenews.com , www.rense.com,

www.axisoflogic.com, www.ishmaelreedpub.com and the indymedia sites, they

realized that they were SANE - it was just that the major media was wrong.

 

 

 

So, we carry on, as best we can-for your sake and for the sake of what is

left of our democracy. All we ask is that you pass our articles on; for all of

our sakes. Perhaps then, others will understand just how upside/down America has

become. No, I am not saying we have ever been as good a country as we thought we

were, or wanted to be-it's just that many have done the best they could to

improve it; it appears Bush and the media are doing/or allowing, all of what we

are supposed to be and supposed to value to go upside/down.