Fwd: An open letter to Richard Cohen

May 12, 2006

An open letter to Richard Cohen

" 'The hatred is back,' you say, as if such hatred is beyond

justification. It is interesting that you make so many allusions to

Vietnam; the comparison is apt, yet not on point. This is not a situation

of 'Then' and 'Now,' but 'Then' and 'Again.' The two issues are joined by

a common theme: official malfeasance, presidential lies, administrative

fear-mongering and horrific body counts in a faraway land. The lesson of

Vietnam was so searing, many believed, that it would never have to be

learned again.

" Why the anger? Because that lesson didn't take, at least with this

crowd. Why the anger? Because millions of people are staggered by the idea

that, yes Virginia, we have to go through this again. We have to watch

soldiers slaughter and be slaughtered for reasons that bear no markings of

truth. We have to watch the reputation of this great nation be savaged. We

have to watch as our leaders lie to us with their bare faces hanging out.

" Why the anger? It can be summed up in one run-on sentence: We have

lost two towers in New York, a part of the Pentagon, an important American

city called New Orleans, our economic solvency, our global reputation, our

moral authority, our children's future, we have lost tens of thousands of

American soldiers to death and grievous injury, we must endure the

Abramoffs and the Cunninghams and the Libbys and the whores and the bribes

and the utter corruption, we must contemplate the staggering depth of the

hole we have been hurled down into, and we expect little to no help from

the mainstream DC press, whose lazy go-along-to-get-along cocktail-circuit

mentality allowed so much of this to happen because they failed

comprehensively to do their job.

" George W. Bush and his pals used September 11th against the American

people, used perhaps the most horrific day in our collective history,

deliberately and with intent, to foster a war of choice that has killed

untold tens of thousands of human beings and basically bankrupted our

country. They lied about the threat posed by Iraq. They destroyed the

career of a CIA agent who was tasked to keep an eye on Iran's nuclear

ambitions, and did so to exact petty political revenge against a critic.

They tortured people, and spied on American civilians.

" You cannot fathom anger arising from this? "

Full article at:

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