BUSH WHACKING

Storm clouds are gathering again on the horizons of the world. Again it is an American storm, but one that could mark the beginning of an unending War upon the World, a war initiated by the United States to steal the oil of another country. Our real purposes are clear to the rest of the world, and most want no part of the barbarity that we are proposing. Have we, as a democratic republic, really fallen so far from our grand beginnings? The short answer is yes!

American history is replete with the ethics and beliefs of those men who wrote the Constitution. Today we are no longer remotely related to them or to their ideas. The only remnants we have from our storied past are the long-dead faces of those men; the same faces that still appear on the money that we use today. 

The symbols of the United States are on the back of every dollar bill; their origins go back to ancient history. What our forefathers did, by studying history, was to take the best of what was then known about 'democracy' into the new republic they wanted to create: The hybrid they chose over pure democracy was called a democratic republic. 

This was to be the first time in recorded history that a nation would be founded on the basis of reason, instead of simple warfare. That is why the eagle looks toward the laurel branch instead of toward the arrows gripped within its claws. But if President Bush gets his way, the seal will need to be altered. The eagle will have to have only weapons in both claws; the shield upon its breast will be replaced by the whirlwind, for the chaos that he wants to wreak upon the world. 

In Cincinnati, to explain his first use of The Bush Doctrine, the President gave a speech to the world. He could have called a press conference in the White House, or the Rose Garden, but that would have meant people might ask questions. Bush will take no questions about his perverted lust for unchallenged power. 

Bush came to the microphone displaying the same "defiance, deception, and bad faith" that he was there to accuse Saddam Hussein of committing. The President told the same lies and excuses while presenting no evidence to back his words. The President spoke repeatedly of terror, threats and national insecurity. But what he omitted spoke volumes to those who came to hear something new. 

Absent was any reference to the entire period of time after the Second World War and throughout the Cold War when America's policies of deterrence and diplomacy had served us well. For forty years, the world did not have to deal with a superpower run amuck; that is, until the fall of the Soviet Union when American power became unbridled. 

George W. Bush assumed control of a nation with a surplus that exceeded $275 billion, and within his first two years, he's managed to lose it all and add at least $150 billion more to the national debt. The net loss to the country is at least $425 billion. During this same period, the President gave away $1.3 trillion in tax cuts, the bulk of which went to the very rich. Now the U.S. economy is staggeringly near the edge of a recession, or worse. 

Bush was 'in charge' while the nation 'eliminated over 2 million jobs'; while, by contrast, the government said last quarter that we have added 43,000 new positions. What was less well publicized was that since Bush took office, unemployment has risen by 35 percent. 

The stock market is down 34 percent since January of 2001. Against the above background, another 1.4 million people now have no health insurance, making it a total of over 41 million Americans who can't afford to get sick. 

On the business fraud and corruption front, only thirteen corporate crooks out of hundreds have been indicted, and none have been close personal friends of the President. This means that the fabulous Ken Lay of Enron and Dick Cheney of Halliburton are still completely free of fear from prosecution or punishment because friends of Bush need not fear consequences for anything they do. 

With a record like the one above, one might think that this President has much to do to resurrect this nation, to fix our economy, to see to the ills of our citizens and to get this country back on the road to viability. No! The Bush method is to create wars to destroy populations and devastate our enemies so that we may occupy their lands and control their people for decades, at our expense – what a concept! Who will pay for the grand designs of George the Conqueror? That would be the same people who are still paying heavily for all of Bush's previous follies that have brought the nation to this point. 

What are the unseen costs of The Bush Doctrine of 2002? Beyond the remaking of everything we once stood for, beyond the totalitarian-state-in-the-making that we have become, there are literal and all too real costs for this unprecedented power grab. In "Road Kill" some of what we are losing is easily seen, and that is just the beginning. With Congress approving this madness, Bush will have a "License to Kill" any and all persons, states or nations that the Commander-in-Chief thinks might want to harm the U.S. or its vital interests, anywhere on the planet! 

The President needs to hold a press conference and answer for his actions. The war on Iraq is not about Saddam, or whether Hussein is a bad man. The coming storm is about money, power and conquest in the short term. If we let the President use our money to make open and unprovoked war on other nations, then we will have crossed a line that no nation will ever be able to overlook. 

If we bomb Baghdad, that ancient symbolic capital, the Arab world would consider this similar to what Al Qaeda did to New York and Washington. The depth of fury that our actions will unleash will quickly become unbearable. All of this we're planning to do without evidence of any of the things Bush says are true! 

As citizens, we can no longer remain quiet on the sidelines. This is only our country so long as we participate in the decisions that are taken in our names; we need to hold Congress accountable for the grant of authority they have given this President. It is up to us to decide if we will become a rogue state pariah in hot pursuit of global domination through military force. 

[Jim Kirwan is a political independent artist/ illustrator and activist writer who has been intermittently published since the 1970's. He has worked for two governors, the attorney generals of both Oklahoma and California, corporations, non-profits, and private individuals. He lives in the United States.]