Missy Beattie: The First Mannequin and the "Crime Scene"

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"Imperial Crusades: a Diary of Three Wars" by Cockburn and St. Clair

The First Mannequin and the "Crime Scene"

By MISSY COMLEY BEATTIE

There is no indication of terrorism but the tragedy in Minnesota is being investigated as a crime scene.

First mannequin, Laura Bush, visited the Interstate 35W crime scene on Friday.

Certainly, the crumbling of this bridge is a metaphor for the collapse of our country.

Meanwhile, the toll of dead troops and Iraqi civilians continues to surge in Iraq. The president and his boss, Dick Cheney, would have us believe that because July was less cruel to us than previous months, there is hope that their war plan is working.

It isn’t.

Because parents are still receiving the words, “We regret to inform you.”

Because Iraqis are afraid to leave their homes to go to the market.

Because in July, almost 1,700 Iraqi civilians and security forces died.

Because even the Green Zone, that stately pleasure dome of cocktail lounges and Olympic-size swimming pools, is being bombarded almost daily by missiles.

Does anyone really believe that a lower monthly body count is any consolation for someone whose child was blown to smithereens by a roadside bomb? Does anyone think that a mother or father would say, “Yes, my child was killed but, at least, there were less deaths this month?” Only BushCo. would give a high sign of approval.

Yes, a bridge in Minnesota is being investigated as a crime scene. The tragic truth is that our entire country should be investigated as one.

From what Bush and Cheney knew prior to 9/11 to predictions about the levees of New Orleans to the waste and missing billions of dollars in Iraq to the billions of dollars worth of missing weapons sent to Iraq to our completely shoddy infrastructure here at home, made even more fragile because all the money is funneled to the Military Industrial Complex, our nation is one humongous serial killer. And each of us who fails to condemn the actions of our elected officials who bend over and grab their ankles while whimpering to George and Dick, “Please, please, I’ll do anything, just be gentle,” is complicit.

Osama bin Laden’s laugh must still be echoing off the walls of his cave as he recognized that he doesn’t have to lift a finger. No more plotting to frighten us into running to our favorite bookstore to pick up a copy of the Bible. No more planning to bankrupt the United States. An exploding water pipe, sending steam and debris into the sky of New York City, and the shifting of a bridge section, spilling cars and trucks into a river, hold us in thrall as we anxiously wait for confirmation of terrorism.

This is exactly what Bush and Cheney want. Our fear is necessary to their agenda. As long as we aid and abet the criminal administration of George W. Bush and a criminal Congress, filled with career-criminal Democrats and career-criminal Republicans, we are guilty as well.

Missy Beattie can be reached at: Missybeat@aol.com

Laura Didn't Have to Travel All the Way to Minneapolis to Search for a Felony

The First Mannequin and the "Crime Scene"