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CounterPunch
November
15, 2002
TAKING
THE FIFTH
Bush's Extremist Agenda Goes into Overdrive
by CHRIS FLOYD
Since last we met, George W. Bush has been enthroned
in near-absolute power by a whopping, er, 21 percent of the American
electorate, which narrowly voted in a slate of congressional
Republican rubber-stamps--who bid fair to outdo Baghdad's parliamentarians
in their cringing obedience to the all-wise Leader.
Now, you might think that a government
unsupported by a full 79 percent of the voters--the 60 percent
who opted out altogether plus the 19 percent who held their noses
and voted for the tub of wriggling, gutless jellyfish the Democrats
put on offer--could hardly claim a "mandate" for its
extremist program of permanent war, environmental destruction,
tycoon coddling and savage rapine of the nation's liberties.
But you, boychik, would be wrong.
After all, the Bush junta had already
seized the White House against the clearly expressed will of
the people. They certainly wouldn't blanche at claiming a mandate
from God after capturing Congress as well, even with a vicious
campaign of unprecedented sleaze (and record-breaking oodles
of fat-cat boodle) that, among countless other things, smeared
a war-crippled Vietnam veteran as an Osama-loving traitor (for
lack of proper zeal in supporting the Oval One), threatened black
voters in Baltimore with jail or eviction if they dared cast
their ballots, kept tens of thousands of illegally "purged"
voters off the rolls in Florida (again!), and romped home to
several "surprising upsets" by razor-thin margins in
places using new computer voting gizmos owned--and programmed--by
private companies run by Republican donors who refuse to allow
any public scrutiny whatsoever of the "proprietary"
software that processes the now-paperless, recordless votes.
No, 21 percent means Mandate City for
the mud-slinging mullahs, and they are now advancing their extremist
agenda on every front: a Blitzkrieg designed to gut the remaining
vestiges of genuine democracy and install a monolithic state
based on militarized nationalism and the spoils of empire. In
addition to giving even more tax cuts to the rich, rolling back
even more environmental safeguards and lining up even more bagmen
and religious cranks for the federal judiciary, they've also
been busy knee-capping an international treaty outlawing torture--wouldn't
want to upset the eager viceroys in Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan,
etc., who "vigorously interrogate" prisoners for the
Regime. (Like his corporate cronies, Bush likes to move his more
dubious activities to off-shore havens).
Then of course there's the new penchant
for "targeted assassination." Brays of teeth-baring
triumph greeted the killing of a carload of alleged al-Qaeda
operatives in Yemen by a remote-controlled CIA drone. (Yes, we
know there's a remote-controlled CIA drone currently residing
in the Oval Office, but this was a different one.) This adventure
in extra-judicial, extra-territorial execution is only the beginning,
excited security officials told an enthralled media. There was,
of course, one little problem: the missile blast apparently left
all the victims burned beyond recognition; even the identity
of the primary target, an alleged bin Laden lieutenant, was disputed
by witnesses.
As for the other five men in the car--including,
apparently, an American citizen, although nobody knows for sure--who
cares? In fact, that was the general consensus all around. Either
it was bin Laden's guys or it wasn't, either they were hardcore
gangbangers or they weren't--guilt or innocence is beside the
point. The point is that Bush can now aim and fire his drones
anywhere in the world he damn well pleases, and nothing--certainly
not law, or that stinking rag, the U.S. Constitution--is going
to stop him.
There was also the final scene in the
drawing-room comedy being played out in the UN, where Bush pretended
to consult with the Security Council and Council members pretended
they were acting to "prevent war and preserve the UN's credibility."
Meanwhile, the Bush boys were backstage twisting arms and issuing
threats over oil deals and debt servicing. The whole pantomime
was merely a time-killer, something to do while the Generalissimo
continues his massive build-up for the already-announced "optimum
invasion window" of late December to mid-February.
Finally, if that don't float your boat,
try this: The Pentagon announced last week that it's building
a computer system to give government spies and federal cops "instant
access to electronic information from Internet mail and calling
records to credit card and banking transactions and travel documents
-- without a search warrant," the New York Times
reports (italics added). This global eye will be aimed not only
at international terrorists but also at the United States--whose
citizens will at last be stripped of their remaining rights to
privacy.
But rest assured, the spy program "won't
be abused," says the Pentagon honcho in charge of the plan.
And who is this comforting, fatherly figure? None other than
Vice Admiral John Poindexter. That would be the same John Poindexter
who was convicted on five felony counts in the Iran-Contra affair--including
lying, under oath, to Congress and the American people.
Poindexter was a key operator in the
Reagan-Bush scam that funneled deadly weapons to the terrorist-succoring
regime of Ayatollah Khomeini, in exchange for blood money which
the Reagan-Bush team then used to pay off the terrorist army
it was running in Nicaragua--an army schooled with CIA manuals
on torture and assassination. Poindexter and the other thugs
also threw some drug-running into the mix, just to keep the kitty
flush.
But hey, we're sure the convicted oathbreaker
is telling the truth this time. How sure, you ask?
Oh, about 21 percent sure.
Chris Floyd
is a columnist for the Moscow Times and a regular contributor
to CounterPunch. He can be reached at: cfloyd72@hotmail.com
Yesterday's Features
William Hughes
The Mad
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Robert Fisk
War Dance
with Saddam
Ron Lare
Getting 9/11-Baited
War and a Union Election
Russell Mokhiber and
Robert Weissman
Why
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Jerre Skog
When Big Biz Has Taken Over Everything
The Brave New Nightmare of GATS
Pierre Tristam
Deferral by Default
Lee Sustar
Dockworkers in the Dark
Anis Shivani
"The Doctors' Vote Is Now Up for Grabs"
The Fading Democratic Delusion
Alexander Cockburn
The Anti-War Movement and Its Critics
New
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- Ashcroft's Gays: the War on Free Speech;
- Saddam's Amnesty: Could It Happen Here?
- Criminalizing Dissent: a history and preview;
- Iraq 1987: When the Going Was Good;
- Egypt in Turmoil: an Anthropologist's Account;
- Green and Grounded: Profiled at the Gate.
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November 10,
2002
Ali Abunimah
Sharon's
Appendix
M. Shahid
Alam
Political Geography
Zionist Theses and Anti-Theses
Michael Neumann
Demonstrating a Genteel Reticence
Rosemary &
Walter Brasch
Personal Possession:
War and Iraq, a Recollection
Ralph Nader
The Mid-term Elections
Mark J. Palmer
Bring Back the Grizzly
Robert Fisk
Bush's "Clean Shot"
Dave Marsh
And the Beat(ing) Goes On
Adam Engel
No Blood for Marijuana in Iraq
Josh Frank
Sleater-Kinney
Rocks
Our Protest Songs Are Here
Clifford Lyle Marshall
Give the Trinity Back to the Salmon
Zeynep Toufe
Turn These Children into Stone
Philip Farruggio
In Name Only
Charles Sullivan
Mountain Party Rising!
Bernard, Krieger, Alam
Poets'Basement
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
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Five
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Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
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