What
You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter
How the U.S. Army Kills Its Own Soldiers
A horrifying,
exclusive report from JoAnn Wypijewski on the grim secrets of
Fort Sill, Oklahoma. How a sadistic drill sergeant tortured basic
trainees, amid brutal indifference that led to the death on March
19,2006,of 21-year-old PFC Matthew Scarano. Dead Movement Marching? Cockburn and St Clair
assess the failures of the national antiwar groups, even as popular
opposition to the war tops 60 per cent. Stalin or Confucius? Chris Reed on
the Secrets of the Garden of Bliss, otherwise known as North
Korea.CounterPunch
Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember,
we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition
of CounterPunch. Please
support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter,
which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or
by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions
are tax-deductible.Click
here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please:Subscribe
Now!
President Bush passes himself off as
a conservative Republican and a born-again Christian. These are
disguises behind which Bush hides. Would a Christian invade another
country on false pretenses, kill tens of thousands of innocent
civilians, and show no remorse or inclination to cease the aggression?
Long-time Republican policy-wonk
Bruce Bartlett recently published a book, Impostor, in
which he proves that President Bush is no economic conservative,
having broken all records in spending taxpayers' money and running
up public debt.
Were Bush merely another big
spender, his presidency wouldn't differ from other pork barrel
administrations, but Bush's radicalism goes far beyond spending.
Bush supports outsourcing American jobs, and he has taken an
irreverent approach to the U.S. Constitution.
Bush bears no resemblance to
a political conservative. A political conservative does not confuse
government with country. Patriotism means loyalty to country.
Bush, however, demands allegiance to his government: "You
are with us or against us!" Critics of the Bush administration
are branded "unpatriotic" and even "treasonous."
Loyalty to country means allegiance
to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the separation of
powers. It does not mean blind support for a president, an administration,
or a political party.
The separation of powers and
civil liberties that were bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers
are the protectors of our liberty. Bush, who swore on the Bible
that he would defend and uphold the Constitution, has made it
clear that he will not let the Constitution get in the way of
expanding the powers of his office.
Bush has over-ridden a number
of protections in the Bill of Rights. The right to assemble and
to demonstrate has been infringed. The Secret Service now routinely
removes protesters from the scene of Bush political events. Many
unthinking Americans go along with this authoritarianism because
they don't agree with the protesters, but once the right is lost,
everyone loses it.
Bush has ignored habeas corpus
and claims the unconstitutional power to arrest and detain people
indefinitely without a warrant and without presenting charges
to a judge. This is the most dangerous abuse of all, because
whoever is in office can use this power against political opponents.
Many unthinking Americans are not concerned, because they think
this power will be used only against terrorists. However, as
the Bush administration has admitted, many of its detainees are
not terrorists. Most are innocent people kidnapped by tribal
leaders and sold to the U.S. for the bounties paid for "terrorists."
Bush has refused to obey statutory
law, specifically the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Bush claims that as commander-in-chief he has the right to ignore
the law and to spy on Americans without a warrant. Many unthinking
Americans are unconcerned, saying that as they are doing nothing
wrong they have nothing to fear. This attitude misses the point
in a large way. If a president can establish himself above one
law, he can establish himself above all laws. There is no line
drawn through the law that divides the laws between the ones
the president must obey and the ones he need not obey.
FISA does not interfere with
government spying for national security purposes. Secrecy is
protected, because the court of federal judges that issues the
warrants is secret. Moreover the law allows the government to
spy first and then come to the court for a warrant. The purpose
of the warrant is to be sure that the government is spying for
legitimate purposes and not abusing the power to spy on political
opponents for nefarious purposes.
When presidents sign a bill
passed by Congress that they think might be interpreted in ways
that could impinge on the powers of their office, they add a
"signing statement" to protect traditional presidential
powers. Under Bush this practice has exploded. Bush has used
signing statements considerably in excess of all previous presidents
combined. Moreover, Bush uses the statements not to protect president
powers, but to nullify acts of Congress, such as Republican Senator
John McCain's law against torture. Bush is using signing statements
to turn the presidency into a dictatorship in which the executive
is not accountable to laws passed by Congress. The next step
is simply to announce that the executive is not accountable to
elections either.
Bush's government is the first
in our history in which there are no dissenting voices and no
debate. Uniformity of opinion is more characteristic of a dictatorial
government than a conservative one. Bush's government is all
of one mind, because all important positions are held by neoconservatives.
Neoconservative is a deceptive
term. It means "new conservatives," but there is nothing
conservative about neocons. Neoconservatives believe in imposing
their agenda on other countries--the antithesis of American conservatism.
In short, real conservatives
believe in conserving the Constitution, government accountability,
and civil liberties, and avoiding foreign entanglements. Judging
by its behavior and its statements, the Bush administration stands
completely outside the conservative tradition.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the
Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of
National Review. He is coauthor of The
Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com
Now
Available
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
CounterPunch
Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid?
CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues,
as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call
CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.
