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CounterPunch
August
19, 2002
Advance Draft of Bush's Astounding
9/11-Anniversary Speech
by Bernard Weiner
The following, alleged to be a draft
of a speech George W. Bush wrote himself, to be delivered on
the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, recently came into our
hands from a usually reliable White House source, the person
known to us as "Shallow Throat." Previously, this
GOP mole slipped other papers and insights our way. (See "The
'Shallow Throat' Documents: A Pre-9/11 Bush&Co. Scenario,"
published here in February, and " 'Shallow Throat' Reveals
Bush & Co.'s Weak Spots," published here in June.)
We can't attest to this document's validity,
and we have no idea if the speech actually will be delivered.
But the reputed draft certainly leads to interesting speculations.
See what you make of it.
*****
Good evening. I have asked for this broadcast time because
on this first anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to join you in
grieving for our massive losses. Let us all bow our heads in
silence, in honor of those who have fallen. [ 20 seconds of
silence. ] Thank you.
First off, I want you to know that nobody
wrote this speech but me. Another speech was handed to me yesterday
-- you know, for me to go over it a few times before it went
on the teleprompter here -- and I started to rehearse it. But
the second time I went through it, something grabbed me by the
heart and told me to throw it away and to write my own. I prayed
and meditated about what I really wanted to express. So here
goes:
All my life, I've been told what to say,
what to do, how to do and say it, and I was handsomely rewarded
for all that. For being basically someone else's creation --
essentially a puppet, beholden to others.
I did that as governor of Texas and I've
done it for the first two years of my presidency. But no more.
Tonight, I want everyone to hear me loud and clear. I'm no longer
anyone's puppet, or patsy. I'm my own man, with my own ideas.
And those in my administration who don't like what I'm doing,
or saying here, can go...find employment elsewhere.
Historians and politicians always talk
about a President's "legacy" -- that is, what enduring
values and programs a President leaves for his fellow Americans.
I was on my way to an embarrassing legacy, that of a President
who would be remembered first for obtaining the office in a
strange manner, and once in residence in the White House for
fostering a culture of corporate greed, destruction of our
glorious environment, and for behaving like an arrogant bully
in the global arena, starting wars and alienating a good share
of the world.
That is not how this President wants
to be remembered.
I have done some low, despicable things
in my short time on earth -- from putting substances into my
system I shouldn't have to selling my soul for ill-gotten gains
-- but I'm finally willing to accept responsibility for my actions
(unlike so many other friends and colleagues), and to try to
attone for the worst aspects of my life by doing good.
I realize that powerful forces in this
country will try to discredit my new stand -- they'll say I've
had a "nervous breakdown," or that I've been brainwashed
by terrorists, or that I've sold out to pinkos, or that everything
I'm saying now is purely for electoral gain -- but, with your
help and support and faith in me, I know I'll be able to make
my way through.
Whatever comes -- be it political garbage
heaped on my head by those calling me a "traitor"
to my class or to the conservative cause, or, God help me, an
assasin's bullet -- I move forward with my head held high, my
heart pure, my mind calm. Because, finally, in the bosom of
Jesus -- not just saying that I'm "born again," but
knowing it deep in my soul -- I now understand why I was set
upon this earth: not to help myself to the spoils provided me
by my family and connections, but to help others, around the
globe and right here in our own, great country.
Last year, after 9/11, I thought I had
discovered my reason for being: to lead the fight against the
new scourge of mankind, terrorism. But over the months, it became
evident to me that though the target is the correct one -- we
can't have folks going around blowing up innocent civilians
-- the way we were going about it was, as we say in West Texas,
back asswards, and counter-productive to boot.
Let's go back to 9/11 and I'll try to
explain. When we came into office -- and I won't even go into
how an unelected candidate was installed into the White House
-- the outgoing administration passed on to us all sorts of
intelligence about Muslim fanatics associated with Osama bin
Laden, and gave us suggestions for how to cope with this new
reality.
We ignored those warnings partially because
we were busy with the transition to power and partly because
we thought anything Clinton said or did automatically was suspect.
But also because, during the first eight months of our Administration,
our program was in tatters in the Congress (even before Jeffords
defected from the GOP); we knew that the best way to get our
agenda through was somehow to frighten the public to demand
a firm hand at the top. And so we did not listen, did not want
to listen, to all the warnings last summer coming almost daily
from our friends and allies abroad, about an imminent al-Qaida
air attack on American icon targets.
We were busy getting our post-attack
plans ready -- both here in this country, in terms of how we
could bend and alter the Constitution in the name of "national
security" and "homeland defense," and abroad,
realizing that we were the only superpower left on the globe
and could get away with almost anything because there was nobody
out there to stop us. And so we turned the other way when we
knew that a terror attack of massive proportions was coming
toward us. More than 3000 good folks died one year ago today
because of our conscious choice not to act on our pre-knowledge.
As long as I live, I can never forgive myself for that act of
political cowardice.
I know that by admitting this, I leave
myself wide open for impeachment, but if I go down, I'm going
to take a whole lot of people with me, also involved in the
9/11 coverup. But, who knows, some of those people also may
go down for other reasons: the Vice President because of his
Halliburton irregularities and his refusal to turn over to Congress
the relevant energy-policy documents; the Attorney General,
for his leadership in carving away the protections of the Constitution
and for moving toward a neo-fascist police state; Don Rumsfeld,
Gayle Norton, Tom White, Larry Thompson, Harvey Pitt, and all
the others. (And even me for financial shenanigans when I was
at Harken Oil.)
But at least I -- secure in my soul --
am willing to tell the truth about what happened, and why, and
face the consequences. The others, after all the dodging and
running, will have to speak for themselves.
It's the nature of the Presidency that
it forces you to take a good look at yourself in the national
mirror. I didn't like what I was seeing. Given my history, it's
not surprising that I more or less just turned over the government
to giant corporations; they helped write their own regulatory
laws, they got what they wanted with regard to deregulation,
corporate accounting, profit-taking, tax-law, relaxation of
pollution controls, trade, etc. etc. They scratched our backs
with campaign donations, we scratched theirs so they could run
rampant in their corporate pursuit of profits. I guess I should
have known that some of them would carry things to extremes.
I felt like a total hyprocite, forced
by political pressure -- when the markets tanked and all those
seniors' retirement plans got wiped out, when nobody trusted
the financial statements of large corporations -- to denounce
the warped, unethical and probably illegal practices that made
so many of my friends and supporters rich at the expense of
ordinary Americans. How could Dick Cheney and I talk about the
need for accounting reforms, and denounce greedy corporate
executives, when we ourselves participated in many of the very
same practices? That was a big one when I stared at myself in
the mirror.
Please don't get me wrong. I continue
to believe fiercely in the capitalist ethic of letting the market
determine a good share of social policy. Initiative should be
rewarded. But when the system is rigged against the have-nots
and the have-littles in favor of those who already have lots,
then something must be done to even the playing field, to set
and enforce some rules so that not just the wealthy benefit.
In foreign affairs, we in the U.S. simply
must change the way we look at others, and the policies that
cause so many problems in the world. This is one planet, and
we humans no longer have the luxury of behaving as if we are
separate creatures from others around the globe. What we Americans
do in Iraq and the Middle East, for example, will affect the
entire world's economy for decades -- not to mention what might
happen if nuclear or biological weapons are employed anywhere,
by anyone.
So, tonight, I am halting all planning
for an attack on Iraq and requesting a review of all U.S. policy
around the globe, to be on my desk within 14 days. I realize,
for example, that until a just Israeli/Palestinian peace is
reached, there will be no stability in that region, or elsewhere,
and so I will become personally involved in helping develop
that peace, for the sake of generations to come of Israeli and
Palestinian children, who may one day become friends and partners
instead of constant antagonists.
We simply must alter the chemistry of
the soil in which so much terrorism grows; we must provide hope
to these young, would-be suicide-bombers that their world will
change for the better, with peace and justice and jobs in a
viable country of their own. To do nothing to alter that soil
is to do untold damage to the vital national interests of the
United States, and of our friends and allies.
I am also requesting a thorough review
of all federal environmental policy, to develop programs that
will help preserve and improve air and water quality, reduce
greenhouse emissions in the light of global warming, punish
polluters, give tax incentives for developing alternative fuels,
require higher gas-mileage for new cars, and so on.
I also vow to fight for repeal of the
large tax breaks given to the wealthy 10 years out. We took
that action when there was a huge anticipated surplus (estimating
a decade out when we had no idea what the economy would look
like then, or even a year from passage of the bill); now, we're
hurting and it's time to revise our thinking, so that the little
guy and the middle-class don't get the shaft in terms of taxation,
and so that we have monies to fund some of the all-important
governmental programs without dipping into Medicare and Social
Security trust funds, as we are now doing.
I have to take a deep breath here. I've
been thinking so much in the past few days that it almost overwhelms
me. I don't have details to lay out here. They will come. But
I did want to make sure that everyone understands my new frame
of mind, my new priorities, my new plans in broad outline.
As I suggested earlier, I expect a huge
storm of opposition to my new positions from some inside my
Administration and in the Congress, especially from many of
my fellow Republicans on the far right. But I'm hoping that
once they get a sense of the broad, overwhelming support for
these positions from ordinary Americans, Democrat and Republican
alike, they will come to see the wisdom of making the necessary
changes for the good of our country.
If you choose to permit me to serve out
my term, I vow to all my fellow Americans that I will work tirelessly
on everyones' behalf, not just for those who supported me with
money or who felt they were ideological or religious kin. I
will be happy to work with Congress, including the Democrat
leaders, in helping to truly alter the tone in Washington,
and to move this country back to civility and closer to the
center, where all of us can benefit.
God bless you all. God bless America.
Thank you.
Bernard Weiner,
a poet and playwright, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater
critic; holder of a Ph.D. in government & international
relations, he has taught at various universities, and has written
for The Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive, and widely on
the internet.
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August 14
/ 19, 2002
Susan Davis
Played
Out: a Journey to Central City, Colorado
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