Columnist Jamala Rogers
With each passing year since the World Trade Center tragedy, there has been increasing mistrust in the U.S. government’s version of the account. There is also growing cynicism about how the tragedy has been used to beat citizens into submission and outrage when those who dare speak out are branded unpatriotic or extreme.
We can rejoice in the fact that the Bush regime will end in a few months – or will it?
The fear factor of an “Islamic terrorist” takeover or attack seems to be firmly rooted, if not in the American psyche, certainly in the policies established or accelerated during our eight-year sentence under Bush II. The words “Islam” and “terrorism” have been successfully co-joined by the Bush administration for its own purposes of perpetrating fear of a legitimate religion.
There are an estimated 2 to 10 billion Muslims in the world, 3-7 million in the U.S. (the numbers depend on who you ask). Islam is the second largest religion in the world and currently the fastest growing. I don’t believe the numbers are growing like this because there are Al-Qaeda cells recruiting in cities across the world.
Under the cloak of fighting terrorism – especially terrorists coming to U.S. soil – the Bushites have come close to taking the country into a constitutional crisis. It has certainly taken the nation from the dysfunctional pot to the undemocratic frying pan.
While we were suspiciously eyeing brown people with headwraps, Bush was politically manipulating the entire court system to protect their wheelin’ and dealin’. Two U.S. Supreme Court judges and over one quarter of federal appeal judges have now been appointed by Bush, which will ensure favorable rulings for the GOP for years to come.
The Bushites have not stopped at deviant manipulation of the courts and the Justice Department (which includes all the attorneys general, FBI, etc). They vowed to neutralize other elected and appointed officials at the city, state and federal levels. Former Alabama governor Don Siegleman may be the best example of this, having served prison time based upon trumped up charges by GOP-led prosecutors.
The mantra of protecting national security extends to the finance world. The U.S. government has long used its wealth and military power to bribe, control and punish countries around the world. Under Republican hands, it was scandalous. After the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Bush hooked up his sidekick, General Musharraf, with about $10 billion to support the U.S.’s phony war on terrorism. The Pakistani people have given Musharraf the boot, just like we should give the GOP a steel-toed boot come Nov. 4.
Bushites have privatized their own army to protect their interests and investments, with contractors like Blackwater, the largest of the three State Department private contractors. Both Blackwater’s founder and president are GOP-affiliated. The high-tech mercenary company has received over a billion dollars in contracts, most of it as non-bids. As a private company, Blackwater doesn’t have the restrictions of operating under military law and is running amuck all over the world.
Billions of tax dollars have been spent in Iraq and the greed in the housing market are major factors resulting in a major meltdown of the US economy. Many families are suffering with the high costs of fuel, medical expenses, housing and food. Some of us got a measly $300 assistance while Bear Stearns, Fannie May and Freddie Mac received millions in bail outs. We get a wooden token for our hard work and sacrifices and they get rewarded big time for their greed and unethical practices.
If Barack Obama successfully crosses the burning sands of a presidential campaign, it is unclear if or when his administration can cut the Republican tentacles. If Obama cannot sufficiently deconstruct their interlocking grid of fear, greed and power, it will continuously undermine his administration’s promise of change and continue to destroy our way of life.
On September 11, reflect on the kind of society we want to build post-9/11 and post-Bush.