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The Humiliation of America, By Our Own Government

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Walter D Rath

If the U.S. government were a self-respecting human being, it would probably have gone off to an island or remote sanctuary by now, perhaps deep in the stark, rugged Adirondack Mountains of New York State, away from all others of its species, to bury its head in shame, lick its psychic wounds, and otherwise disassociate itself from friends and family, no longer able to look them straight in the eye again.

Most human beings, when faced with a never-ending string of self-generated humiliation eventually begin to get the message that their behavior is being looked at by everyone else as more than just anti-social and disrespectful. We're not talking about mere oversights, mild mistakes or slight embarrassment here. We're talking about the outright humiliation of an entire nation, by its own government.

How could anyone possibly make the charge that Bush and his administration are humiliating their own country, profoundly damaging its image worldwide, and its own psyche at home, after what some may claim to be a "mandate" from its people for having allegedly just "won" an " election"?

First of all, the damage to the American psyche is only now beginning to sink in after a concerted effort to whitewash it, at least through to Nov. 2.

According to a new Zogby poll, released Jan. 26, 2005, 31% of Americans now say that they are actually "ashamed" of George Walker Bush and his administration. We're not talking just a little disappointed in their so-called leader. We're talking almost a third of the country that is out-and-out ashamed of their government in Washington.

And it's quickly becoming common knowledge, even to the most disengaged American citizen, that much, if not most, of the "intelligence" which this country used to justify its decision to invade Iraq was specious at best then, and has been proven to be so totally wrong that some of the original rationale now seems nothing less than farcical.

So, what? A few mistakes like that are not humiliating in and of themselves. Well, to quote a famous sidekick of the now deceased king of late-night television: "You are correct, sir."

The national humiliation we're talking about here, on the scale worthy of global disdain, would require more than just a mistake or two. It would involve a litany of misguided decisions, bone-headed judgments, erroneous assumptions and egregiously erroneous information; and, perhaps a touch of arrogance, such as:

- Bogus claims that Iraq had attempted to acquire "yellow cake" for nuclear weaponry via Niger, a claim thoroughly discredited many months before the U.S. invasion, but which the administration, either unwittingly, or knowingly, kept alive right up through the invasion itself.

- The departure of one country after another from the coalition that was cobbled together to create the illusion of international support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. With increasing regularity, we hear of yet another country dropping out of the coalition, like Japan, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, The Ukraine, The Netherlands, and Latvia, among others.

- The televised torture by U.S. troops acting as barbarians, and the subsequent whitewash of those who authorized it.

- The famous "Mission Accomplished" banner which has made George Walker Bush, his government, and his country, the laughingstock of the world.

- The fake turkey "served" to U.S. troops as a publicity stunt on the Thanksgiving prior to the Nov. 2, 2004 election.

- Oh, and did we mention those weapons of mass destruction? You know, the WMD's Bush joked about at a recent press club event, which parents of dead soldiers were able to watch, in dismay, on their television screens?

And then there are other related matters that have made the entire country look foolish. For instance, when Bush's top national security advisor stated publicly that there was no way anyone could have predicted people would use civilian aircraft as weapons, when, in fact, numerous people had suggested that very possibility for decades, and not just kooks, but actual intelligence agencies and their analysts, including those who work directly for that very same advisor. The litany of acts of humiliation by George Walker Bush and his administration has made the United States of America a world laughingstock, with virtually no credibility left whatsover in the minds of much of the world.

Yes, my friends, George Walker Bush and his administration have, time and again, brought disrepute to his entire nation, not just once, or twice, but time and time again.

And about those claims of having legitimately "won" an "election" this time, well, if you successfully deny hundreds of thousands of African-American and low-income voters their right to vote, through deliberate acts of voter suppression, intimidation and subterfuge, and thus take away enough votes to swing the electoral votes needed to take office, then is that really a legitimate election? Perhaps so, if you equate it to those same "elections" held throughout the South during the 1940's and 1950's, when African-Americans were systematically disenfranchised. 21st Century Jim Crow, Republican style would much more accurately describe the events of Nov. 2, 2004 than the term "election." The Republicans in 2004 gave African-Americans a "high-tech" hosing and the Republicans are just loving every minute of the fact that they got away with it. So far.

It's almost enough to make you wonder whether there's any reason to be proud to call yourself an American anymore.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION