A BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES  

How America Became a Pariah

The indictment of "Scooter" Libby moved me to reflect on the changes in the nation and myself over the four years since the horrific events of 9/11. Like most Americans I was devastated and angered by the attack and wanted revenge against all those responsible for the atrocity. Although I didn't vote for him I applauded my president's leadership in identifying and pursuing Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. I felt a rush of patriotic fervor and joined millions of my countrymen in proudly raising the flag at my house every morning.

Almost a year later in the summer of 2002 Bush and his spokespersons began a campaign to drum up support for a preemptive attack against Iraq, a country having no connection to the 9/11 attack. The saber rattling rhetoric culminated in the State of the Union address of January 2003 when Bush dropped the 16-word bomb concerning Iraq's supposed acquisition of uranium from Africa. We would later learn from Joseph Wilson that this was a monstrous lie and Bush knew it. Sensing that war was looming, millions of people around the world demonstrated and pleaded for the president to let the U.N. inspectors complete their search for weapons that until that time had not been found.

On March 19, 2003, defying world opinion and in flagrant violation of international law, George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America, launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq ... I suspended the daily raising of my flag.

Before the Bush presidency, America was internationally admired and thought of as a peace loving nation. Bush used the events of 9/11 to transform us into a feared and despised war-mongering empire. The American media have served as Bush's stenographers in this metamorphosis rather than journalists documenting the treachery.

Bush has never explained (nor will he) the reasons why he wanted to make war against Iraq. He has instead offered lies and mindless slogans, e.g. "they hate our freedom." "Scooter" Libby's indictment should be a wake-up call for the media; they have the responsibility to expose the squalid facts concerning Bush's illegal and immoral war.

Thomas Jefferson said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." I'm hopeful that America will soon reject Bush's imperial crusade and return to its historic place as the admired leader of the peace-loving peoples of the world; to not do so is to persist as an international pariah.

Bob Regl
Hattiesburg, MS

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION