BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
September 20, 2002
Congress Won't Ask Rumsfeld Tough Questions
by Richard Newton
Dear BuzzFlash:
Capitol Hill Protestor Medea Benjamin only got it partially right when she said:
"They [Congress] weren't asking the questions we asked: How many civilians would be killed? How would they protect us against the backlash of anti-Americanism? Why is this all about oil? Why is it coming up now? Can't we wait till after the elections? Why is the Bush administration stopping this inspection process? Why don't we put it back into the hands of the [U.N.] Security Council?" she said.
These comments came in the wake of Ms. Benjamin's being removed from the Capitol on Sept 18 for demonstrating during Donald Chickenhawk Rumsfeld's testifying before a House Committee on why the U.S. was justified in waging a "first strike war" against Iraq. Of course, Ms. Benjamin only got it part-way right -- it's not just Congress that knows only how to lightly toss fluffy, softball questions at Rumsfeld and his smirking minions, but it's also the (so-called liberal -- ha!) media as well.
Of course, what such a war is really about is (1) taking voters' minds off the quagmire that is Afghanistan; (2) taking the voters' minds off the fact that OBL's not been taken dead or alive, yet; (3) taking the voters' minds off the corporate scandals perpetrated mostly by W. Bush cronies and/or supporters (where-oh-where has WorldCom's Bernie Ebers' name gone from Trent Lott's Mississippi "Wall of Fame" website?); (4) taking the voters' minds off the fact that, like moron - like moron's son, W has no domestic agenda other than giving more money to the same people who need it the least (Republican Econ 101: all social ills can be traced to the fact that the wealthy have too little, needy have too much); and (5) simply not giving a damn that a massive, unilateral, first-strike war on Iraq will only intensify the very Arab and Muslim feelings of hatred and political impotence that -- along with W's taking a month-long vacation in Texas instead of doing something about all the warnings of an impending, probably airliner-related, attack on the U.S. by Al Queda operatives -- lead to September 11. Oh, and oil.
But neither Congress nor the media will talk, ask or think about such things, so a patriotic and peaceful duo felt compelled to raise some of these issues in front of a Congressional Conglomeration of Bobble-head Yes-men for President Dumb and Dangerous. God bless Diane Wilson and Medea Benjiman.
Richard Newton
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