A Reputation in Tatters - Time To Impeach Bush (by Paul Craig Roberts)

Chronicles Magazine ^ | 5/20/05

[KidGlock]

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

A Reputation in Tatters

George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America’s reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America’s reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the United States.

America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.

As intent as Republicans were to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual affair, they have a blind eye for President Bush’s far more serious lies. Bush’s lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands more, devastated a country, destroyed America’s reputation, caused 1 billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe, created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars and counting.

America’s reputation is so damaged that not even our puppets can stand the heat. Anti-American riots, which have left Afghan cities and towns in flames and hospitals overflowing with casualties, have forced Bush’s Afghan puppet, “President” Hamid Karzai, to assert his independence from his U.S. overlords. In a belated act of sovereignty, Karzai asserted authority over heavy-handed U.S. troops whose brutal and stupid ways sparked the devastating riots. Karzai demanded control of U.S. military activities in Afghanistan and called for the return of the Afghan detainees who are being held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Abundant evidence now exists in the public domain to convict George W. Bush of the crime of the century. The secret British government memo (dated July 23, 2002, and available here), leaked to the Sunday Times (which printed it on May 1, 2005), reports that Bush wanted “to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. . . . But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. . . . The (United Kingdom) attorney general said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defense, humanitarian intervention or UNSC (U.N. Security Council) authorization. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult.”

This memo is the mother of all smoking guns. Why isn’t Bush in the dock?

Has American democracy failed at home?

COPYRIGHT 2005 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

America’s reputation is so damaged that not even our puppets can stand the heat. Anti-American riots, which have left Afghan cities and towns in flames and hospitals overflowing with casualties,

HA you forgot to mention that the Liberal anti American Media are the ones causing all the trouble to begin with !

[KMAJ2]

[['splain to us why the Bush administration took off after a toothless, secular, despot of a ruined semi-nation instead of pursuing bin Laden or extinguishing the Wahhabi root of the terrorist plague.]]

What type of argument is this that's needs countering ? You made statements of your rhetorical opinion, backed up with nothing.

The simple geo-political reality is that 'toothless, secular, despot' was not far from bribing his way out of sanctions. Once sanctions were removed, the ISG stated he could have resurrected his chemical and biological weapons programs in months. Just like the left, you avoid the fact that all Saddam had to do to avoid this war was to fully cooperate. You want to blame Bush, when you should be blaming Saddam. And with his hatred of the US, you would want to risk his handing such weapons over to terrorists ?

How would you have had us get Bin Laden ? Invade Pakistan ? The simple reality is there is nothing different that could have been done once Bin Laden crossed the Pakistan border. Yes, a mistake was made in the delay to allow negotiations when he was cornered at the Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan. The fact that Bush got Musharraf to sign on to the War on Terror was a master stroke.

The Wahabbis ? How do you suggest dealing with them ? Bush probably does have the best way, not sticking your head in the sand, but the spread of freedom. Isolationism will not solve the problem. Wahabbism has to be dealt with carefully or you DO risk turning the whole sect against the US, and not just the radical extremists of that sect. Granted, there is a large segment of Wahabbis that qualify, but it is not possible to isolate that sect from all of Islam. Any visible attempt to do so will carry over negative influences with other sects.

Your problem is you believe 'conservatism' is the sole purview of paleocons. You represent only one 'sect' of conservatism. And just like the left wing fringe, you demonize any who do not agree with your school of conservative thought. True classical liberalism is actually on the conservative side of the spectrum. The foundational tenet of classical liberalism is individual freedom and liberty and is not afraid of change that preserves that foundation. Not the bastardized version claimed by today's left.

What I find interesting is the elitist intransigence displayed by the fringe right as well as the progressive left, and the need for demonization and the rhetoric of hate towards any who find their positions illogical when dealing with today's geo-political realities.

[F.J. Mitchell]

He slipped out of the hands of the doctor who delivered him and landed on his head. The doctor was seven feet tall.

[Gondring]

Thus by association you are mocking President Reagan?

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

But what about all of the Muslims who now love America because of our intervention?

[Trajan88]

I said it before and I'll say it again... who cares what these other countries think. We are the U.S. and they're not... enough said.

Trajan88

[St.Chuck]

Uh, aside from the fact that you're wrong on every single thing you just said, what other opposition do you have to the war?

I would disagree that anything I said was wrong, but to answer your question in the context of your posts on this thread, I oppose the war for the reason that it has created a blind loyalty to a duplicitous government leadership at worse and that is blithely irresponsible at best. Criticism of the war does not automatically make one a leftist any more than opposition to Saddam makes one a Shiite...or a communist....or an Israeli.

[dcwusmc]

It's really refreshing to see y'all engaging in such reasoned, RATIONAL discussion, refuting the author with facts and logic and not resorting to the same name-calling and demonization tactics of the left when they have no facts to offer. (here's the obligatory < /sarc > label for the sarcasm-impaired.)

[MarkL]

Actually, the reason that most of the civilized world has no respect for the US or President Bush is directly due to the writing of "journalists." Let's not forget that even before President Bush was elected, the press was calling him a lighweight (anybody else remember the talking point, "gravitas?") and making fun of him. They called him a simpleton, and idiot, and far worse. And the foreign press picked it up and parroted it. Then the europeans began talking about how stupid Americans must be for electing such a stupid president.

No, if the US has any lack of credibility in the world today, it's directly the cause of the media!

Mark

[jec41]

Never ever believe MSM when they say a reporter is conservative. They even think Hillery is moving right.
How silly. Where did you ever get such an idea? Is that how you distinguish between left and right?

Paul Craig Roberts is and has been a respected conservative commentator since you were in your diapers, if not before.

For the record I was out of diapers in 1942, well before you were indoctrinated and the left started rewriting history. I don't know Robert's age but I may have been around before he got out of his diapers. He has been a commentator for along time but that hardly makes him a respected conservative but more of a fence flopper like McCain. Like all commentators he is agenda driven and until freespeach was reestablished in this country (via the internet) any one could proclaim they were Conservative and spout discourse without recourse. Now that I have a voice I will not sit idly on my thumbs and accept the view that the article portrays the position of conservative republicans. It does not and further might be construed as fodder for a liberal or democrat agenda to say, see even the conservatives want to impeach Bush. I do not hear this outcry from any other Conservatives and if that were their thoughts they would surly be expressed. His article insures his political position. I am aware of many Conservatives who wish there was power to impeach some of their so called republican Senators who are failing to uphold the voice of their constitutes but none who want to impeach Bush.

[LexBaird]

Somebody drank a full pitcher of Kool-aid.

And it transformed him into Richard Gephardt!! KoolAid must make your eyebrows fall out.

[iconoclast]

My standard retort to rabid knownothings like you.

Thank God and FDR for term limits.

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Thus by association you are mocking President Reagan?"

Are you implying that Reagan was dropped on his head at birth by a seven foot tall midwife too????

[jec41]

My standard retort to rabid knownothings like you.
Thank God and FDR for term limits.

Well , that explains it. Long ago I discovered that those who are incapable of thought and really have no thought, can only repeat diatribe and call names to defend their position. What that really means is that they espouse to a position that is not defensible or they lack the mental capacity to so defend. Referring to to your above quote it is evident that you believe that your security is anywhere except between your ears. Thats probably a good tactic for you to maintain because judging from your posts and lack of intellectual barter it would appear that your delusions stem from trying to swim in a pool without water. No reply needed. you're not worth the time.

[Gondring]

"As I signed the tax legislation, I could not help but think of the great role that you played in achieving this victory for the American people." --Ronald Reagan to Paul Craig Roberts

So, Reagan praises people who were dropped on their head at birth, huh?

And Paul Craig Roberts praises Reagan:

President Ronald Reagan's stature will grow as his achievements come to be more widely recognized.

Few Americans realize that President Reagan's economic policy won the Cold War by rejuvenating capitalism. Members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, with whom I spoke in Moscow during the Soviet Union's final months, agreed that it was President Reagan's confidence in capitalism, not his defense buildup, that caused Soviet leaders to lose their confidence.

[...]

Reagan's policy was a success. But at the time it was misunderstood. [...]

Some of us here are big fans of folks like Reagan. Some of us remember conservatism. Some of us understand.

[Gondring]

I do not hear this outcry from any other Conservatives and if that were their thoughts they would surly be expressed.

If you don't hear the outcry, then you aren't listening. It's not expressed in a surly manner, but I would characterize it as "alarmed" yet usually polite. Disenchanted doesn't equal surly!

[Gondring]

I re-read your post and see now that "surly" was likely a typo for "surely"...but my comments still stand.

[nuffsenuff]

Maybe some of those things bug him too.

But you would think he would know better than to try and turn the non-smoking-gun memo into a smoking gun and call for an impeachment.

[An Old Marine]

We're not at war with Islam, and most of them don't hate us. However, your blithe assumption that "all Muslims" hate us (and why), and the logical consequent -- that they're all our enemies, is precisely the sort of stupidity that will put us at war with Islam, as opposed to a relatively small number of fanatics.

I'm well aware of who we are at war with and who we are not. I've done a fair share of the actual fighting. Further it isn't Islam its nearly everyone in the Mid-East.

And I have been to nearly every nation in the Mid-East repeatedly both serving America and on business. And here's a newsflash. They hate us. Some a little, some a lot, some rabidly. One thing that is the same if you try and pin them down on why it always comes down to one thing its that they are not successful and we are.

Call it a stupid attitude if you want but the only thing keeping them from attacking us more is fear of the repercussions.

Pretend all you want but this problem will not go away until and unless the Mid-East decides to grow up and accept some responsibility for their own situation, in short "what they are not".

[jec41]

You are correct. Surly was a typo. Spelling has always been a problem for me. I learned to spell (or not spell) at a time when my school system could not decide if to teach by memorization or phonics. I was taught memorization my first two years, phonics the next two and then we were switched back to the memory system in the fifth and sixth grades. It has remained a weakness I have yet to correct, however I made sure that my children learned by phonics and both are very proficient. I brought a hooked on phonics set not long ago with the intent of correcting that flaw and it is on my calender. That said I will use a tactic of MSM to defend my typo. Surely in no way relates to surly but attempts to impeach presidents (many in my lifetime) when given voice have always resulted in discourse. Therefore, on might surmise that any sizable movement of impeachment will surely end up surly.
Thanks for your observation and don't take me too seriously because I often argue both side of a issue in order to arrive at a logical position. Just having fun trying to keep up!!!