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Opinion: How do you spell fiasco? B - U - S - H
What's worse -- misplacing a cigar or allowing 3,000 people to die?
It still baffles me how former President Clinton was impeached, and subsequently acquitted, for lying about an extramarital affair. Hot on the trail of a semen-stained dress, an independent counsel was appointed to delve into the commander in chief's personal life. It was documented and released in vivid detail to a salivating public and, for some reason, considered a matter of national importance.
And that's fine. Well, actually it's not, but I can live with the fact Clinton perjured himself and was held accountable -- even if it was over a non-issue.
What I can't live with is the total hypocrisy of the system.
As you read this, speculation continues in regard to intelligence President Bush received prior to the 9/11 attacks -- intelligence that may have prevented 3,000 men, women and children from being slain a few short months after he obtained it.
Yet, despite the fact Bush received the memorandum in question -- which was reluctantly released by his administration over the weekend -- and was reminded about its implications in August 2001, one question remains: Why did the attacks occur in light of the information he obtained?
Of course, it's a query that will probably go unanswered, simply because Bush has been allowed to stonewall the issue to no end.
Instead of facing the matter head on, Bush has made every effort to impede the acquisition of facts, and -- unlike Clinton -- he's in total control of an investigation of which he's at the center.
When our former commander in chief was impeached, he didn't have the luxury of building a defensive shield. He had to face the American people and beg their forgiveness of his lies.
Bush, on the other hand, has been allowed to hand pick the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks ... set a target date for that commission's final ruling that lies beyond election day ... and even bargain with the very commission he was allowed to form.
Yes, Bush did hand over his national security advisor, the respectable Condoleezza Rice, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to do that. And the only reason he allowed her to testify in the first place was to diffuse some of the hype over his Nixon-esque administration and create favorable terms for his pending testimony.
In exchange for Rice's appearance before the commission, Bush will now be allowed to testify in private with the puppet master himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, at his side. Once viewed as a heart attack-prone joke, the often-dubbed "Architect of War" has long since revealed he's been more than a silent partner all along.
Of course, it only stands to reason that Cheney would orchestrate the bulk of activity in Washington. After all, someone has to hold down the fort, given the fact Bush -- who has spent most of his presidency teetering on the brink of National Security Level: Red -- has taken more vacation days than any president in U.S. history.
But I digress. Cheney isn't our president; the ever-absent (in body and mind) Dubya is -- and he owes it to the American people to cooperate with the investigation and divulge every pertinent piece of evidence he's obtained. At the very least, he could do it as an offering of closure for the families of the attacks' victims.
However, being candid with the public could also cost Bush the election, especially when combined with his track record of irresponsibility and seemingly unwitting deceit.
As I write this, civil war is about to erupt in Iraq -- a pending conflict stemming from a Bush-waged war based on a family vendetta and oil-based greed. In the meantime, a disproportionately funded force in Afghanistan is making little to no headway in its search for the true villain of the modern world.
This fiasco has not only caused the world at-large to hate us, but has crippled the economy and brought an unnecessary end to many lives. More than 500 American troops -- and 10,000 or so Iraqi civilians -- have perished in a war based on lies, and the U.S. now boasts the largest deficit in our nation's history. Yet, our self-righteous president is allowed to stall any attempts to hold him accountable.
Nixon must be rolling in his grave -- and offering Bush a nod of approval.
Travis Justice is editor of the Paragould Daily Press.
It still baffles me how former President Clinton was impeached, and subsequently acquitted, for lying about an extramarital affair. Hot on the trail of a semen-stained dress, an independent counsel was appointed to delve into the commander in chief's personal life. It was documented and released in vivid detail to a salivating public and, for some reason, considered a matter of national importance.
And that's fine. Well, actually it's not, but I can live with the fact Clinton perjured himself and was held accountable -- even if it was over a non-issue.
What I can't live with is the total hypocrisy of the system.
As you read this, speculation continues in regard to intelligence President Bush received prior to the 9/11 attacks -- intelligence that may have prevented 3,000 men, women and children from being slain a few short months after he obtained it.
Yet, despite the fact Bush received the memorandum in question -- which was reluctantly released by his administration over the weekend -- and was reminded about its implications in August 2001, one question remains: Why did the attacks occur in light of the information he obtained?
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Instead of facing the matter head on, Bush has made every effort to impede the acquisition of facts, and -- unlike Clinton -- he's in total control of an investigation of which he's at the center.
When our former commander in chief was impeached, he didn't have the luxury of building a defensive shield. He had to face the American people and beg their forgiveness of his lies.
Bush, on the other hand, has been allowed to hand pick the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks ... set a target date for that commission's final ruling that lies beyond election day ... and even bargain with the very commission he was allowed to form.
Yes, Bush did hand over his national security advisor, the respectable Condoleezza Rice, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to do that. And the only reason he allowed her to testify in the first place was to diffuse some of the hype over his Nixon-esque administration and create favorable terms for his pending testimony.
In exchange for Rice's appearance before the commission, Bush will now be allowed to testify in private with the puppet master himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, at his side. Once viewed as a heart attack-prone joke, the often-dubbed "Architect of War" has long since revealed he's been more than a silent partner all along.
Of course, it only stands to reason that Cheney would orchestrate the bulk of activity in Washington. After all, someone has to hold down the fort, given the fact Bush -- who has spent most of his presidency teetering on the brink of National Security Level: Red -- has taken more vacation days than any president in U.S. history.
But I digress. Cheney isn't our president; the ever-absent (in body and mind) Dubya is -- and he owes it to the American people to cooperate with the investigation and divulge every pertinent piece of evidence he's obtained. At the very least, he could do it as an offering of closure for the families of the attacks' victims.
However, being candid with the public could also cost Bush the election, especially when combined with his track record of irresponsibility and seemingly unwitting deceit.
As I write this, civil war is about to erupt in Iraq -- a pending conflict stemming from a Bush-waged war based on a family vendetta and oil-based greed. In the meantime, a disproportionately funded force in Afghanistan is making little to no headway in its search for the true villain of the modern world.
This fiasco has not only caused the world at-large to hate us, but has crippled the economy and brought an unnecessary end to many lives. More than 500 American troops -- and 10,000 or so Iraqi civilians -- have perished in a war based on lies, and the U.S. now boasts the largest deficit in our nation's history. Yet, our self-righteous president is allowed to stall any attempts to hold him accountable.
Nixon must be rolling in his grave -- and offering Bush a nod of approval.
Travis Justice is editor of the Paragould Daily Press.
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