Okay, so slowly, but surely we are moving toward a post president Bush world. Thank god! Many of us will breathe a sigh of relief when we reach that point. But the question of the decade then (if not the century), is what happens to George W. Bush and his cronies. What happens to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and John Bolton to name a few? Will they go free and be permitted to carry on schmoozing, plotting, and fund raising in the circles of the American power elite as many of them have been since the Reagan years? Or will they be tried, convicted and imprisoned as the criminals they obviously are?
Every day, people in America are thrown in jail for relatively small offences like possessing pot, shoplifting and stealing cars. Bush and his cronies pushed for and engaged in an illegal war that has left close to a million people dead and thousands more disabled and mutilated. They lied to other branches of government and to the American people repeatedly to support their military campaign. They oversaw and implemented programs of unlawful confinement and torture that ruined (and continue to ruin) hundreds of people's lives. They are directly responsible for the slaughter of not just Iraqis, but Americans as well. Are these crimes not vastly more serious than petty crimes such as those mentioned above that can still land you in jail? If so, one would think that these people should go to jail for a long, long time.
One thing is almost for sure, if these guys get off with a mere slap on the wrist (or worse yet, no reprimand at all), they, or people very much like them will be back to bite us in the future. If they get away with this, it will be a clear signal to them and other right-wing war mongers like them that there's no reason not to try this again (once the dust settles and they've managed to install another malleable Republican president in the Whitehouse). If they get away with this, count on another Iraq or Vietnam within the next 10 or 20 years. These people believe in US world domination at all most any cost (if you don't believe me check out their own websites like "Project for a New American Century" or "American Enterprise Institute") and they will continue working towards that goal behind the scenes until they are stopped.
Every day, people in America are thrown in jail for relatively small offences like possessing pot, shoplifting and stealing cars. Bush and his cronies pushed for and engaged in an illegal war that has left close to a million people dead and thousands more disabled and mutilated. They lied to other branches of government and to the American people repeatedly to support their military campaign. They oversaw and implemented programs of unlawful confinement and torture that ruined (and continue to ruin) hundreds of people's lives. They are directly responsible for the slaughter of not just Iraqis, but Americans as well. Are these crimes not vastly more serious than petty crimes such as those mentioned above that can still land you in jail? If so, one would think that these people should go to jail for a long, long time.
One thing is almost for sure, if these guys get off with a mere slap on the wrist (or worse yet, no reprimand at all), they, or people very much like them will be back to bite us in the future. If they get away with this, it will be a clear signal to them and other right-wing war mongers like them that there's no reason not to try this again (once the dust settles and they've managed to install another malleable Republican president in the Whitehouse). If they get away with this, count on another Iraq or Vietnam within the next 10 or 20 years. These people believe in US world domination at all most any cost (if you don't believe me check out their own websites like "Project for a New American Century" or "American Enterprise Institute") and they will continue working towards that goal behind the scenes until they are stopped.
That's why it's crucial that Bush and his cronies are actually brought to justice. These individuals must be made to answer for their criminal arrogance and deceit. Those of us that see this bogus war as the crime it is, need to seriously push toward this goal. We need to make sure that justice is actually done (unlike in Nixon's case) and that it is done swiftly (unlike in Pinochet's case). For the sake of the dead, the living and the unborn, let's nip this malignancy in the bud. And besides, even Paris Hilton had to go to jail.
