TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS

TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS:
WHERE IS YOUR BACKBONE?

I urge every member of congress, both Democrat and Republican, to wake up, remember your responsibility to this nation, and support Senator Feingold's initiative to censor George Bush for his blatant disregard of our United States Constitution. Thereafter, you should follow up with impeachment proceedings for both he, and Vice President Cheney. This is not merely the right thing to do, it is incumbent upon you. For if you fail to act in a forthright and decisive manner during this country’s time of constitutional crisis, you will forever be frowned upon as the weakest and most irresponsible congress that has ever failed to serve this nation.

And to Democrats in particular, by failing to be more aggressive on this issue, you’re also making a serious political error, in addition to everything else. Your failure to speak out clearly and forcefully against the many excesses of this administration makes you look weak, impotent and ineffective.  How can America trust you to protect us against foreign threats when you don’t even have the backbone to protect us from an even more severe threat right here at home?  If you feel you have to put your collective thumbs up to the wind before carrying out what is clearly your responsibility, you shouldn't be in office in the first place.  We need people in office with backbone, not wimps, and people that are more concerned with their own political careers than what's in the best interest of this country. You’re not there to perpetuate your career. You’re there to promote the interest of your constituency—which, in times like these, is all of America.

If there has ever been a time when this country was in dire need of sober and resolute statesmen, it is at this very moment.  While partisan spin masters are trying to play this issue down, let there be no doubt it, this is one of those moments in our history where this nation is being challenged to redefine itself:  Are we going to adhere to those noble principles laid down by our Founding Fathers to protect this republic, or are we going to desert those principles to embrace the self-serving whims of the moment?  Are we truly loyal to the lofty ideals upon which every American claims to embrace, or in the final analysis, more loyal to political parties, self-service, and the political exigencies of just one man?  

It is a time to choose—a time for all true patriots to set all false rhetoric, posturing and self-service aside, and step forward to protect this nation.  This is one of those moments in our country’s history where the rubber meets the road--a time where all men of responsibility and good conscience must step to the plate, in spite of vicious odds, and speak the words that could possibly bring this nation back from the threshold of tyranny.

No, it’s not easy to step forward and place your life and everything you’ve worked for in political jeopardy, even in a time of crisis. If, indeed, it were easy, we’d all be great men--but that is precisely why we hold those men and women who were willing to do so in a special place of honor. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wisely stated, “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after one’s own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness, the independence of solitude.”  So, follow your heart, and your gut.  That alone will be such a novel approach during these days of self-service and cynicism, that your career will take care of itself.

You’ll be hearing from me again during the next election.

Eric L. Wattree, Sr.
American citizen

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Here’s a little something purportedly written by a White man. While I can’t substantiate that fact, since it is unsigned, nevertheless, it is a serious indictment against Black people that’s being spread like wildfire all over the internet. I had mixed emotions about whether or not to even share this with our community, but I came to the conclusion that it constitutes a graphic depiction of how some in this society think of us, and knowledge is power—even when it’s slanderous:

“THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES”
“We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery. Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS." Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment.

A great man once said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes &Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

“GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%). Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing. They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, and they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them "Status" or that they have achieved the American Dream. They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities. With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. They'll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.

“SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture. A "Talented Tenth" he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that has achieved some "form" of success however, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read that the "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has created another class, a “Buppie” class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal.

Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community. They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best speakers, not the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness? They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM) They do not understand that they are no better than each other of what they own as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but one or two paychecks away from poverty. All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms. Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are "helping" their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels. By the way, don't worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!”

This is a perfect example of a “factoid”—a lie that’s been told so often that people begin to think it’s the truth. The actual fact is, while much of this is true, it’s a truth that only applies to a small minority of the Black community—that small part of the Black community that this society chooses to focus upon to represent our people. And further, you can take this very same essay and apply it to any group of people in America. This essay states, for example, that “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book. That statement is just as true for all of America—if that weren’t so, Bush wouldn’t even be in office. ” It takes an ignorant people to allow an ignorant man to rise to the top of their society. The rest of the world recognizes that, and the fact that America doesn’t is an indictment on this nation. And, as an aside, who’s more selfish and greedy than this current administration?

In fact, if someone doesn’t step up to the plate very soon and get America’s attention, ignorance, self-service and greed is going to destroy this nation. Because as we speak, the American people are standing by, twiddling their collective thumbs, while Bush is allowing our shipping ports to be sold to the very same people that we’re supposed to be fighting. And in response to that insanity, you have so-called intellectuals (with advanced Harvard degrees) saying, “What’s wrong with that?” Now, that’s ignorant. There’s not a Crip in the world—even if he’s never opened up a book in his life— that’s gonna to let the Bloods open up a crack house on his block. That is the epitome of ignorance, stupidity, and reckless greed.

So I thought I’d drop this little tidbit of racist stupidity on you for two reasons. First, since Black people are generally blessed with common sense, I wanted to give you a snapshot of true ignorance at work. And secondly, I want you to read this, think about it, and recognize that we’re not dealing with intellectual giants here. That’s part of our problem in the Black community-- we’ve been under thumb for so long that we assume that the White power structure is all, be all, and knows all. That’s not at all true. We’re being led by idiots, and with our common sense alone, we could rise to the very top of this society—and with just a modicum of formal education and effort, we could have a tremendous impact on this nation. After all, the above cited essay comes from the very same type of idiotic mentality that once said that Black people couldn’t compete in Big League Baseball. Now, how stupid was that?

Eric L. Wattree
Wattree.com

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REPARATIONS?

REPARATIONS?
THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL, HOWEVER . . .
By
Eric L. Wattree, Sr.

I was recently in Leimert Park and heard a brother speaking on the need for reparations for the African American people.  The brother was quite articulate in stating his position, and made several salient points.  But while much of what the brother said was undeniable, the fact is, the chances of Black people getting reparations in America today, or anytime in the foreseeable future, hovers around zero.  That isn’t to say that Black people should give up on this issue—since we have a responsibility to push for our piece of the American pie, regardless to how miniscule that pie has become. But we shouldn’t allow issues such as this to become a distraction from more pressing issues in the Black community—and there are many.

We’ve got to keep in mind that there are only three issues in the American body politic—money, race, and class.  Some would add power to that list, but since the American people have allowed themselves to become so under-educated and politically unsophisticated, money now trumps power—since, with enough money, you can manipulated the mindset of the under-educated, and thereby, obtain power. Consequently, the balance of power has been turned on its head in America today—conservatives have taken their vast resources of revenue provided by big business and used it to buy up most of the radio, newspaper and television networks across this country.  So now, the only thing the American people hear, is what the conservatives want them to hear—and reparations for African Americans won’t be among those things.

Further, as a direct result of the conservatives’ control of the media, most people don’t realize that one of the primary motivating factors in the Neo-Con push to go to war in Iraq was the opportunity to put the United States so deeply in debt that it precludes our ability to fund entitlement programs.  Destroying the “New Deal” has been one of their primary reasons for being every since it went into effect during the Great Depression. But since they’ve been unsuccessful in destroying it legislatively, they’ve decided to make it impossible to implement.

If the conservatives had their way (and they seem to be well on their way to getting it) there’d be no laws against child labor, sweat shops, or corporations firing any employee who had the gall to think they had a right to join a union.  There’d be no such thing as Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Disability, or Medicare.  Conservatives consider such programs a form of socialism—and they’ve been fighting to get them abolished every since “that commie”, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, put them in place in his “New Deal” to help the common man, during the Great Depression.  

So, reparations for the African American people is an issue that is forty years past its prime.  It’s an issue that should have been addressed during the 1960s, when Democrats could utilize the power vested in them by a politically sophisticated electorate to get it passed.  But now, this country is run by tight-fisted fiscal, and mean-spirited social conservatives who have built their entire power base on a foundation of undermining the needs of Blacks, and all other people who happen to be in the under-class. So since our condition is primarily a result of a lack of education, our primary response should be the single-minded pursuit of education in the Black community—and we should allow few, or no distractions, in that regard.

We’ve got to focus on modifying our cultural mindset. While reparations would be nice, we’ve got to make our primary goal education, and helping our young people to recognize their innate potential—their birthright.  Evidence of how dire that need is can be heard in casual conversation in the community.  We’ve all heard our brothers and sisters remark, “Listen to that chump talkin’ all proper—he must think he’s White or somethin’.”  That statement speaks volumes.  What it says is, too many of us assume that the White man owns knowledge.  It also indicates that too many of us think that being black dictates a moral obligation to be ignorant, and the pursuit of knowledge is the White man’s domain. So while we might want to pursue other goals on the side, our primary responsibility is to turn that perception around.

It is no accident that during slavery it was against the law to educate a Black man. History clearly shows that White folks knew exactly what they were doing, because as Black people, we’ve repeatedly demonstrated that we become the best at whatever we set our minds to.  White folks have known for at least a couple of centuries now that to educate a Black man is to create a monster—like Johnnie Cochran, for example.  O.J. Simpson is one of the most hated men in America--but it's not because he is alleged to have killed a White woman, it's because he brought Johnnie Cochran to the world’s stage. Racists see O.J. as responsible for allowing Johnnie Cochran to destroy the White Man's comfort zone.  Prior to the Simpson trial, the racists in White America use to imply that, due to Affirmative Action, Black professionals were professionals in title only, and weren’t quite as competent as their White counterparts. But then, in walks Johnnie Cochran to represent O.J., and he immediately proceeded to play the judicial system like a fiddle.  Now those same racists say, the only reason O.J. got off was because he could afford “exceptional representation.”  That’s a far cry from their claim of Black incompetence.

The very same thing happened in music, sports, and even the military and government, when Colin Powell came upon the world stage (Let us not forget that George Bush was a second choice among White folks—even the Republicans wanted Colin Powell to run for President). So the sad fact is, historically, White people have had a better understanding of our potential than we’ve had of our own. That’s got to change--and the only way it is, is not to allow ourselves to become distracted by side issues.

We’ve got to recognize that as African Americans, we’re neither fully African, nor fully American—we are a hybrid of both cultures.  Like it or not, we are a brand new culture, and in the infancy of our development.  That makes us what they call “a gathering threat.” Because if Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Johnnie Cochran, and Colin Powell comes from a culture in its infancy, just imagine what we’re going to be when we come into our own. Thus, our history lies before us, and it is up to us to lay the foundation for a people who, I think, are destined for greatness—reparations or not.


****

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WAKE UP, MY PEOPLE

I went to view the remains of Stanley Tookie Williams last week-- he went to Washington high school with my late wife. When I went inside the mortuary’s Slumber Chamber where Tookie’s body lie in repose, there was a lady sitting in the front pew crying, presumably a member of Tookie’s family. It was obvious that the lady was in great pain, so in spite of the fact that I didn’t know her, I offered her my condolences. The chamber was quiet and solemn.  Then I walked out the side door of the mortuary—and into an absolute zoo.    

In the parking lot next to the mortuary there was a crowd of people partying like it was New Years Eve–the music was blasting, one car was on lifters so high that it seemed to be standing on end, and three sisters were dancing in a heated frenzy before a crowd of maybe a hundred people shouting, “Go ba-by! Go ba-by! Go ba-by!” It was unbelievable. But the scene outside the mortuary that night served to reinforce a point of view that I’ve held for many years now--it's time for our people to wake up and sniff the funk, because the fumes are emanating from all around us, and it’s coming at us from every direction.  That goes for the American people in general, but black people in particular.

As black people, we have a beautiful and festive culture, and I realize that in the past that festive spirit has been used to great effect as a defense against pain.  But times are changing in this country, and they’re changing faster and more drastically than we’ve ever known before.  So, if we are to survive as a people, we must adapt to that change--and we’d better do it real fast.

Looking at the United States today, one can’t help but recognize that it’s become reminiscent of Germany during the 1930s, just prior to the rise of fascism.  We have a regime currently in power that’s stolen two elections, and has taken over every branch of government; they invaded a sovereign nation on false pretenses, and they’re saber rattling towards others; They’ve set up concentration camps all over the world, and they’re torturing innocent people.  As we party, they’re not only passing laws that will allow them to spy on American citizens, but arrest those citizens, while denying them rights supposedly guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States.

We’ve got to start thinking the way this government thinks (notice that I didn’t say “the White man”, because if a White man happens to be poor or middle class, he’s in trouble too). We‘ve got to start thinking ahead.  When I was in The Marine Corps way back in 1971, even then, they had me out in Twenty-nine Palms training reservists in desert warfare.  So you see, while we’re living in the moment, this government is thinking ahead.  And when you consider the fact that Bush is now spending 2 billion dollars a week in Iraq, and sending this country into so much debt that it precludes our funding education, Medicare, most entitlement programs, and possibly, even Social Security, you’d better believe they have a game plan in mind.  They have to have one, just to deal with the resulting social upheaval that is sure to result—and they are practicing that game plan in Iraq as we speak.  So it is past time for black people to set our party shoes aside, at least for the moment, and embark on a very serious and sober reassessment of where we stand in this country today.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-America--I Love America.  America has provided me and my family with a way of life, and opportunities, that we might not have found in any other place in the world. But what I love most about America is the American ideal, those ideals that we may not always live up to, but we aspire to.  It is the American ideal that makes America special, and it is the assault on those ideals that makes me very nervous about the Bush administration. Under Bush, we seem to be losing sight of what America stands for. He claims that the terrorist hate us because of the American ideal of freedom, justice, and equality.  But if that is indeed the case, the terrorist are clearly winning this war, because with every day that passes those ideals are being whittled away.

When Bush invaded Iraq in response to 9-11, he demonstrated very clearly his propensity for venting his hostility towards people of color.  In spite of the fact that all available evidence pointed to the fact that Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with attacking this country, his invasion of Iraq seems to say, “Oh well, one Arab is just like another—they’ll do.”  That is not the American way.

And as a result of that policy, United Press International reported on July 12, 2005 that according to an Iraqi humanitarian organization, 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003.  The report goes on to say,  “chairman of the 'Iraqiyun humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under.”  Thus, according to this report, more women and children are being killed in Iraq than anyone else--and that, is not the American way.

In addition, it has now come to light that the Bush administration has been spying on Muslims in their homes, businesses, and mosques, without warrant, since September 11, 2001. Conservative spin masters try to justify this policy by saying that this fudging of the Constitution only affects
0.1% of the people, so those of us who don’t have anything to hide, don’t have anything to worry about.  But the fact is, these violations set a precedent that sends the nation down a slippery slope that affects us all.  It’s not only a gross violation of an entire community of people, but a corruption of the United States Constitution that places us all in jeopardy. That is not the American way.

So it is clear that our government, under Bush, has no understanding, nor respect, for limits.  Since he's already demonstrated his propensity to paint all people of color with the same brush, it’s not a very big leap from terrorist, to Muslim, to Black Muslim, to black people in general.  While that's not the American way, it's a glaring reality.

So, again, it is past time for the black community to turn down the music for a minute and get serious. The Cabbage Patch can wait, because if there has ever been a time in our history where it is incumbent upon us to focus, educate ourselves, and become politically engaged, it is now. We’ve demonstrated over the years that we can party hardier than any group of people in the world, but at this point in our history, we have nothing to party about.  Tookie’s body should attest to that fact.

Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)


Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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TOOKIE

The December 13th execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams by the state of California was a gruesome example of retribution, political expediency, and institutionalized murder. But in spite of that fact, Brother Williams went out like a Trojan--even to the point of trying to assist the technician to find a vein in which to inject the lethal potion that, moments later, would certainly bring his life to an end.

That scene alone demonstrated that this brother was an exceptional individual. He clearly had more strength of character than any other player in this sad and sorted affair, and therefore, was certainly worth saving.

Of course, there are those who are going to say that he didn’t have so much character that it prevented him from killing four innocent victims in cold blood. But in response to that, remember, it is not at all clear whether or not Mr. Williams committed the crimes in which he was ultimately executed, since he declared his innocence to the very end. What is clear, however, is that this brother had something far less than a fair trial.

As Dr. Firpo Carr pointed out in his piece, Terminate Tookie? Terrible Travesty!, in the December 8th edition of the Los Angeles Sentinel, the irregularities in Tookie’s trial provided more than enough grounds to, at the very least, spare this brother’s life.

First of all, the prosecutor in the case, Robert Martin, made it a point to see that there were no black jurors on Mr. Williams’ case. Secondly, he had the venue of the trial moved from Los Angeles to the predominately white city of Torrance, Ca. Also, this same prosecutor, Robert Martin, was censored by the California Supreme Court for “invidious discrimination” during the prosecution of Tookie’s case. In addition, there was absolutely no physical evidence pointing to Tookie committing any of the crimes in which he was charged, and every witness that testified against him had a vested interest in testifying for the state (such as charges being reduced or dropped for crimes they’d committed). And beyond that, one witness was even allowed to read the police report in his jail cell so he’d know how to testify. So again, to my mind’s eye, all of these irregularities in the prosecution of this brother constitutes more than a compelling reason to, at the very least, not put this brother to death.

But even if Tookie did commit the crimes in which he was convicted, the fact is, that happened a lifetime ago. In the twenty-five years since those crimes were committed Mr. Williams’ life had undergone a dramatic change, and certainly the years that he lived with death as his constant companion (not to mention the last agonizing hours that he spent not knowing whether or not he was going to live or die) should have paid some dividend on that debt. That brother must have died a million times over the years. And beyond that, it wasn’t as though he was going to be freed—he would have still had to face his natural life behind bars.

The most tragic thing surrounding this sad affair, however, is our failure to at least try to drag something positive out this negative situation. Our society was so bent on retribution that once again we’ve missed yet another opportunity to make an investment in our young people—and thus, an investment in our society.

Stanley “Tookie” Williams could have made a tremendous contribution to the curbing of crime and violence on our streets, but once again, this society has allowed its lust for stupidity to overwhelm its dire need for enlightenment. But the black community doesn’t have to follow suit. Let us mark the death of this brother as the beginning of a new era—an era where our passion for enlightenment will overwhelm society's lust for stupidity.

So let us begin our renewed demonstrations now. Let us redouble our efforts to save the next Tookie, while he’s still in the cradle. And let us pray for all our sakes, that the world at large doesn’t judge America, as severely as the state of California judged this proud blcak man.

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AMERICA'S BLIND SPOT

The controversy surrounding the Nine-Eleven tragedy has revealed a glaring blind spot in the thinking of the American people. Every since that horrible tragedy American politicians, generals, educators, theologians, and even little old ladies calling in to talk shows have come forward to express both their righteous indignation with Arab terrorists and their opinions on how we should go about defending our shores against terrorism. But in all of that verbiage not one person has asked the fundamental question that is the key to addressing this issue: What would the American people do if, based on the history of black people in this country, an invincible military power took Texas and gave it to Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam to create a homeland for black people, then propped the new nation up with billions of dollars of foreign aid and military hardware?

If we really want to protect America from terrorism it is imperative that America not only ask that question, but answer it honestly. Because when you're dealing with a foe who takes pride in committing suicide for his cause, there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it. Your only line of defense is to try to understand what motivates him.

But the American people are resistant to asking itself this question, because the question requires an honest answer. America doesn’t want to admit that if it were placed in the same position as the Arabs, the American people would do the very same thing that the Arabs are-- right down to declaring its "terrorists" heroes.

As children we learned the old adage that all's fair in love and war. That adage is as true today as it was when we recited it as kids. But since the United States and its allies have equipped themselves with all of the most devastating military hardware, it is to our advantage to attempt to set the rules to war--the most important of which, is that the only approved way of killing people is with the toys that we possess. But that rule leaves most Arab states out in the cold and vulnerable to our whims--like taking their land and passing it out as a gift. So naturally the Arabs have decided to fight the only way that they can, through suicide bombings. Of course, we cry foul, but the Arab response is to thumb its nose at us and say, "So what are you going to do, kill us?"

To think that the world is going to just stand by and allow us to stack the odds in our favor is not only ridiculous, but a monument to our towering arrogance. It is also arrogant to believe that the rest of the world can't see through our alleged concern for the killing of innocent women and children. Every time the Israelis roll their tanks onto, or bomb Arab soil, they kill innocent women and children--and the United States made watching the slaughter of innocent women and children a national pastime during the Viet Nan era, again in Desert Storm, and yet again in whatever they're calling this latest atrocity. Even we described our campaign in Iraq as "Shock and awe". Those terms can only be defined as "terror."

And further, let us not forget that the most unconscionable act of terrorism in the history of mankind was when the United States dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on the women and children of the Japan. In that case, we attempted to justify it by saying it saved countless American lives, but by using that argument we readily admit that terrorism, and the killing of innocent women and children, can indeed be justified under certain conditions.

The American people can be blinded to these issues through the thick fog of patriotism, but the rest of the world is not hindered by our laundered point of view. They see our actions for what they are--terrorism.

But I don't bring these atrocities up to wag my finger at the United States, because in spite of our lapses and tendency towards arrogance, we still represent the greatest social experiment that man has ever known. And in spite of any inferrences that one may draw from my remarks concerning our lopsided policy with regard to the Arab states and the state of Israel, I fully support Israel's right to exist in peace.

But if we want to protect what we have, we've got to learn to think clearly and objectively, and stop trying to delude ourselves into thinking that we're the perfect society. We have a lot of work to do to become the nation that we profess to be, so let us use our energies in trying to reach our professed ideals, instead of wasting that energy in an attempt to prove that we've already arrived.

We need to understand that in order to truly become the nation that we profess to be, we need clear, objective, and unadulterated thinking. That, in turn, requires that we first see reality as it is, and only then, as we would have it. We can start that process by first, recognizing--and admitting--that we're not always right. Secondly, we need to accept the fact that military might can't solve all problems. Third, we should ask ourselves what are we doing to make people want to fly planes into buildings. And finally, we must realize that the only difference between Arab terrorism and American terrorism is that we have a much more efficient delivery system.

Eric L. Wattree

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BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE, BUT DON'T BE A FOOL

The Bush administration is in desperate need of warm bodies these days. Young people are dying, enlistment is down, and many of the troops in Iraq are either on their third tour of duty, or on involuntary extension—in spite of the fact that, in the case of many reservist, the military has stopped paying the families they left at home. As a result, the administration is putting out commercials portraying the glamorous and exciting life to be had in the military.

But unfortunately, they’re subjecting our young people to the old bait and switch. They’re showing soldiers in nice, crisp, uniforms, sitting in what looks like computer rooms with everyone playing video games, instead of the very probable truth--lying out in the desert in 125 degree heat, thousands of miles from home, blind, and with a leg or arm blown off. That is the reality of military life under the Bush administration.

This administration proclaims to anyone who will listen that they honor and respect our troops, but as the old folks use to say, “that dog don’t hunt”, and there is ample evidence of that fact on the public record. At this point, for example, the administration finds it expedient to deny that during the run up to war in Iraq they told the American people that Saddam Hussein represented an imminent threat to the United States. Now that weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq, they want us to forget the urgency in which they rushed us into this war. But if what they now say is indeed the case, and Saddam didn’t represent an imminent threat, why did the administration needlessly sacrifice the lives of our troops by sending them to war without the necessary protective gear?

If Saddam wasn’t an imminent threat, it would have been in the best interest of our troops to wait until we had all our ducks in a row before we went to war—or at least until we had the necessary equipment. But the Bush administration had other priorities. They had priorities that superceded the welfare of our troops—the need to go to war before the American people had the time to think about what we were getting in to.

Our young people were sent to war with vehicles they had to armor plate themselves, with scrap metal they’d found along the road. In addition, the families of many soldiers had to scrape up the money themselves to buy protective gear for their love ones--and if that wasn’t bad enough, it took an act of congress to get the administration to reimburse these families for their expenses. So just think about it-- here we are, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, and the parents of the troops have to send their children the protective gear from home, to help them stay alive. Then, administration has the nerve to say they honor our troops. I don’t think so. Even the Crips have flack jackets—and their parents don’t have to send them from home.

But nothing demonstrates the arrogance and the cavalier attitude of this administration towards our troops more clearly than remarks made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfelt. While meeting with the troops at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in response to one of the soldiers’ questions regarding inferior equipment, Rumsfelt responded, “As you know, you go to war with the Army you have.” And then, he went on to say, “And if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored humvee and it can be blown up.” So in essence, Rumsfelt told the soldier, don’t worry about it, they can blow you up anyway—armor or no armor.

That’s only a couple of many glaring contradictions in the behavior of an administration that claims to love, honor, and support our troops. While they’ve made a mantra of the claim that they honor our troops, their actions grossly belie their assertions—in fact, most of their policies with regard to our military seem to suggest that their only concern for our troops is in using them as human shields against the criticism of a very unpopular and pernicious agenda.

Therefore, this administration would be content to "stay the course" in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries in perpetuity. And why not--they don’t have anything to loose and everything to gain. It’s not their children dying for this dubious campaign, yet the trough of their selected, and bid-protected corporations are overflowing from the swill of war. While our love ones are being blown apart, Haliburton—the company in which Vice President Cheney headed before coming into office—is enjoying unprecedented profits; and as our families are being scarred for life, the children of these chicken hawks are following in their parent’s footsteps--lying back in the lap of privilege and luxury, content to cheer the heroic "little people" from the lobby of exclusive tennis clubs. Then, they tell us that our attempts to end this war, and to get our children out of harms way, is un-American. Well, it seems to me that anyone who buys into that nonsense is not only a non-thinking person, but in point of fact, an absolute idiot.

If these chicken hawks truly had the courage of their convictions (and I emphasize the word "courage"), they’d be encouraging their children to flood the enlistment depots to join in this "noble American endeavor", as just a simple matter of patriotism. But on the contrary, instead, their children are being allowed to follow in the tradition of that great and resolute American, Dick Cheney, and his five deferments.

Yes, it is indeed easy to say "we must stand firm" when your love ones are safe at home, but I’d be willing to bet the few dollars Haliburton has yet to take from America’s treasury that if Bush, or any one of the other chicken hawks, knew for a fact that their child was going to be the very next casualty, their attitude towards this war would undergo an immediate, and drastic change.

This is a war of political and economic expediency–it promotes an agenda that represents everything that conservative ideologues have passionately pursued since the New Deal. First, it was used to shore up Bush’s numbers, which gave him the clout to get the rest of their agenda past the American people. Then the war was used to redistribute the wealth. It not only allowed Bush, Cheney, their cronies, and selected corporations to raid the United States treasury, but along with the huge tax cut for the rich, create a debt that made it next to impossible to maintain social and entitlement programs. The only reason Social Security was spared is because Bush’s numbers began to fall.

The following excerpts from the Downing Street Memo says it all:

The Secret Downing Street Memo
_____
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL _ UK EYES ONLY
DAVID MANNING
From: Matthew Rycroft
Date: 23 July 2002
S 195 /02
cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney_General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
IRAQ: PRIME MINISTER’S MEETING, 23 JULY
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. 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. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action . . .

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force . . .

The Attorney_General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self_defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult . . .
(Rycroft was a Downing Street foreign policy aide)

Thus, when the facts regarding this war is looked at objectively, it becomes clear that these neo-cons were willing to kill and maim thousands of our trusting and brave youth for no other reason than to promote an agenda that they’ve been salivating over since the advent of the New Deal. It’s unconscionable.

So the next time you see Bush or Cheney praising our “brave American troops”, or hear them saying “All we need is a few good men” or “Be all that you can be”, just remember, the first step towards being all that you can be is to avoid being a fool. So ask yourself, where are their kids? Then consider the fact that the United States Senate had to step in and demand that the White House stop charging wounded soldiers $8.10 per day for their hospital meals.


Eric L. Wattree, Sr.
Wattree.com

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