Bush's Crimes in Baghdad Have Parallel in U.S., U.K.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/6004

Bush's Crimes in Baghdad Have Parallel in U.S., U.K.
by Sherwood Ross

What's left of what passes for law in America is eroding rapidly. The latest scandal in Totalitarianville is the admission by Robert S. Mueller III March 9th his FBI had improperly used the Patriot Act to spy on individuals and businesses. Three days earlier, I. Lewis Libby Jr., a top aide of Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury in compliance with his White House masters' orders to defame the opponents of their illegal war of aggression against Iraq.

See how it works? High government officials break the law by lying to the FBI and the FBI breaks the law by misusing the Patriot Act. Is there anybody at the top in D.C. who's not a criminal? Asked for comment on Libby's conviction, President Bush, replied, "I was sad for a man who had worked in my administration, and particularly sad for his family." So that's the word from the biggest law-breaker of them all, regret for the terrible suffering Mr. Libby's family will have to endure. When the verdict was announced, Liddy's wife broke down in the court room.

Yet, how does her "suffering" compare with that endured by the people of Iraq, 650,000 or more of whom have been slaughtered with the help of her war-making husband with the innocent nickname "Scooter" at the behest of his bosses Cheney and Bush? On the same day as the Liddy verdict, the New York Times reported suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 109 Shiite pilgrims and wounded more than 200 as they traveled to a religious festival. Will Mr. Bush apologize for that massacre, an outcome of the war he started? Or will he apologize to Ikhlas Thulsiqar as she sobs in a Sadr City hospital March 9th because U.S. troops as part of his "surge" opened fire on her car, killing her husband and two young daughters and wounding her son?

Of course, the military may claim it was all a mistake but there's no mistake the U.S. is in Iraq because Bush lied to the American people the way his loyal Scooter lied to the grand jury. Meanwhile, back home, The Times reports a surge of another kind: "Violent Crime in Cities Shows Sharp Surge, Reversing Trend." Seems violent crime "rose by double-digit percentages in cities across the country over the last two years," the paper reported, particularly in "murder, robbery and gun assaults."

"There are pockets of crime in this country that are astounding," Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, is quoted as saying. His report indicts the spread of drugs, gangs, high poverty, and "easy access to guns and a willingness, even an eagerness, to settle disputes with them, particularly among young people." Yes, in a nation whose president sets an infamous example for settling disputes with radioactive ammunition, napalm, bunker busters, cluster bombs, and white phosphorus, don't be surprised if America's belligerent youth also take the law into their own hands.

In some very odd ways, crimes in Baghdad have their parallel in USA. Chris Magnus, chief of police of Richmond, Calif., said, "I go to meetings, and you start talking to some of the people in the neighborhoods about who's been a victim of violence, and people can start reciting: 'One of my sons was killed, one of my nephews,'" he said. Magnus added, "It's hard to find people who haven't been touched by this kind of violence." Yes, and you can knock on any door in Baghdad and hear the same litany.

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throughout the world. The fact that bushco is still in charge is a national disgrace.

doing this same crap for 70 years or longer. It goes back at least to granpa's banking for the nazi's.