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Weapons
of Mass Deception Editorial writer for the Toronto Star Richard Gwyn posted an article on June 12, 2003 entitled "Bush's weapons of Mass Deception." I find this title incredibly apt for both American and Canadian citizens, especially the Christians among us, who believe that both democracy and justice demand a heavy dose of "truth-telling" and transparency to function as they are intended. Every since the late 1960s at the peak of the interface of civil rights and the Vietnam war I have realized that the political realities that shape our lives present a superstructure undergirded by religious and moral values, most frequently in profound opposition to the Gospel of Christ. Having resisted the aggressive policies of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, I feel constrained to assert that the current corporate-led and media-supported administration of George W. Bush has surpassed all previous U.S. administrations in its anti-Gospel agenda both at home and abroad. It has been said that during a war "truth is the first victim." This proverb has proven true in the current global climate led by the one remaining superpower. Having become president in the most questionable election of recent times, the younger Bush began his presidency with little popularity and less legitimacy. Then came September 11, 2001. In one fell swoop the American sense of invincibility from "enemy" attack crashed with the New York City "Twin Towers." This event created singlehandedly the Bush presidency and gave the new administration a virtual "carte blanche" to restore to America its pride and its sense of safety and security. Every since the late 1960s at the peak of the interface of civil rights and the Vietnam war I have realized that the political realities that shape our lives present a superstructure undergirded by religious and moral values, most frequently in profound opposition to the Gospel of Christ
Internationally: The Bush cadre trumpets its support for democracy abroad, arguing that its actions are undertaken in the name of freedom and peace. Instead we see an administration seeking to bully its allies, showering contempt on international institutions and putting forward a military-driven policy with little or no consultation. For example, the United States, under the current administration, remains one of the few major powers refusing to sign the Kyoto environmental accords. Using a highly personalized political set of values Mr. Bush and his cabinet single out their chosen enemies (Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein), call them terrorists and international criminals and demand that they be tried at the Hague for such offenses. At the same time the U.S. refuses to accept the international tribunal at the Hague, once again demonstrating its "lone ranger" policies. American treatment of the United Nations, ever since the height of the Cold War, has brought shame to the nation. However, under the current administration this contempt has attained new heights. Appropriately a focus on the lies told to Americans with respect to the current aggression in Iraq demonstrates the lack of "truth-telling" and manipulation emerging from the alliance of "big business," its vocal puppets around George "Dubya" and its public rostrum the corporate (appropriately called "embedded") media, a media currently being awarded with a massive deregulation leading to monopolistic concentration at new heights. First, we were told that the "war on terrorism" required an Iraqi war due to Saddam's supposed ties with the shadowy Al Qaeda. No such connection has been established to this day. Secondly and above all, we have heard that Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" and/or their preparation necessitated U.S. military intervention. On September 12, 2002 President Bush assured the United Nations that "Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons," and less than a month later in a public speech, he exclaimed: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program," a program led by Saddam's "nuclear mujahhideen– his nuclear holy warriors." Sadly most Americans believed the administration in striking contrast to the scepticism expressed abroad. Under significant pressure U.N. teams of inspectors entered Iraq in search of proof for the presidential allegations. In spite of access to virtually all of Iraq the inspectors found nothing of significance to warrant military aggression. This mattered little to the administration which gathered its so-called "coalition of the willing" to invade Iraq. To this day, as one Canadian newspaper put it (Toronto Star, May 11, 2003), "U.S. task force finds no proof of illicit arms." Every bit of supposed evidence produced by the administration proved either spurious or inconsequential. Ominously enough we have seen a handful of resignations by conservative career bureaucrats in the fields of intelligence and foreign policy, most recently the sixty-year old Rand Beers. Especially damaging is the fact that American forces and investigators have not come up with the evidence to support the Bush administration's allegations of "weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)." Given the flimsy foundation of these WMDs it became imperative for the president and his cabinet to divert the public's attention. I cite two examples. First of all, we hear of the necessity of replacing Saddam's tyranny with a free and democratic regime, a goal whose rhetoric most Americans find compelling. However, if one peers behind the bombast the Bushites do not mean by democracy either rule by the majority or "one-person, one-vote." After all, the majority of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims, the same brand of Islam found in the ruling elites of Iran. The United States would never permit an Iraq friendly to America's current nemesis. Indeed, the only freedom we can expect in Iraq is the freedom of Bush's corporate friends to exploit its vast oil reserves and rebuild the nation's infrastructure. Of course, this means huge profits for corporate pockets paid for almost exclusively by the American taxpayers. The very corporations preparing to enter the war-devastated country include those linked to the Bush administration through both financial backing and personnel. This use of democratic rhetoric flies also in the face of continued and escalating support of ruthless anti-democratic regimes around the world– intervention in the internal workings of Venezuela, a lack of interest in the war-torn Congo, ignoring the brutal regime in Burma and the hypocrisy and brutality of the "Plan Columbia." Indeed, the only freedom we can expect in Iraq is the freedom of Bush's corporate friends to exploit its vast oil reserves and rebuild the nation's infrastructure.
Using the panic and fear generated by September 11 and the Washington sniper, the Bush administration has rolled back civil rights in a concentrated attack unlike any in recent history. Domestically: Like all lies of the powerful eventually they find their way back home. "Freedom and democracy," the supposed reasons for "preemptive" military aggression, are being scaled back domestically in unprecedented ways. Using the panic and fear generated by September 11 and the Washington sniper, the Bush administration has rolled back civil rights in a concentrated attack unlike any in recent history. Especially vulnerable have been "brown-skinned" people and Muslims who have suffered massive violations of their civil rights and direct violence against themselves and their property. Under the rubric of fighting terrorists, immigrants are being targeted without any thought of their rights. Dissent, a time-honoured tradition and right within democratic traditions, finds itself labelled as traitorous and unpatriotic. The case of Tim Robbins and the Baseball Hall of Fame emerged as one of the more ludicrous examples of this type. Border crossings between Canada and the U.S. have become much more stressful and time-consuming, especially for citizens originally from the Indian subcontinent. The so-called free press has rolled over to become the obsequious servant of the corporate-government alliance. We read much about the firing of New York Times figures for gross misreporting but remain uncritical of how easily reporters of that same daily passed on the Bush administrative line without question. CAN's coverage of the war proved especially chilling; it looked and felt like video war-game entertainment. In the meantime the vast majority of American people fall increasingly behind in their lives via federal revenue cutbacks– of schools, of regulatory agencies, of labour standards. The few hundred dollar tax "give-backs" to most Americans means millions for the rich. The Bush tax reform translates into huge public deficits, destruction of public goods and a huge resource grab for Bush's elitist pals. We read much about the firing of New York Times figures for gross misreporting but remain uncritical of how easily reporters of that same daily passed on the Bush administrative line without question.
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