During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reportedly said of Nicaraguan strongman Anastosio Somoza that... "He may be a son of a b*tch but he's our son of a b*tch."
Over the history of the United States, many presidents could have made a similar statement about ruthless dictators of varying degrees, one of which being former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the late seventies and most of the eighties, Saddam enjoyed a very cordial relationship with the US, trading oil exports for much needed armaments for his war with Iran. Unfortunately, Saddam used those weapons of mass destruction for devastating Kurd separatists in the eighties as well. Imagine "Made in the USA" being the last thing those people saw. This little chapter in American history has proven to be an embarrassment, and whenever 'our sons of bitches' become embarrassments, they either get dead or imprisoned very quickly.
With the recent hanging of what appears to be the disgraced Iraqi leader, another distasteful part of unctuous American foreign policy comes to an end. Oligarch George W. Bush made a vague statement after the hanging that it was an example of the Iraqi justice system at work. Yeah. Anyone believing this please leave your phone number. I have a bridge in Ramadhi I'd like to sell you.
But Saddam the son of a b*tch may have some life in him yet. For its likely that the extrajudicial execution may bite George W. Bush right on the ass. Ordinarily, America lances these boils on the world landscape with swift recrimination, killing thousands of civilians in another triumph for democracy.
However, Bush is losing the conquest in Iraq and losing badly. He knows this, because while Bush lulled the American people to sleep with his talk of a democratic Iraq, he's been blackmailing countries around the globe into signing off on his administration and the American military being exempt from the International Criminal Court. Several independent reports indicate that Bush has twisted the arms of 100 countries with the threat of losing foreign aid, and has ended aid for fifty other countries that refuse to go along with the plan.
Enter Representative Eliot Engel from New York. He is the author of H.R. 5995, a bill which repeals the legislation allowing Bush to coerce countries into signing these bilateral agreements. Currently, H.R. 5995 is languishing in the House Foreign Relations Committee. However, a highly charged Democratic Congress may move this bill forward as a way of opening Bush and his cohorts up to charges from the ICC, and taking the dirty business of impeachment off the table. And this could give extraordinary new life to the butcher of Iraq.
And why shouldn't it? No doubt, Saddam killed thousands of Shiites and Kurds in his time as dictator. But Bush is responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties as well-possibly upwards to 650,000. And that's just in nearly four years. Saddam took thirty years to reach his mass killing capacity.
Neo-conservatives like to say Saddam "killed his own people." That's true, but President Bush has also killed 3,000 of his own people fighting an illegal war based on a false premise. That alone should be enough to put him in the docket at The Hague. Certainly an extra ¾ of a million should be enough to put a noose around Bush's neck as well.
Not all of our sons of bitches are foreign tyrants. At least one of them occupies the highest office in our nation, and the American people can no longer pass him off as being just another in a long line of monsters willing to cow tow to the recklessness of their own greed.
Over the history of the United States, many presidents could have made a similar statement about ruthless dictators of varying degrees, one of which being former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the late seventies and most of the eighties, Saddam enjoyed a very cordial relationship with the US, trading oil exports for much needed armaments for his war with Iran. Unfortunately, Saddam used those weapons of mass destruction for devastating Kurd separatists in the eighties as well. Imagine "Made in the USA" being the last thing those people saw. This little chapter in American history has proven to be an embarrassment, and whenever 'our sons of bitches' become embarrassments, they either get dead or imprisoned very quickly.
With the recent hanging of what appears to be the disgraced Iraqi leader, another distasteful part of unctuous American foreign policy comes to an end. Oligarch George W. Bush made a vague statement after the hanging that it was an example of the Iraqi justice system at work. Yeah. Anyone believing this please leave your phone number. I have a bridge in Ramadhi I'd like to sell you.
But Saddam the son of a b*tch may have some life in him yet. For its likely that the extrajudicial execution may bite George W. Bush right on the ass. Ordinarily, America lances these boils on the world landscape with swift recrimination, killing thousands of civilians in another triumph for democracy.
However, Bush is losing the conquest in Iraq and losing badly. He knows this, because while Bush lulled the American people to sleep with his talk of a democratic Iraq, he's been blackmailing countries around the globe into signing off on his administration and the American military being exempt from the International Criminal Court. Several independent reports indicate that Bush has twisted the arms of 100 countries with the threat of losing foreign aid, and has ended aid for fifty other countries that refuse to go along with the plan.
Enter Representative Eliot Engel from New York. He is the author of H.R. 5995, a bill which repeals the legislation allowing Bush to coerce countries into signing these bilateral agreements. Currently, H.R. 5995 is languishing in the House Foreign Relations Committee. However, a highly charged Democratic Congress may move this bill forward as a way of opening Bush and his cohorts up to charges from the ICC, and taking the dirty business of impeachment off the table. And this could give extraordinary new life to the butcher of Iraq.
And why shouldn't it? No doubt, Saddam killed thousands of Shiites and Kurds in his time as dictator. But Bush is responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties as well-possibly upwards to 650,000. And that's just in nearly four years. Saddam took thirty years to reach his mass killing capacity.
Neo-conservatives like to say Saddam "killed his own people." That's true, but President Bush has also killed 3,000 of his own people fighting an illegal war based on a false premise. That alone should be enough to put him in the docket at The Hague. Certainly an extra ¾ of a million should be enough to put a noose around Bush's neck as well.
Not all of our sons of bitches are foreign tyrants. At least one of them occupies the highest office in our nation, and the American people can no longer pass him off as being just another in a long line of monsters willing to cow tow to the recklessness of their own greed.
