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An Administration of Insincerity Richard
Clarke should be awarded a medal. By speaking out against the way the
current administration handled the 9/11 attacks, he is helping to prove
that we are being led by a regime of, to quote Al Franken, “lying
liars.” The
only good thing that can be said about the Bush Administration is that
throughout all of this, they have at least acted consistently. By that I
mean they have reacted by making contradicting statements with no regard
of the facts. I
imagine that—in their minds—we are a populous of idiots, unable to
spot inconsistencies in the statements they have issued and the factual
evidence that has arisen about the President and his administration’s
handling of the terrible tragedy that was exacted against our people. If
this is not the case, then they must think we are just so gullible that
they can say whatever they want and expect us not to notice that their
actions do not coincide with their words. Either way, it’s obvious
they don’t respect or care enough about us to bother covering their
tracks a little better. Since
the 60 Minutes interview with Clarke aired on Sunday night,
National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney,
and Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley have issued a series
of statements that fly in the face of many of the facts that have been
unearthed by the investigation surrounding our nation’s push to war. One
of the most alarming of these is the statement by Rice that “Richard
Clarke had plenty of opportunities to tell us in the administration that
he thought the war on terrorism was moving in the wrong direction and he
chose not to.” It is a documented fact that Clarke issued a memo to
Rice principals on A
full seven months before the worst attack on Why
did they choose to ignore his request? Why did they feel there was no
need to assemble a meeting to discuss the possibility that the
information was correct? Were they so wrapped up in dealings with their
corporate friends that they chose to endanger the lives of thousands of
people? Or were they hoping that the tragedy would give them a
much-needed excuse to invade a country that posed us no threat in order
to thieve its oil? Or are both of these true? Another
statement that should cause the tempers of American citizens to boil
over is one made by our Vice-President, Dick Cheney. On Rush
Limbaugh’s radio talk show Monday morning he said: “[Clark] was
moved out of the counterterrorism business . . . .” However, a White
House press release issued the day before claimed that: “. . . Clarke
continued, in the Bush Administration, to be the National Coordinator
for Counterterrorism and the President’s principal counterterrorism
expert.” What happened in the course of a day to cause our
Vice-President, a man I hope is kept up-to-date with pertinent
information regarding our nation and the people in charge of keeping it
safe, to make a comment that so blatantly contradicts a statement made
just a day earlier? Did he miss that memo? Or was he just using the
tactics of lying and doublespeak that the administration of which he is
associated has become so famous for? These
are but two examples. There are many more, and all of them suggest—no,
they do more than suggest, they almost prove—that we are being
lied to. It’s no secret that I have never been happy with Bush or his administration. I didn’t vote for him the first time around, and I definitely won’t be voting for him in November. As a citizen of the nation I was raised to believe was the epitome of Nobility and Honor, I feel it is my civic duty to remove the people that are tarnishing that image. I can only hope that it isn’t too late to repair the damage that has already been done.
Anthony Karnowski is currently a corporate wage-slave desperately seeking emancipation. He has studied music and English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
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