Sent two letters to the editor today

[Harry Monroe]

To two newspapers, my statewide newspaper and my "hometown" rag. I just wish to share them here:

"Once again, the emperor has no clothes and is naked for the entire world to see.

From George Bush's press conference of August 21st:

"You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of "we're going to stir up the hornet's nest" theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.

Q What did Iraq have to do with that?

THE PRESIDENT: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Q The attack on the World Trade Center?

THE PRESIDENT: Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill to achieve an objective. I have made that case."

Amazing that the mainstream media and this newspaper didn't pick up on this!! Bush ACTUALLY ADMITTED that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 despite repeated assertions by him and Cheney to the contrary in this nation’s build up to war in 2002-2003; their premise for falsely linking Saddam to 9/11 and Al-Qaeda was to build support for their coming war. “Repeat a lie often enough, and it quickly becomes the truth..” Gosh, imagine that, he and Cheney lied to us about YET another rationale for war!! Let's really examine this, shall we??

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a mess of this Administrations own making. Our war fanned the flames and formented their organization in Iraq as well as splitting the country along ethnic and religious lines. Why aren’t we searching for the real culprit behind 9/11 anymore (does the name Bin Laden ring a bell anyone)?? Why did we divert our attention from the true “war on terrorism” by invading Iraq and by our actions, opening up a new front there where none existed previously?? Somewhere in a remote cave on the Afghani-Pakistani border, Bin Laden is laughing at us in derision and biding his time. Bush and his Administration are doing a great job of fermenting and encouraging terrorism and terrorist groups on their own around the world without Bin Laden lifting a finger due to our inept and incompetent foreign policy initiatives.

How many more lies do we have to hear from this Administration?? What is the threshold before his lying to the American public becomes worthy of impeachment hearings?? The Republicans set the bar pretty low on impeachment, I guess we'll have to get Bush lying about his sex life before any of his lies rise to the "high" bar set by the Republicans on impeachable offenses. If this Congress had any moral values and decency whatsoever, this president would have been held accountable for his actions and duly impeached and removed from office by now. But alas, this Republican controlled Congress is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, holding a Democratic president to one standard and a Republican president to another, even though the Republican president's lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands in Iraq and his lawbreaking and dismissal of the Constitution have taken this country down the "slippery slope" to totalitarianism.

Clinton was impeached because of his lying and to be fair and impartial, I was in favor of his impeachment once he perjured himself. The subject matter, although spurious, was irrelevant; he deserved impeachment once he lied. Can we not hold this Administration to the same standard?? No President is above the law, be he (or she) Democratic, Republican or anything else.

Former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (1892-1954) once said: "It is not the function of the government to keep the people from falling into error, but rather it is the function of the people to keep the government from falling into error."

If we fail in this duty, we have diminished our democracy and rights, bit by bit, and then we deserve what we get for failing to keep watch over our government, no matter what party is in office. In the most basic sense, the government and this Administration are our employees and they all work for us, not the other way around. Often this if forgotten. If we see something not right, don't we as employers have the right to question our employees??
"