The Alligator

Every time I see the media spend hours upon hours of time covering the story about a pretty young white girl who has been abducted, murdered or molested my heart breaks, but it breaks for that little white girl and the untold numbers of children of color that go missing regularly. 

The media should be ashamed of themselves.  They prey on the personal horror of families who are going through unmitigated hell while ignoring the anguish of families who might not be as telegenic.  Don’t these nameless victims and their families deserve a little attention?  If the premise of attention on unsolved cases is that the media can be used to help facilitate resolution to these crimes why only focus on crimes when the victim looks like the audience targeted by the advertisers?  The answer is simple- this has little to do with helping bring resolution to a crime or awareness of evil in the world.  It has everything to do with ratings that translate into advertising dollars. 

John Mark Karr is obviously a disturbed man in a world that saddly has a lot of disturbed men.  It is also clear that there are two attorneys from California that are salivating at the public attention and possible fame that the case will give them.  It was wise of the Boulder Colorado public defenders office insisted that these women shut their mouths.  It is partially due to the absurd amount of media attention wrought on this case that it has brought out sharks like Patience Van Zandt and Jamie Harmon who are shocking the legal analysts with their lack of legal acumen. 

But quite frankly does a case, even one with a bizarre history filled with investigative mishaps, a mysterious wealthy family,  a little girl victim who disturbingly prancing around like a made up miniature woman,  and a very weird and creepy suspect, merit the amount of air time that this 10 year old case is getting at the moment?  Think of all the young girls who have are missing- especially little girls of color- that might have a ray of hope for rescue or case resolution if the media paid .000001th  time that is being given to this case.  Oh but I forgot the media isn’t interesting in aiding the public good- it is interested in pandering for advertising dollars.

I am sorry for the Ramsey family and their decade of pain that has been paraded in front of the world.  But I think that there are other stories on which the media could spend their resources-Iraq, Iran, Korea, Illegal Wiretaps, Terrorism, a broken Presidency come to mind  These timely issues merit the white hot light of media attention.  One little girl’s tragedy is horrible but doesn’t deserve this amount of attention and it certainly doesn’t deserve all the attention reserved for stories like it.

If the medias insists on 24/7 coverage of stories about abducted children while putting the chaos of world affairs in the back seat, they should think about taking the time and effortinvested in reporting the Karr case and devote it to all the missing children in the country and the dispraportionate amount of disappearances among children of color.

The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld War, otherwise known as the War in Iraq, has officially lasted longer than the United States involvement in World War II. 
Germany declared war on the US on December, 11, 1941, four days after
Pearl Harbor. The US announced victory in Europe on May 8, 1945. That’s one thousand, two hundred and forty-four days.  We’ve been in Iraq one thousand, two hundred and forty-nine days—and still the Administration has no exit strategy, no plan for victory and no clue what it is doing.

In case you’d forgotten, President George W. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” aboard an aircraft carrier over three years ago.   In the battle of Iraq,” Bush said, ”The United States and our allies have prevailed.”   Perhaps that pronouncement was a little premature. Twelve hundred and six days later, our troops are still paying the price.

We were supposed to be greeted as liberators.  What happened?  According to Vice President Cheney the insurgency was in its last throes a year and a half ago.  Now we are on the brink of seeing a civil war- this from General John Abizaid, Commander of the US Central Command in Iraq.  The Shi’ia and the Sunni are in the midst of intense sectarian violence.  According to military experts like General Barry McCafferey the Iraqi violence is not Al Qeda in origin but a result of this sectarian struggle.  Sounds like a Civil War to me.   There has been an average of 110 Iraqi deaths every day for the past month- that is more than 3,400 Iraqi deaths in a month.  Of course since the beginning of the war there have been more than 2,600 American deaths and more than 20,000 injured (many of them have lost limbs or have brain injuries) – most of the American casualties occurring since that auspicious day when President Bush announced “Mission Accomplished”. 

What a mess we have made in this country.  We have misstepped and miscalculated at almost every turn.  Even Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has stated that he has no confidence in the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld although he believes that the President should not bow to pressure to get rid of Mr. Rumsfeld because the President should be given the ability to name and rely on his own team.  A lame and luke warm apology for Mr. Bush but all one needs to do is read between the lines of Mr. McCain’s “good Republican” rhetoric to see what he really thinks. 

Dr. Vali Nasr, a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert on the politics of the Middle East and South Asia, political Islam and comparative political theory has said that the United States did not foresee nor does it seem to grasp the issue of politics of community in Islamic culture.  An assumption was made that being an Iraqi was more important than being Shi’ite or Sunni.  It seems that the influence of the Arab Sunnis is sunsetting as the influence of the Persian Sh’ia is increasing.  All one needs to do is look at the power and influence of Hezbollah to see that this is the current reality.  The influence of tenuious Arab allies- that are traditionally Sunni is lessening.  The United States went into Iraq without any clue about Islamic culture, its politics or its willpower.  In an unparalleled imperial arrogance- the United States assumed that its definition of peace, democracy and freedom is shared by all peoples.  I don’t think that anyone but the most seriously deranged humans would not want peace- but how a government is formed and how the people it governs see the world are very different in different cultures. 

Although the Bush administration still tries to pair Iraq and 9-11 in the consiousness of the nation it did make that lame case to Congress or the world.  The Bush administration made its international case for going into Iraq as a mission to obliterate weapons of mass destruction- so the world would be safer.  There were no weapons of mass destruction.  We went into Iraq to topple an evil leader- a leader we propped up at various times.  We toppled Hussein but at what cost? 

If Iraq “stays the course” it will most definitely fall into civil war and this will be a disaster for the region and the world.  We are less safe now and live in a more dangerous world than before we invaded Iraq and it has taken about the time it took us to win WW II in Europe to achieve it.

Take heed President Bush- “There are no hereditary kings in
America and no powers not created by the Constitution,” wrote Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the United States District Court in Detroit. Her decision was based on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Presidential oath of office is simple and only 35 words- “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”  But those 35 words are a sacred trust with the American people.  President Bush has broken his trust with the American people and violated his oath of office. 

According to Judge Diggs’ decision, the Bush administration not only violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) when he ordered the National Security Agency to spy without a warrant on international phone calls and e-mail by Americans and foreign residents of the United States but it also violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as the rights of free speech and association granted by the First Amendment. 

So, President Bush broke his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.  Judge Taylor said the government appeared to argue that the program is beyond judicial scrutiny. “It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,” she wrote. “The three separate branches of government were developed as a check and balance for one another.” 

I guess that the Bush administration doesn’t think much of the concept of checks and balances in the Constitution and would chalk up that basic tenet as a fabrication of “activist judges”.  But alas, it is not.  The Bush administration, in its imperious zeal, has over stepped its bounds and has attempted to obliterate the protections of the Constitution. 

If only the administration had sought out a FISA warrant from the secret FISA court- all would be well with the world and the Constitution.  But the Bush administration does not think that it should be fettered by the rules of the Constitution.  As Judge Diggs so aptly wrote,  “There are no hereditary kings in
America.” This is true even if your father was also President. 

The recent terrorist plot uncovered in Great Britain had lots of pundits thinking and talking about safety since 9/11.  Of course the Bush administration- in an action that was no surprise to anyone – insists that the administration keeps us safer and played a key role in this case. 

Let’s take a look at this case first.  The British did one heck of a job uncovering this plot, but they were forced to take action well before they were ready to because the Americans forced their hand.  One must remember that although these plotters were Islamic fundamentalists, they are also British citizens and have all the rights of due process that are afforded to any other subject of the Queen.  It is not like the Bush cowboy justice that is Guantanamo where rights are regularly trampled.   These people do have rights.  The problem with this is- that because the plot was made public so quickly and because action was taken earlier than the British would have liked, it may be harder to prosecute the case.  The evidence is unclear and it might have been more clear if Scotland Yard had waited.  If the case against these alleged plotters doesn’t stick, the world has the Bush administration to thank for it.

Now- let’s look at the work that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has done to keep us safe.  First- what about all those shipping cartons that are routinely UNINSPECTED?  Then of course there was the inane appropriations from DHS to localities which substantially lowered New York City’s allocation and Washington DC’s allocation but increased the allocations to states like Indiana, Iowa, etc.  The fact that DHS took money from blue states and allocated them to red states makes political sense if you are a Republican but it makes no sense if you are trying to protect the nation. 

Then there is the laser like attention that DHS has given to the potential use of airplanes as WMDs.  In their near manic obsession about this, they seemed to have ignored all other potential threats.  This was pointed out not only by many anti-terrorism experts but also by the co-chairs of the 9-11 commission. 

If that isn’t enough- there is the big bugaboo- IRAQ!  Remember folks- 
Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.  NOTHING and there were no, I repeat NO, weapons of mass destruction!  It boggles the mind that Americans refuse to admit these two facts because administration has been so very successful in weaving a web of deceit around 9-11 and Iraq constantly harkening back to 9-11 when defending the ill fated war in Iraq.  They never directly say Iraq and 9-11 are related but their rhetoric heavily implies it.  How offensive! 

But Iraq has made the terrorists stronger.  It has given Al-Qeda and their ilk an additional cause célèbre (the first one being the Palestinian problem).  With its near blind support of  Israel, its lack of understanding of the Palestinian point of view and its invasion of Iraq, the United States is seen as an enemy of the Arab people and anti Islamic. And on top of that there is the fact that the lawlessness in Iraq has given a haven to terrorists.   Oh yeah- by diverting resources from the REAL war on terrorism to the Iraqi War we have lost sight of Bin Laden and let the Taliban regain some of its power.    The Bush administration couldn’t have helped the terrorists more if they had tried. 

Today marks the 61^st anniversary of the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.  A few days later- we repeated the action and dropped the second atomic bomb ever used in warfare on Nagasaki.  The United States of America is the ONLY entity that has used the bomb in the 61 years since the development of the bomb.  Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) have since become part of our lexicon.

I fervently believe that nuclear proliferation is a bad thing and the more countries that have nuclear capabilities the more vulnerable we are.  When those powers (both national and terrorist) are in areas of the world that are already highly volatile- then it becomes crucial to ensure that nuclear war technologies are not made available.    For 40 years the game of mutual capabilities of annihilation between the USA and the USSR oddly enough kept the world relatively safe.  But with the end of the Cold War came new threats.  Simultaneously the technologies for “simpler and smaller” nuclear bombs came about making the world incredibly unsafe.

But we must not forget that it was the United States that used this technology in warfare- no other power has ever used this weapon.  Is the United States’ vigilance about nuclear proliferation due to our own sense of horror and guilt about our use of this technology?  It should be, but it probably isn’t.  It comes from arrogance that we, and only we and our allies, know better than the rest of the world when to best use this technology.  The issues about using the atomic bomb to end World War II are complex to be sure.  Would President Truman have dropped these bombs if he had known the enormous decades-long ramifications?  Our rationale is that less Japanese died as a result of the bomb than would have died during an all out assault on Japan.  Maybe mathematic modeling justifies this, maybe not- I do not know. 

I do know that many of the scientists who built the bomb became ardent critics of its use.  Hans Bethe, a physicist at my alma mater Cornell, among them.  A group of men and women from the Los Almos group were life long pacifists.  They learned the lesson, they understood the power and they had the respect for the science to feel awe and fear in its presence. 

But has this country learned the lesson that the scientists of Los Almos learned?  Namely- that the use of this technology in warfare should NEVER be used?  The answer I fear is no.  Remember when the Iraq campaign began and the Bush administration bandied about the term “tactical nuclear strikes”?  It seems that there is some memory loss here.  Look at the images from 61 years ago.  We pride ourselves on precision bombs that avoid civilian casualties.  Not even a “tactical” nuclear strike could possibly avoid huge civilian casualties.  Where is our moral high ground when we have the temerity to even consider such a strategy let alone publicly consider it.  Have we learned nothing from history?

The nuclear age is now in its old age- a senior citizen of the world.  Let’s hope that it doesn’t develop Alzheimer’s disease and forgets the horrible legacy that is ours- the United States’ use of the atomic bomb 61 years ago.

After thinking on it for quite a while, I think it is indeed time for Joe Lieberman to leave the public stage and to leave it gracefully.  By all accounts however- it won’t be a graceful exit.

Senator Lieberman’s continual support for not only the Iraqi war but for the ill fated Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld management of that war is baffling.  Sure there were many in Congress who initially supported the war because of the pre-war propaganda about WMDs.  Only the most gullible and idiotic Americans swallowed the notion that Iraq had anything whatsoever to do with 9/11-unfortunately that is a wide swath of the American public- but most elected officials didn’t buy that argument.  The WMD case was made to Congress and the UN- and who, other than the most cynical citizens (like myself), would have doubted the intelligence that was created around this myth? Why would any person, administration or agency create lies to thrust young Americans into harms way for no tenable reason?  Oil, money and a foothold in the middle east come to mind- but nobody but a group of neo-cons would think that this is a good enough reason to go to war.  So- WMDs hoodwinked members of Congress.  For their votes in favor of allowing George Bush to go to war, no one should be punished.  I guess members of Congress are just a bit more naïve than I would have imagined. 

But even if members of Congress can get a pass for their initial vote on the war because they believed the WMD rhetoric, there is NO excuse for continued support of this war- specifically the management of said war by the civilian leadership.  Senator Clinton grilled Secretary Rumsfeld last week- and rightfully so.  I am sure she didn’t expect him to have a mea culpa moment, but it needed to be said- and it needed to be said to his face. But Good ol’ Joe continues his support of the war and the disastrous management of the war.  Has there ever been a military campaign with so many blunders since Napoleon decided to invade Russia in the midst of winter?  If for no other reason- he should go. 

When he ran for Vice President he kept his Senate seat- kind of like a High School Senior applying to a safety school.  That in itself isn’t a big problem- other Senators have done the same when they have run for higher office, but he was running his campaign for the Senate at the same time he was running for Vice President.  Doesn’t show so much loyalty to the ticket does it?  Now he says he will run as an independent if he loses his primary bid.  Tell me- is he a loyal democrat?  Is he a man of conviction? Or a man that just needs to stay in the Senate for his own ego? Looking at his 2000 action and his 2006 threat to run as an independent, I have come to the conclusion that it is all about Joe. 

If Ned Lamont wins the primary- and all indications are that he will- Joe Lieberman should exit the national stage with grace and elegance, not with bitterness and rancor.  Will he step up and be the gentleman he portrayed himself to be during the 2000 Presidential election?  I hope so- but I fear not.