Bush Betrays Freedom's Ideals

Bush Betrays Freedom's Ideals

The hypocrisy of the Bush administration apparently has no limits. While ostensibly in Iraq so that "freedom can be on the march" in that country, we can only hope that we don’t bring the current brand of U.S. freedom to that beleaguered people.

That would be the type of freedom that includes secret prisons, the use of torture to extract "confessions" from prisoners held without charge or due process, manipulating intelligence to support pre-emptive attacks against countries that have not attacked us, control of the media by paying for pro-U.S. stories in the foreign press, and using fear to keep the public from questioning too much about the government’s actions.

This list of high crimes and misdemeanors sounds more like what we would expect from a third world dictatorship than the supposedly "free" United States of America. The latest revelations about domestic spying are probably the most egregious act so far. Apparently, this administration feels that when the law (duly enacted by the Congress, as is its duty) doesn’t suit their needs, they can simply ignore it and do what they want.

It seems that this administration (and the majority of the American public) needs a civics lesson about the roles of the different branches of government and the concept of checks and balances.

But King George doesn’t have time for all that; it’s much more efficient to make (or break) the laws, interpret them and execute them all by himself. Who needs Congress or the courts? The impeachment hearings cannot begin too soon.

Jon Kaplan

Randolph