By Daniel M Pourkesali, Virginia (Source: CASMII)
Last night's Scott
Pelley interview with President Bush on CBS's 60 Minutes [1] was by far the most
revealing look at the mental state of the American president when he
claimed to
be forging ahead with deployment of thousands of additional troops to Iraq
despite fierce public and congressional opposition by stating:
"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it.
But I made my decision, and we're going forward".
Well, we may have
ridden Iraq of their dictator, but America seems to have acquired a dreadful one
of its own. What is most alarming and indeed nearly unprecedented in the short
history of the United States, is the total disregard by this President for the
very Doctrine of Limited Government. After watching and studying the rise and
fall of many tyrannical systems throughout Europe and Asia, framers of the U.S.
Constitution believed that it was absolutely essential for each branch of
government to serve as a check on others in order to prevent the formation of an
autocratic and oppressive regime.
We now have in Mr.
Bush a chief executive that has bestowed upon himself the power to circumvent
every domestic or international law and convention, in order to implement a
dangerous and catastrophic ideology with serious and detrimental global
repricutions.
Oblivious to loss of
two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he now appears poised to start another with
Iran and Syria for the lack of 'no better plan' offered by others including the
Iraq Study Group, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Iraqi government and numerous
others who did not offer the illusion of a military victory.
It is said that
diplomacy is a skill most commonly attributed to and a pre-requisite of a good
politician especially the head of state. A capacity to evolve and generate key
relationships and conversations in order to create consensus and agreements;
diplomacy requires understanding, listening, anticipating needs, and solving
problems through negotiation. It
also requires a desire to see things from different perspectives, and learn the
nature of the topic and subject as thoroughly as possible.
Judging from Mr.
Bush's interview last night and his performance as commander-in-chief in the
past 6 years, America has now come full circle to having installed its own
tyrant who took this nation to a war over phantom weapons of
mass destruction. More than 655,000 Iraqis and 3000+ Americans have lost their
lives over that lie. Now he wants to commit 21,500 more troops and billions of
additional dollars in order to escalate the war into Iran and Syria with the
potential of slaughtering millions more innocent people and bring additional devastation to a region already in chaos due to
implementation of those calamitous neo-con ideologies.
Join United for Peace and Justice
(UFPJ) [2], Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran
(CASMII) [3], and other anti-war groups who have called for a national
demonstration on January 27 th to oppose Mr. Bush's plans for
escalating this war and to call for the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. from
the region.
About
the author: Daniel M Pourkesali is a U.S. board member of Campaign Iran
(CASMII)
[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2358365n&channel=60Minutes
[2] http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3437
[3] http://www.campaigniran.org