As Bush drags an unwilling world into an unnecessary, immoral war against Iraq his allies and supporters here in the US step up their efforts to crush dissent. Such that it is.

The already servile mass media quivers in fear. Elected officials face bitter retribution if they speak out. Bush's bullies are even attacking the Dixie Chicks!

Last night I was disgusted to watch MSNBC's Joe "Scarface" Scarborough and friends accuse Democrats of disloyalty and attack their patriotism for daring to tell the truth about Bush, his rush to war, and his diplomatic failures.

This reminded me of an article I wrote a year ago which exposes right wingers' "situational patriotism." These shameless chicken hawks and GOPocrites flip flop on national security, putting partisan gain over America. Then they have the audacity to project this on others. Shameful!

When the war on terror began, W. Bush promised revenge. I mean justice. Well, he said it was justice when he told us he wouldn't rest until he smoked out Osama bin Laden and brought him back "Dead or Alive." Remember that? W. said he'd get bin Laden -- like the old poster in Texas said -- "Dead or Alive." Until then, we could not call the war on terror a success.

Then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and conservative Democratic Senator Robert Byrd said essentially the same thing: that our success depends on catching bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders. They also called for consultation between the Congress and the White House.

Suddenly top Republicans in and out of Congress went berserk. See: Democrats Criticize Pentagon Budget, Anti-Terror War, Washington Post, 02/28/02: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14019-2002Feb27.html

"Disgusting!" spat then-House Majority Whip, now Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay has since castigated Howard Dean, a leading Democratic Presidential candidate for daring to disagree with an unelected presidential candidate, AWOL Bush. He's "giving aid and comfort to our enemies!" accused Rep. Tom Davis of VA. "How dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism," screamed Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott.

Since Daschle lamented Bush's utter failure and half-hearted efforts to disarm Saddam without bloodshed, the Republicans brought out their sharp knives again.

Trent Lott is on record saying: "I think the president needs to tell Congress what the plans are. There are a lot of unanswered questions here." Of course that was a different president, one who was actually elected. See: CNN "Crossfire" transcript of show aired 03/04/02 http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/04/cf.00.html

Brendan Nyhan's Salon Magazine article "Bully Brigade" exposed what right wingers really think about our Constitutional rights and the system of checks and balances which the founders designed to protect us from tyranny and abuse. See: Bully Brigade, by Brendan Nyhan: Salon Magazine, 03/05/02. http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/03/05/dissent/index.html

Here are a few key quotes:

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. In a "Red Alert" press bulletin: "How dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism, especially when we have troops in the field?" Lott appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" program: saying "any sign that we are losing that unity, or crack in that support, will be, I think, used against us overseas." See: http://www.msnbc.com/news/718722.asp

Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA.: Daschle's "divisive comments have the effect of giving aid and comfort to our enemies by allowing them to exploit divisions in our country." [Those are the elements of treason.] See: Quieting the homefront, by Bryan Keefer: Salon Magazine, 03/01/02. http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/03/01/lott/index.html

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General John Ashcroft attacked Bush critics' loyalty: "Your tactics only aid terrorists -- for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil." See: Closing Down Debate: Ashcroft's Attack on Dissent, by Bryan Keefer: Spinsanity, December 10, 2001, http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20011210.html

The times have changed

Saletan noted a profound GOP flip flop Not long ago, top Republicans considered attacking a President a duty, not a crime. Slate reporter William Saletan wrote an amazingly prescient column on May 7, 1999 called: "Yankee Go Home." Saletan observed that during past wars, Republicans claimed opponents of US military actions were "sabotaging American morale and aiding the enemy."

Saletan noted a profound GOP flip flop as President Clinton intervened in Kosovo: "Republicans aren't bashing the anti-war movement. They're leading it." How the times, they are a changing. See: Yankee Go Home, by William Saletan: Slate Magazine, 03/07/99 http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=27730

Saletan identified "three of the top five Republicans in Congress -- then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma, and then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas -- [who] went on television to discuss the war." He summarized the Republicans' attacks on Clinton policies as follows:

1. The atrocities are America's fault. Nickles: "The administration's campaign has been a disaster. [It] escalated a guerrilla warfare [sic] into a real war, and the real losers are … innocent civilians." DeLay also blamed his Commander in Chief: "Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode."

2. The failure of diplomacy to avert the war is America's fault. Lott said "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning … I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area." Nickles besmirched not only American, but also our allies blaming the conflict on NATO's peace proposal which he called "a very arrogant agreement [that] caused this thing to escalate."

3. Congress should not support the war. Lott and Nickles openly undermined the military when they voted against the NATO air campaign, along with 70 percent of Republicans in the Senate GOP. They led dissent and Nickles even ridiculed "NATO's objectives [as] ludicrous." DeLay supported legislation to overrule the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering the military "to remove U.S. Armed Forces."

4. We can't win. DeLay gave aid and comfort to war criminal Milosevic who he praised as "stronger in Kosovo now than he was before the bombing...." As this leading Republican continued, he sounded like Milosevic's press secretary: "The Serbian people are rallying around him like never before. He's much stronger with his allies, Russians and others."

DeLay criticized his wartime leader, President Clinton, claiming he "has no plan for the end [and] recognizes that Milosevic will still be in power." DeLay further undermined Clinton: "The bombing was a mistake.... [T]his president ought to show some leadership and admit it, and come to some sort of negotiated end."

5. Don't believe U.S. propaganda. Nickles said, "This war is not going well…. I heard Secretary Cohen say, 'Well, Milosevic miscalculated how, you know, steadfast we would be in the bombing campaign.' But frankly ... we grossly miscalculated what Milosevic's response would be." DeLay spun: "It is not helpful for the president's spin machine to be out there right now saying that Milosevic is weakening [when] nothing has changed."

6. Give peace a chance. DeLay called Clinton's refusal to meet with indicted war criminal Milosevic a "disappointing [failure of] leadership," and added, "The president ought to open up negotiations and come to some sort of diplomatic end." Lott told Clinton to "give peace a chance." [No, this is not a misprint!]

7. We have no choice but to compromise. Lott said unless the "bombing stopped [and NATO can] get Milosevic to pull back his troops" we faced "a quagmire ... a long, protracted, bloody war." DeLay said Clinton "only has two choices, [either to] occupy Yugoslavia and take Milosevic out [or] negotiate some sort of diplomatic end, diplomatic agreement in order to end this failed policy."

8. We're eager to compromise. Nickles demanded "a compromise." Lott endorsed Milosevic's position: "Surely there's wiggle room … I think something can be worked out."

9. We'll back off first. Nickles: "Secretary Cohen says, 'Well, Mr. Milosevic has to do all these things, then we'll stop the bombing.' [But], I strongly believe we need ... a stopping of the bombing...." Added Lott: "Let's see if we can't find a way to get the bombing stopped...." DeLay, referencing Reagan's blunder that killed to 240 marines: "When Ronald Reagan saw that he had made a mistake putting our soldiers in Lebanon. [Reagan] admitted the mistake, and he withdrew from Lebanon."

Set aside the horrendous inaccuracy and misguided predictions. As we know, Milosevic fell, in large part due to President Clinton's leadership. Forget the months of painstaking negotiations at Dayton and elsewhere led by Ambassador Richard C. Holbrook which bore fruit. Clearly these Republicans forgot all that, calling for the Clinton administration to do things they'd already done.

Can you imagine the uproar if a Democrat made any of these comments today about Bush's "war leadership?" I've tried, but I can't. Republican demagogues from the halls of Congress and talk radio waves attack questioning Bush as the equivalent of treason!

Can you imagine the outrage if a Democratic president was "leading" an effort which failed to turn up bin Laden while his friends and relations cashed in -- some might say profiteered? See: USA="Under Saudi Arabia" by Mike Hersh: American Politics Journal, 12/24/01 http://www.americanpolitics.com/20011224Hersh.html

The GOPocrisy is astounding, as Saletan reports: "Republicans [claim] they're serving their country by debunking and thwarting a bad policy administered by a bad president." He concluded: "You can be sure of only two things: Each party is arguing exactly the opposite of what it argued the last time a Republican president led the nation into war, and exactly the opposite of what it will argue next time."

I wish that were true. Scattered, mild Democratic comment on the war hasn't approached the criticism and attacks against President Clinton's decisions and Secretary Cohen's honesty quoted above. Democrats barely dare to ask for more information! I hope this changes soon, however, and I see signs that it might.

So, why all the rage and accusations of treason when Daschle paraphrased our feckless leader? Because Daschle repeated what Bush said not what Bush meant. Repeating what the bogus POTUS says is "treasonous" if he was lying when he said it. Daschle's crime wasn't calling Bush a liar; it was taking Bush at his word.

As the months pass into years, and we understand how Bush allowed top Al Queda and Taliban leaders escape at Tora Bora, it seems clear Bush never really wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive."

Just after 9/11, Bush helped dozens of bin Laden's relatives flee the US -- including brothers Abdullah and Omar bin Laden whom the FBI suspected of helping Osama plot terrorist attacks. If Bush wanted to catch the bin Laden terrorists, why did he help them escape?

It might make for an embarrassing meeting over at the Carlyle Group if a Saudi $billionaire yelled at Poppy Bush: "Your son killed my cousin Osama!" Daschle and the Democrats are demanding answers at enormous political risk. In return, the right wing accuses them of treason.

The right wingers keep assaulting our freedom to speak and our right right to know. Where is our media? They should be asking questions and demanding answers. However, few dare to confront W. Bush as he carries on the Bush family tradition of squandering lives and covering it up with lies. See: Damn Daschle the Dissenter, by Mike Hersh: The Liberal Slant http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/pubarchive.php?haney+696

For once Lott was right: "I think the president needs to tell Congress what the plans are. There are a lot of unanswered questions here." Every Congress has a constitutional duty to demand answers from every White House -- especially one as reckless, corrupt, illegitimate, and inept as this one. Call it 9-11Gate by Mike Hersh: American Politics Journal, 05/17/02
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020517Outrage3.html

As the Bush Administration bungles and sends thugs to stamp out dissent, people ask more, not fewer questions. We've learned the lessons of Vietnam and Beirut. This is America. We will not sit down, shut up, and let our troops fight and die in vain. Bush must answer our questions, or we will make him and his party answer for it -- at the polls in 2002 and 2004.

Main sources. Note: some may no longer work:

Democrats Criticize Pentagon Budget, Anti-Terror War by Vernon Loeb and Bradley Graham: Washington Post, 02/28/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A14019-2002Feb27¬Found=true

CNN "Crossfire" transcript of show aired 03/04/02 http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/04/cf.00.html

Quieting the homefront, by Bryan Keefer: Salon Magazine, 03/01/02. http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/03/01/lott/index.html

Bully Brigade, by Brendan Nyhan: Salon Magazine, 03/05/02 http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/03/05/dissent/index.html

Yankee Go Home, by William Saletan: Slate Magazine, 03/07/99 http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=27730

USA="Under Saudi Arabia" by Mike Hersh: American Politics Journal, 12/24/01 http://www.americanpolitics.com/20011224Hersh.html

Google Search: Milosevic war crime
http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&q=Milosevic+%22war+crime%22&sa=N&tab=nw

Call it 9-11Gate by Mike Hersh: American Politics Journal, 05/17/02
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020517Outrage3.html