America Still Speaks with Forked Tongue

America Still Speaks with Forked Tongue by Chantal Laurent, Salon.com, Dec. 19, 2008 | http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=65996
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America Still Speaks with Forked Tongue

The Bush administration must not be allowed to walk away from the numerous domestic and international crimes committed during its time in power. So far, it looks like they will not be held accountable.

Sure, Obama has said his administration will have a commission appointed to look into torture, but according to experts, a commission is where justice dies a quiet death, given that they may take about as long as it takes for the statute of limitations on prosecuting the crime to run out.

But how embarassing would it be for Obama, if charges had to be brought from outside of the American criminal injustice system; in the Hague for instance?

History has shown that corruption is systemic in U.S. politics. The American people must take a stand now, at this crucial juncture in order to see that the Bush gang is held accountable and brought to justice for abusing the U.S. Constitution, for international war crimes and other human rights abuses.

The U.S. gov't accuses many countries of being "rogue nations." And usually that means that the targeted nation (Haiti, Venezuela, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Somalia... ) is not doing exactly as the U.S. wants, and not strictly because that nation is violating international law.

As for being a "rogue nation," the worst offender when it comes to breaking international law is the U.S. government.

If Bush, Sr's administration had been held accountable for their part in the Iran-Contra Affair, many of the same players that were not pursued by the Clinton administration could not have come back to wreak havoc in the world again.

Bush, Jr. may not have been elected president, because his father's legacy would have been tainted by the crimes committed by his administration.

The lessons of the affair continued to be debated. Some said that Iran-Contra exposed a pattern of zealous disregard, by the EXECUTIVE BRANCH, of legislative constraint on foreign policy, that dated back to the VIETNAM WAR. Others took the view held by the Reagan and Bush administrations: namely, that nothing terrible had happened.

Iran-Contra Affair
No accountability led to the reconstituting of the Iran-Contra figures into Bush 43's cabinet and other powerful positions where they continued the same mindset that lead to Iran-Contra into a New American Century.

The latest beneficiary of the no accountability policy of the U.S. government, is Robert Gates, who has been picked by Barack Obama to continue on as Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration.

Who to reward for corruption next? Will the 2012 Republican candidate be Jeb Bush? The talking heads are talking him up. After all they say, Americans have a short memory.

Is there to be no accountability for the Bush administration's crimes in Haiti?

The U.S. gov't carried out a coup-knapping of President Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, who got 92% of the vote in an election that was scrutinized by international election monitors.

These actions plunged Haiti into a spiral of chaos, political killings, kidnappings... that have been estimated to have cost up to 20,000 Haitian lives so far. A 2006 Lancet report estimates 8000 murders and 35,000 rapes resulting after the coup.

Because of the interventions sponsored by the U.S. in 1991 and 2004 (that's just two, who's counting?), the Haitian gov't is weaker and less effective in facing the four hurricanes that hit this September, killing thousands and resulting in the current famine in many remote communities.

The Bush administration lied to the Black Caucus when they promised not to intervene in Haiti to remove the democratic gov't of Aristide. Statements by Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice against the President of Haiti can be easily documented and respected journalists and activists have provided evidence of Republican involvement (Ex. "The Other Regime Change" by Max Blumenthal of Salon.com).

This pattern of lies, interventions, criminal conspiracies and illegal "wars" has to stop in order for the U.S. to regain respect in the world.

Anti-American sentiment is at an all time high--the election of Barack Obama has temporarily shifted attention from the Bush crimes, but it is apparent that many people consider Bush et al criminals and cannot understand why he is getting away with breaking international laws and committing war crimes.

Cheney on ABC admitted to authorizing torture--he does not expect to be held accountable.

What gall for the U.S. to be the instigator of chaos and political instability in Haiti, then demand that refugees fleeing Haiti don't even think about leaving as they will be returned -- that is criminal.

What gall to resume deporting Haitians and refuse them asylum or Temporary Protective Status (TPS) even after four devastating hurricanes--that is criminal. Holding Haitian refugees and immigrants, especially those who are seeking political asylum like criminals in indefinite detention where they are subject to abuse and medical malpractice -- that is criminal.

The failure of U.S. foreign policy is evidenced by the state of this country and the world. The U.S. gov't has not learned from the recent past, that what they do in the world, a world where we are all connected, is connected to what happens at home.

Katrina victims know what it feels like to be considered a "refugee," to be a victim of the Bush administration's negligence, corruption, racism and incompetence.

Human rights abuses by the U.S. gov't do not stay abroad because "structural adjustment"-- in the form of the current global economic crisis has officially arrived to the "first" world