Reply #43: Vielen dank, Fraulein!

[Octafish]

What you said. What Fed2dneck said. What DU said. What Rall said.

Government Gangsterism at Work

By Ted Rall, AlterNet
January 31, 2002

Unbridled legal hypocrisy is a recurring theme of the ideologically impoverished Bush imperium. When it suits their immediate aims, the Bushies wield the law like a club. But when the law proves inconvenient they chuck it out the window like a gum wrapper.

We've seen this schizy lurching between law-and-order conservatism and anarchic retro-Tricky Dicky Nixonism ever since November 2000, when the same campaign that sued under Florida's election laws to stop that state's ballot recount resorted to hired thugs and back-room deals when it became obvious that they were going to lose.

Born illegitimately of intimidation, this administration is waging its New War on Terror with the same graceless style. Before September 11, it used international organizations and legal strictures to impose economic sanctions on Afghanistan. As the Trade Center towers burned and Bush's polls soared, the last vestige of respect for law disappeared. Bush dropped bombs without declaring war, without bothering to formally request that the Taliban extradite Osama bin Laden, and without presenting a smidgen of proof that either the Afghan government or bin Laden had anything to do with the attacks on New York and Washington. "You're either with us or against us," Bush said, but "us" meant "me."

During the last few months, at least 6,000 people have vanished off the streets of the United States. Kidnapped by government agents, they have no idea when – or if – they will be released from prison. The Bushies say these people overstayed their visas, that they have links to Al Qaeda, that they don't wash their hands after using the toilet, that America is safer because they're behind bars.

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http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12318