A Hair's Breadth Away
March 7, 2003
By Bridget Gibson

Yesterday marked the beginning of a month-long war game that is sponsored by South Korea and the United States. This game is being played in a deadly arena where one mistake and one miscalculation can upset a balance that is falling into disarray.

North Korea was named by George Bush as a part of an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address in 2002. With the impending war in Iraq only days or weeks away (per the WH official line), North Korea has every justification needed to make our lives much more difficult. Kim Jong Il is not a well-balanced leader and has his own messianic complex to display.

On Sunday, March 2, four North Korean jets traveled wingtip to wingtip with an American spy plane, at one time using radar to target the American plane. The Bush administration's diplomatic response was to send two dozen bombers to the island of Guam.

That's our George, so limited in his dialogue and dialect that he cannot speak without a loaded weapon. Talking softly is definitely not his forte. Obviously Teddy Roosevelt's advice will not be taken by this administration.

Witnessing the playground bully tactics of pushing, shoving and moving the target to unreachable heights with regard to Iraq has only led the North Korean government to realize that there is little to lose by playing the "diplomatic" game by the Bush standards.

Our George is the bomb-'em-first-and-ask-questions-of-no-one kind of guy. He certainly doesn't feel that he needs to answer any questions from anyone. He believes his role is to make the decisions about whom to prosecute, who to kill and where to attack. He doesn't give press conferences that are not scripted and he does not appear before unscreened audiences. It is hardly likely that he will reach out to North Korea. We watched his televised appearance last week before the American Enterprise Institute. This was a prime example of an "approved" audience.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a very well funded right wing think tank. Richard Perle, Assistant Secretary of Defense, is a "resident scholar" with AEI. Perle has been a leading protagonist for the coming war with Iraq. John Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, was a Senior Vice President of AEI. Actually, this administration is rife with AEI "scholars." We have Dick Cheney, Lawrence Lindsay, Paul O'Neill and Glenn Hubbard (the last three have since "resigned" from the Bush administration) and Lynn Cheney is still listed as a "Senior Fellow" of the AEI. Kenneth (Kenny Boy) Lay resigned from the AEI in disgrace after the Enron debacle.

As sad as it seems to be, it appears that ordinary people will not be allowed as an audience for George Bush. He will not be knocking back brewskies with the "common" folk regardless of his lack of verbal skills. The lack seems designed to throw everyone off balance, to make it appear that he lacks the finesse to present himself before the leaders of other countries and to grasp the complexities necessary to lead our once great nation forward in peace and prosperity.

This George Bush is a dangerous man. He fails to regard the true threats to our "homeland." We face increased threats of terrorism because of the choices of the Bush administration. We have a diminished capacity to care for our own because of the Bush economic policies. He has plundered the treasury and is leading our military into a quagmire of unrelenting wars with whomever he chooses in his pursuit of global conquest.

We are not being represented in our Congress by thorough and thoughtful debate. We have been blind-sided by the lowest forms of corruption within all branches and our democracy has turned into a plutocracy.

We are a hair's breadth away from tyranny in its worst form and we, the people, need to quickly find a way to return this country to sanity.