Topic: Politics
US Lawmaker’s Enemy Combatant Status Questioned Regardless of their intent or actual knowledge surrounding the circumstances, this raises the point of their competence. Could three US lawmakers really not understand the political and social dynamic of dealing with Iraq and its advocates? I would certainly hope not. This country’s political and economic power is derived from its knowledge of the inner workings of regimes, be it, political, economic or social, the world over.by jposty
(Libertarian)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Three US lawmaker's trips to Iraq during the run-up to the war in 2003 were financed by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency, federal prosecutors stated Wednesday.
All three sided with the anti-war faction of the Congress, and during their October 2002 trip they claim to have been working for diplomatic solutions while the President was gearing up to initiate his executive order power to declare war, when they decided to make the trip to Iraq.
Prosecutors charged Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a charity official from Michigan, with setting up illegal junkets at the behest of Saddam's regime. Iraqi officials purportedly paid Al-Hanooti with two million barrels of oil.
The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.
Does knowledge, or the lack of knowledge, on the source of the funding mitigate the overarching import of the claim that they were working against the country, or more accurately stated, the Bush administration?
Regardless of their intent or actual knowledge surrounding the circumstances, this raises the point of their competence. Could three US lawmakers really not understand the political and social dynamic of dealing with Iraq and its advocates? I would certainly hope not. This country's political and economic power is derived from its knowledge of the inner workings of regimes, be it, political, economic or social, the world over.
This could possibly be a blight on the otherwise untarnished record of the American intelligence agencies as it relates to the geopolitical stability throughout the world. The now infamous analysis of Politburo photos by the CIA in the cold war were infallible. The CIA, just by observing trends and known associations were able to determine the succession of power in Soviet era Russia simply by the arrangement of communist leaders during photo ops and televised addresses.
The Iraq war is also another gold star on the American Intelligence organizations' almost perfect report card. Bush correctly identified links between the Sunni regime and the Shiite terrorist organization. America also reported and subsequently found and confiscated all of Saddam's WMDs. Furthermore, as Bush so eloquently stated during the run-up to war, "We will be welcomed with open arms."
These past five years have definitely vindicated this administration and has assuaged all doubts to the veracity of their claims that we are winning and that we should in fact, be there, fighting the good fight.
However, with this recent scandal involving three US lawmakers and their seemingly un-patriotic rhetoric of talking with our enemies, rather the conventional method of bombing or bribing them should not go unpunished. These politicians should be made an example of, the definition of a patriot is – a person who blindly accepts the vision and duty of their elected government without question.
The real significance of this scandal is that America should never question its role as the sole Super-power and subsequently its duty, by definition, to the police and interfere with the world. The aforementioned shining examples of American competence abroad should be the anti-thesis to readdressing America's knowledge of the world and or its role as constable.
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2008 jposty, all rights reserved.
Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, March 27, 2008
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2008 jposty, all rights reserved.