On September 11, 2001, the world as we knew it changed forever when we were the victims of a savage, brutal and senseless international crime that killed thousands, enraged millions and brought a unity to this country which had not existed since the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.  As one voice the citizens of our country rallied behind our President and in effect said, "Do what must be done."  It mattered little if you voted for or against George Bush or if you thought he was a wonderful or terrible President prior to September 11th.  We were united in our belief that the warped people responsible for this major tragedy must be brought to justice.

Shortly after the terrorist attacks we launched our own attack on Afghanistan, the nation that harbored and supported the main suspect in the attacks, the infamous Osama Bin Laden,.   By bombing the holy crap (no pun intended) out of key positions inside Afghanistan and by supporting the Afghanistan Northern Alliance forces, we soon saw the collapse of the ruling Taliban Government and a lessening in the repression of the Afghan people.

So far so good.  We had not yet captured Osama Bin Laden, but we seemed well on our way to reducing the threat of terrorism in the World.  There was much yet to be done in that endeavor to be sure, but it was, as they say, a very promising start.

Then a few cracks began to appear in the unified front that had encompassed our government since the attacks.  As we began to take a closer look at our leaders in general, and George Bush and John Ashcroft in particular, many of us didn’t like what we were seeing.  Oh, to be sure, there was little to criticize about the handling of the military and the war effort to date, but past that we found the same old George and the same old John up to the same old tricks.

Subscribing to the theory of, "tell 'em what they want to hear", Bush used the budget surplus left to him by the Clinton administration to push through a huge tax cut and rebate, shortly after assuming office. This unwise use of federal funds put a few hundred dollars in the pockets of most Americans and thousands upon thousands of dollars in the pockets of the wealthiest Americans and served (even before the terrorist attacks of September 11th) to severely wound the budget surplus.  Now his actions have come back to haunt us as the surplus is entirely gone and Bush and his cohorts are asking Congress to raise the deficit ceiling allowed by law.  Not so easy come, but very easy go.  The Clinton administration championed the theme of, "It's the economy, stupid."  The theme of the Bush administration seems to be, "Let's be stupid about the economy."

Next, there was Bush’s contention that if indeed we do capture Osama Bin laden or any of his henchmen alive, they should not be tried by the U.S. courts system, but instead, should be tried by military tribunal.  In other words, try them in a military trial instead of a civilian trial.  Don't confuse military tribunals with military court-martials as tribunals do not have to conform to the the Universal Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) under which all court-martials are held, nor do they offer the full extent of protection allowed by civilian trials under the U.S. constitution.  In such a tribunal, the results may be kept secret, the sentence may be kept secret and, in fact, the location or very existence of such a tribunal may also be kept secret.  Furthermore, and unlike a civilian trial, the accused may be convicted by a two thirds majority instead of the verdict needing to be unanimous.   By asking for a military tribunal for any suspected terrorists instead of a civilian trial, the President is circumventing the very principals of democracy that we are fighting for half way across the world.  We fight to for democracy which includes a free press, an open court system and fair and just verdicts while the President wants to side step all these freedoms and put a cloak of secrecy over the possible trials of some very high profile criminal suspects.  Attorney General, John Ashcroft makes the amazing statement that, "Terrorists don’t deserve rights under our constitution."  I always thought the purpose of a trial was to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused party or parties.  In this case, to determine if the accused parties really are guilty of terrorists acts.  If we catch any of the suspects the American people deserve, no, make that demand, these suspects (even though most will probably not be United States citizens) be tried in public in the U.S. court system.  The Bush administration when challenged about this decision, answer by saying our country was the victim of war crimes and such crimes sometimes require that extraordinary measures be taken.  The attacks on The World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on our domestic airlines, as terrible as they were, were not war crimes, but instead, were acts of the brutal and zealous followers of a mad man.  They represent no one country, government or group of governments and, as such, all suspects should be tried fairly in public and, if found guilty, punished to the full extent of the law as the common (but high profile) criminals and thugs they are. Timothy Mcveigh was tried in our civilian court system and so should any suspects of the crimes committed on September 11th.

And then we have the comments of Bush on the recent news that six cell embryos had been successfully cloned.  Standing behind a podium on the White House grounds, he stated that such cloning was "Just plain wrong."   That is indeed a hard message to sell for those Americans and citizens of other countries who suffer from diseases and injuries and who finally have hope for a cure or at least a betterment to their life due to this research.  The medical scientists who created these clones were not trying to play God and create a human being, but instead created an embryo of only six cells.  Compare this to the average human body which contains billions of cells.  Six is enough for we will soon have the ability to create such embryos from an afflicted person’s own DNA and then use those matching DNA cells for transplants to treat and heal their condition.  This is not a political or religious matter, but a new and wonderful breakthrough in medical science.  Of course George was put into office (just barely) by riding the coat tails of the religious right and he will say what he thinks they want to hear.

Speaking of the religious right brings us back to our Attorney General, John Ashcroft.  Fueled by his interpretation of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the other chapters of the Bible, Saint Ashcroft makes Rush Limbaugh look like a flaming liberal (well, maybe not, but pretty close).  He’s a far right-wing, bible thumping, religious zealot who isn’t simply trying to pander to the right most spectrum of American politics….he’s the leader of the pack in that regard.  He has demonstrated his penchant for racial prejudice, sexual prejudice and religious prejudice.  He has come out as anti-black (though he knows it is politically correct to deny this), anti-women’s rights and  anti-religious freedom.  He’s for trampling the constitution by promoting prayer in our public schools and now he further attacks the constitution by continually pushing for the watering down of the rights of the accused with more wiretaps, weakening the lawyer-client confidentially laws, and detaining people for long periods of time without due process.  He justifies this by saying that these new conditions should only be applied to foreigners and would never be used against American citizens.  Uh huh, sure John.  Hitler and other despots stripped their countries of their civil rights while saying it was only temporary or it was for the good of the country.  Hard earned rights are easy to give away, but damn difficult to regain.  We should watch every move Mr. Ashcroft makes very carefully as he’s a man on a mission.  A mission he believes is dictated by God.  He has stated several times that God’s law comes before any man made laws.  We need, of course, to ask which God and which laws.  Remember the terrorists believe they were acting out the dictates of their God and we saw the terrible destruction that was brought about by their beliefs. Throughout man’s existence, terrible acts against humanity have been carried out, all in the name of one God or another.

It's strange to note that while Ashcroft presents himself as a fierce terrorist fighter, he seriously dilutes this image with his refusal to even consider thorough background checks for those who purchase firearms at gun-shows.  The fact that anyone can buy a gun at many of these shows with no questions asked or that, among the bona fide buyers at those shows, there could also be common crooks and purchasers for any number of home grown or foreign terrorists groups doesn't seem to sink in on Ashcroft one bit.  Fighting terrorism is apparently fine as long as it doesn't step on the toes of the NRA or other right wing institutions.

Finally, The Attorney General recently told the state of Oregon they should cease their support of legalized suicide for the terminally ill.  The Republicans have for years, preached to us about the preservation of states rights and yet, Mr. Ashcroft, a Republican, wants to trample all over a law of one of our states.  I suppose preserving states rights is OK until it gets in the way of your own private agenda.

Make no mistake, like most Americans, I want to see the people responsible for the September 11th and earlier attacks brought to trial and punished swiftly and severely, and while terrorism will never be wiped out completely around the world, I want to see the large numbers of such people reduced and their heinous intentions thwarted at every turn.   I do not, however, want to see our government leaders use these terrorists events as a smoke screen to help further their own right wing agenda which will erode the freedoms of our citizens and others made to answer for their crimes against this country.  If that happens, if we become even five percent like the unjust terrorists we oppose, those terrorists, even in their defeat, will have won a victory.  Instead of outsiders robbing us of our freedoms, we’ll be doing it to ourselves.  Each of the precious freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of this country were hard earned and have been retained only by the sacrifice and lives of many of our citizens, both in the past and during present times.  Don’t let anyone in this country hide behind war or God and take even one of our freedoms of due process away from us.  Nor should we let them invoke God's name to impede life saving medical science or let them allow buyers of firearms at gun shows to answer to no one while hiding behind the often misinterpreted and misused Second Amendment.  This nation has worked too long and too hard to ever let any administration, any political party or any group of zealots do that to our country.

©2002 by Ken Kreps.  This article may not be re-published in electronic or print media without the express written permission of the author.  All Rights reserved.