Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

"First the Bush Administration adopted the rationale for war only after the media and a majority of Americans finally realized that all of the earlier justifications were unfounded (like the existence of weapons of mass destruction), bogus (like the claim of Iraq's attempt to buy uranium) or outright distortions (like tying Iraq to 9/11).

"Second, no country for whatever good or bad intentions it may have should ever assume it has the right to invade another country (and kill and maim thousands of innocent people in the process) solely because it believes it has a better political and social order to establish in that country.  Did not Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have that same notion?"

George Bush in his desperation not to be found guilty of war crimes chased around on 9/11 like a conquering hero.  Michael Powell in a September 9 Washington Post syndicated article wrote regarding one man who has some serious doubts about the Administration's report on the 9/11 tragedy.

Powell writes:

"He felt no shiver of doubt in those first terrible hours.  He watched the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and assumed Al-Qaeda had wreaked terrible vengeance.  He listened to anchors and military experts and assumed the facts of September 11, 2001 were as stated on the screen.

"It was a year before David Ray Griffin, an eminent theologian and philosopher, began his stroll down a path of disbelief.

"For one thing he couldn't help but wonder why Bush listened to a child's story in a Sarasota, Florida classroom while the U.S.A. was under attack.

"He wondered how Osama bin Laden managed to elude every alleged effort the U.S.A. claimed to be making to catch Public Enemy No. 1.  Above all he could not help but wonder, along with other millions of thoughtful Americans why the 110 story towers crashed and military jets failed to intercept even one airliner after reading the 9/11 Commission Report he felt angry, observing contradictions were simply ignored.  In his exact words Griffin summed up his opinion of this report, `To me the report read as a cartoon.'"

At Ground Zero more distrust is evident.  A Zogby International Poll of New York City residents conducted two years ago found that 49.3 percent believed that the U.S. government consciously failed to act.

Griffin's book "The New Pearl Harbor" asks disturbing questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11.  It has sold more than 100,000 copies.  Most damning of all is the recent Scripps Howard-Ohio University Poll of 1,010 Americans.  

Michael Powell revealed those polling results in his September 9 Washington Post article: "Thirty-six percent suspect the U.S. government promoted the attacks or intentionally sat on its hands.  Sixteen percent believe explosives brought down the towers.  Twelve percent believe a cruise missile hit the Pentagon."

None of this stops Bush's almost daily television appearances.  I've heard many people say they can't stand to see his face or hear his voice and turn off their TV sets when he appears as often as pharmaceutical commercials.

The Iraq track record of 2,500 U.S. service personnel dead, over 15,000 injured, and some estimates of 250,000 Iraqis dead prompt many Americans to believe that Bush should be sent to The Hague to stand trial for committing war crimes.  

Does Bush think igniting the Iraq War on phony fear charges is a small matter and will bring freedom and democracy to Iraq?

It has brought a civil war of religious factions to TV worldwide audiences every night.  Now international television shows Bush laying wreaths on gravesites.  One man I spoke to yesterday said, "Why doesn't he mention the dead and injured U.S. soldiers in Iraq?  My nephew is over there.  I turn off my TV every time Bush comes on."