Editor,
At some point, one has to hold President Bush - the perennial thief, pathological killer and addicted liar - unredeemable. That point has long been reached. In fact, it was already reached before the first term of his illegitimate presidency, when he was known to have put 152 defenseless people in the Texas prison system to death, many of them known to be innocent. His record still stands and is not threatened by any governor of the United States.
Now that Bush has advanced to the questionable position of chief executioner of the world, his record can only be roughly estimated. According to his own words, it stands at "30,000, more or less." Thanks to distinguished publications such as the Lancet, we know that the number murdered is much higher, probably surpassing the 100,000 mark.
Bush calls his accomplishment a "fine" and "superb job." To this abominable death toll, Israel has just added some 1,000 innocent victims when it fought Bush's war against the defenseless people of Lebanon. Bush has given Israel not only America's fullest moral, political and logistical support, but also the necessary financial and military assistance. Without America's money and weaponry, Israel could never threaten and destroy its neighbors in such a short time.
Should we also mention the estimated 8,000 murdered in Haiti since the ouster of democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide? If we do, we should not stop there, since the U.S. blood tracks lead us around the world, including the CIA gulags where unknown people are tortured and murdered - all this in the name of democracy.
At some point, one has to stop blaming Bush and his associates for who they are - after all, thieves, killers and liars will keep doing what they do best - and start questioning those who still support them.
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On July 6, the German national daily SÅddeutsche Zeitung had a special on Bush. The occasion was his 60th birthday. The article focused on America's slow but certain disillusionment with, and awakening to, the failures of this self-styled war president, who cannot handle, but only cause catastrophes. This really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. One simply has to remember Bush's life so far. His failure to report for National Guard duty during the Vietnam War is an ironically telling footnote in the story of the man who has only war on his mind.
Bush is 60 now and fully responsible for his brutal, infantile imbecility. His late admission that mistakes have been made in Iraq does not indicate any significant concession. He is still staying the course of his errors. No one in his administration has been fired, which is why the Rev. Jesse Jackson once said that Bush, a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, "cannot change the course. He is too emotionally locked into being right" to be capable of any form of political or moral repentance.
Clearly, Bush is addicted to his errors. Those who refuse to see this have become his accomplices. It is indicative of our times that no matter how factually accurate one's criticism of this presidency is, it will always sound like a polemical diatribe.
Americans have two more short years to pull themselves out of this predicament and stop Bush's reign of terror. They can use these upcoming elections to do so. If they don't, the judgment against him will also fall upon them.
To avoid such fate, simple but crucial steps need to be taken: reject the doctrine of war as a means to peace; discard patriotism as a form of national heroism; dissolve the justice concept of Pax Americana that prevents American war criminals like Bush from being tried in international courts and getting sent to the Hague where he belongs; give up the superpower status, which violates the principle of international democracy; get rid of the master-race attitude; rejoin the family of nations and become an equal; and adopt the divine principle of peace through justice for all.
If this sounds outrageous, you have just realized how far away we are from any real solution to the world's problems.
Joachim L. Oberst
UNM faculty
