The Treason of the Mainstream Democrats

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10957

The Treason of the Mainstream Democrats
by R.W. Behan | Nov 11 2007


"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
--Article III, Section 3, United States Constitution (emphasis added)

The mainstream Democrats—represented, say, by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Christopher Dodd—have not levied war against the United States. Their treason lies instead in committing the second offense: they adhere to enemies of the country, giving them aid and comfort.

The enemies are President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. Like no other president and vice president in history, these men attacked their country.

It was not our geography George Bush and Richard Cheney invaded. Instead they abandoned and subverted the bedrock institution of our Constitutional democracy: the rule of law. By word and deed, Mr. Bush repeatedly and arrogantly sets himself above the law, claiming obedience to be a matter of Presidential choice. Mr. Cheney orchestrates, coaches, applauds and iterates.

This cannot stand if the country we know and cherish is to survive. George Bush and Richard Cheney are literally enemies of the state; long before now and by any measure of Constitutional justice they should have been impeached and removed from office.

Abjectly, continuously, and stubbornly refusing to hold them accountable, however, the mainstream Democrats adhere to this criminal president and vice president: nothing they have asked for has been denied, no barriers placed in their way. That is giving them aid and comfort, and that is treason.

George Bush and Richard Cheney took the country to war illegally, with a deliberate, carefully designed and executed package of fear-mongering propaganda: lies, distortions, and deceptions. No informed citizen entertains the slightest doubt about this.

Lying to the people and the Congress was the most despicable violation of the rule of law by Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, but many more followed: torturing prisoners, denying habeas corpus, spying on U.S. citizens, nullifying new laws with “signing statements,” and so on and on. The litany of impeachable offenses is long and painful, but the so-called “War on Terror,” these men insist, makes all of it acceptable, even necessary.

Nearly six years have elapsed since the Bush Administration first defeated the rule of law. For most of these years a Republican Congress saw fit not to intervene, or even to question this behavior, so effective was the Administration’s propaganda campaign, and so firm were the bonds of partisanship. But now the mainstream Democrats control the Congress.

Also during these six years the truth emerged, and now we can see the “War on Terror” truly for what it is—an overarching mega-lie: an untruth of such unimaginable scope and magnitude it recalibrates for an entire nation the perception of reality. (Aryan supremacy was the mega-lie of Nazi Germany.)

No one should be surprised that the threat of terrorism has increased, not diminished, since 9/11: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were not even remotely intended to combat it.

We know the Bush Administration, when it took office, was indifferent to terrorism, brushing aside explicit warnings about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden; we know the President was planning instead, at least six months before 9/11, to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq; we know of a National Security Council memorandum dated February 3, 2001 speaking about the “capture of new and existing oil and gas fields” in Iraq; we have acquired with a lawsuit the maps of Iraqi oil fields Vice President Cheney’s “Energy Task Force” was studying a month later; we have learned how the privatized structure of Iraq’s postwar oil industry was designed by the Bush Administration a year before the war began; we know the Administration was negotiating pipeline rights-of-way with the Taliban, unsuccessfully, until five weeks before 9/11; we know the final threat to them was a “carpet of bombs”; we are aware of President Bush twice refusing offers from the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden, before and after the carpet of bombs was unleashed; we’ve read of the five “mega-bases” in Iraq, to house 100,000 troops for as long as 50 years; we’ve learned the U.S. Embassy compound under construction in Baghdad will be ten times larger than any other in the world; and we know Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and British Petroleum/Amoco are poised to claim immense profits from 81% of Iraq’s undeveloped oil fields.

Are these the activities and outcomes of a “War on Terror?”

We also know President Bush, a month before 9/11 in August of 2001, notified the governments of Pakistan and India he would launch a military mission into Afghanistan “before the end of October.”

Between the dates of the President’s announcement and his order to attack, the Trade Towers and the Pentagon were struck by the hijacked airliners. Seizing in a heartbeat this spectacular opportunity to disguise and launch the preplanned invasions, the Bush Administration concocted the mega-lie, and the “War on Terror” was born.

The “War on Terror” is a conscious and ingenious masquerade for the geostrategic pursuit and control of Middle Eastern oil and gas resources. The facts place this beyond dispute. Mr. Bush’s claim of “taking the fight directly to the terrorists…and the states that harbor them” was yet one more intentional deception, as subsequent events fully demonstrated. In Afghanistan the state was overthrown instead of apprehending the terrorists—Osama bin Laden remains at large—and in Iraq, when we invaded, there were no terrorists at all. But today both “states” are fitted with puppet governments and dotted with permanent U.S. military bases in close proximity to their hydrocarbon assets.

Only the Bush Administration continues to natter about a bogus “War on Terror.” Others are more candid:

o Republican Senator Charles Hagel: “People say we’re not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.” (Speaking at Catholic University, 9/24/07)

o Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World: “I’m saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

o Democratic Senator Jon Tester: “We’re still fighting a war in Iraq and people who are honest about it will admit we’re there over oil.” (Associated Press, 9/24/07)

o General John Abizaid, retired CENTCOM commander: “Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that.” (Speaking at Stanford University, 10/13/07)

The criminal fraudulence of the “War on Terror” is fully documented (see http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/63632/ ), but the contemporary press has been derelict in failing to expose the mega-lie and publicize it. The mainstream Democrats are equally derelict in ignoring it.

Failing to hold President Bush accountable for his crimes constitutes the most profound obstruction of justice. And failing to contradict his hideous mega-lie clearly reinforces the President’s hand: the mainstream Democrats are now accomplices.

The damage done by the Democrats’ treason is equally great in prospect. Without exposing the lie of the war in Iraq and acting upon the exposure, there is no credible and reliable way to stop the Administration’s insane intention of attacking Iran. The proffered rationales—and the fraudulence—are identical, as the Democrats stride toward complicity in yet another illegal and immoral war.

Why can’t the mainstream Democrats speak sublime truth to demonic power? Doing so, they claim, would be too “divisive” and jeopardize the party’s success in next year’s election.

This strategy is politically suicidal. A Democratic sweep in 2008 grows dimmer every day.

The rank-and-file Republicans who continue to believe Mr. Bush’s lies about the “war on terror” will not vote for a Democrat. The rank-and-file Democrats who see through the lies are increasingly enraged by the insipid waffling of their mainstream candidates. And roughly half the American people don’t bother to vote at all, repelled by the tawdry attack ads and negativity of bitterly partisan, superficial, sophomoric, and issue-avoidance politicking.

If the mainstream Democrats do nothing to change this, they will wind up where they’re headed—disappointed and defeated in 2008—and they will deserve it. Only by exposing and acting on the truth about the war can they change any Republican minds, regain the support of disenchanted Democrats, and attract the politically inert, indifferent Americans. A new style of politics needs badly to be engaged, one that is dedicated not merely to winning elections, but to a genuine concern for truth, for justice, for the rule of law, and for integrity in public service.

The most direct and honorable way of invoking such a style is by impeaching George Bush and Richard Cheney. Never in our history have the high crimes and misdemeanors been so flagrant, and the people of our country know it.

Yes, Congressman Kucinich sought with a “member’s privilege” motion to initiate an impeachment proceeding on the floor of the House of Representatives. But Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer moved immediately to kill the initiative, only to be thwarted by a Republican trick. Finally Nancy Pelosi, desperate to avoid a floor debate, managed to have the matter referred to the Judiciary Committee—where Chairman John Conyers has been sitting on the original bill since last April. The giving of aid and comfort to the enemies will, seemingly, continue.

But the mainstream Democrats now face a carpe diem moment of truly historic measure: if they choose, they can foreswear their treason. It was a majority, bipartisan vote that sent the impeachment bill to Judiciary, and that is all the political cover the Democrats need to take the next courageous and necessary step.

For the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of the integrity of the Congress, for the sake of the country’s future, and incidentally for the sake of a potential Democratic victory in 2008, the politics of truth and justice must be showcased. The Judiciary Committtee must hold hearings immediately, to see if impeachment is in fact warranted—and polls say the greater part of the country thinks it is.

If the mainstream Democrats will not do this, if their treason continues, then decent and thinking citizens everywhere—concerned patriots all—can only weep for their country.

Richard W. Behan lives and writes on Lopez Island, off the northwest coast of Washington state. He is working on his next book, To Provide Against Invasions: Corporate Dominion and America’s Derelict Democracy. He can be reached at
rwbehan@rockisland.com

. (This essay is deliberately not copyrighted: it may be reproduced without restriction.)

_______

He had me up until that moment. Maybe he got confused between Charles Rangel and Chuck Hagel. Probably thought no Republican could have made that quote.

on edit--otherwise, good stuff.

Rangel on my mind and thought the author erred (was originally correcting his use of the word 'senator' twice). I'm used to 'Chuck' Hagel and Charles Rangel. What a blooper and it's all my fault (see link for original). Memo to self: THINK! :blush:

Who oppose the war.

I don't like him on account of his owning the voting machine company that gave him his seat of office.

But I do like his opposing the war.

our life vest for democracy in this sinking ship that is america.

every republican too.

A complicated subject that he has distilled beautifully.

"The treasonous democrats,(and republicans)accomplices and obstructors of justice."

Yes. It's what we knew but could not have put it as clearly as Behan has.

Behan should send this to the NY Times and the La Times as an op-ed piece.

.

bush has got them by the balls, especially pelosi, it appears. In effect, his flatulence, bush, has told them 'Either i survive the shakedown, rock ribbed guarantee, or else i'm bringing the whole house down on your haids' (re: the US economy can be collapsed tomorrow, by admitting US oil imports must be paid for in real money ie not the greenback) 'and moreso I's will declare martial law etc'...with strong hint is that the families of the anti bush folks will be killed off like dogs, their moans drowned out when foxnews runs britney specials, spiced by news about oj committing suicide, junyer bush's diagnosis of cancer, cheney's sudden retirement- he had a stroke, didn't ya know, and of course taxes getting higher cuz of global warming (to be out of a job will mean immediate arrest, of course) and so on....
The one pleasure all this entails is that it spells the end of pretense- the Chinese own General Dynamic and GE and Viacom already, probably- and they know how to manage a large population, even an armed one like the USA. "Support the troops" will prove a wonderful concept (especially when all them troops speak crazy languages lol) and moms apple pie/reagan worship etc will make the hippie loving rednecks southers who think disobediently to rethink refusing orders to bend over and spread them honky cheeks (hahaha)
fukking right on, junyer bush!

For an extremely relevant piece

I have no tears left.

an unanswerable reason, for the reluctance, nay, the downright refusal of Democratic leaders to push for Bush's impeachment at this particular juncture.

Articles and posts I read yesterday on here suggested to me that the US (hence the rest of the world, bar China and maybe Russia) might well be on the very verge of an economic and inevitably societal catastrophe, perhaps unparalleled - simply due to the 7 years of Bush's government.

If that is so, given the treasonous loyalties of the MSM, the neocon noise-machine would trumpet as loudly as it possibly could, that the whole catastrophe was directly caused by the Democrat's preventing his running of the government of the country properly.

In a post-catastrophic scenario, after the ordure had hit the fan, then successful impeachment of the whole cabal would be a formality, as swift as it was certain.

I seem to remember Democratic leaders hinting at this for quite a long time, but now it may actually be on the point of fruition.

DU poster.

Some thoughts upon the content:

Like other articles in this vein, although this one is especially good and makes the unique point that the Democrats' inaction is treasonous, it flies the rather hire wire of national politics, without also bringing the matter down to the ground, where the people of this country, and their right to vote, and their sovereignty as a people--which they express through voting--form the foundation of national politics. Without "the people" and a sure and transparent method of determining their will, national politics is just a lot of hot air. It has little or no legitimacy. It has little or nothing to do, really, with convincing people on the issues, or speaking to their concerns. It is spin. It is an illusion.

And when you look closely at our election system--or even just glance at it, really, it's so obvious--you see that that solid foundation--the transparent counting of our votes, to determine the will of the people, is gone. It vanished quickly, during the 2002 to 2004 period, as--parallel to the Iraq War--virtually the entire country's vote counting system was converted to electronic voting machines, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls.

Parallel to the Iraq War, and enacted in the same month as the Iraq War Resolution, October 2002, and closely related to it. The IWR guaranteed unjust war; the "Help America Vote Act" provided the means to shove that war down the throats of the American people, 56% of whom opposed it at that time, and a whopping 70% of whom oppose it today.

Which brings me to my other criticism of this brilliant and inspiring article--the use of the phrase "mainstream Democrats."

"Failing to hold President Bush accountable for his crimes constitutes the most profound obstruction of justice. And failing to contradict his hideous mega-lie clearly reinforces the President’s hand: the **mainstream** Democrats are now accomplices." --Behan (emphasis mine)

The Democrats who support this war, and voted for it, and have repeatedly voted to fund it--even as it has grown in infamy, even when they were given a mandate to end it, and in the teeth of 70% opposition to the war by the American people--and who also voted for Bushite corporations to 'count' all our votes with 'TRADE SECRET' code, and/or have supported that fascist coup with their silence, are NOT "mainstream" Democrats. They are not even believers in democracy. They are fascists with a "D" in front of their names. And their complicity started way before 2006. Probably it started back in the Reagan years, when they refused to impeach (that is, indict) Reagan for the illegal war on Nicaragua, which Congress had explicitly forbidden him to conduct. But it most certainly began no later than October 2002, when they voted, nearly unanimously for this under-the-radar assault on the sovereignty of the American people: non-transparent, Bushite-corporate controlled, 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting.

Their allegiance is to the war industry, not to the American people. Their sympathies lie with global corporate predators, not with the slave labor and cannon fodder that these predators demand from our population. Their oath of office is made to the rich and the corporate--whose lifestyle they aspire to--not to the Constitution.

They are no more representative of the "mainstream" of American than the war profiteering corporate news monopolies who assault the American people with relentless, 24/7 warmongering and fascist propaganda, and have somehow achieved the handle "mainstream media."

I would just say, be careful in using the word "mainstream." The REAL "mainstream" opposes this war and wants it ended. It has held this view from the beginning, with a significant majority, now grown to an epochal anti-war majority of 70%. The REAL mainstream opposes torture "under any circumstances, by a big majority (63%, May '04), and holds a host of other peace-minded, justice-minded, progressive views that are NOT represented anywhere in our federal government, in anything comparable to their numbers.

And when this so-called 'Democratic' Congress spits in our faces--scoffs at an 11% approval rating--lower than Cheney's!!!--escalates and re-funds their goddamned war, hands more of our rights over to the Bush Junta, and winks at blatant treason, we should stop being shocked, and get down to our local or state elections offices, and demand a return to vote counting that everyone can see and understand.

This on-the-ground view of the matter is missing from the article. It is otherwise right on. But it is not going to move the "Blue Dog" Democrats, or the loyalists of the war machine, or the "bought and paid for" corporatists, or the scared leftists who call themselves "Democrats." The purpose of campaign money corruption, and the 'coup de grace' to our democracy--'TRADE SECRET' vote counting--is specifically to insulate the war profiteer/corporate puppets from accountability. It is possible that the failure to impeach Bush, Cheney and others is the result mostly of fear (of a threat issued by them), or a deal aimed at fending off a threat (such as the invasion of Iran). All we can do these days, as citizens, is read the entrails. Our government has become as non-transparent as our voting machines. But even if this is true--even if there is a good reason for their inaction and for their other failures to represent us--it does NOT explain the Democratic Party leadership's protection and promotion of 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting, not just by private corporations, but by rightwing PARTISAN corporations.

That makes no sense unless you understand that THEIR treason goes back, at least, to October 2002 and the electronic voting bill.

What to do in this situation? Think long term. Think beyond the next election. Stay steady on your feet. Think, strategize, set priorities. First priority: Transparent vote counting!

the enemy! How proud they must be to actually do it under everyone's nose with the corporatemediawhores' important assistance, of course.

Well written synopsis of the crisis in our Country! Bravo, R.W. Behan!..and I will write and thank him.

Thanks for this post, babylonsister!~

As long as liberals are pro-capital, they can count on this inexorable slide.

Reform of an inherent evil such as the profit motive is IMPOSSIBLE.

K&R
:patriot:

Sanctimonious would be another.

I am sick of listening to pundits blather on about certain talking points deemed suitable for debate. These talking points generally have nothing whatsoever to do with reality, and are more closely aligned with fantasy. And yet these sound bites are treated as though they were fact.

It's a sad state of affairs.

Didn't think so. Tell me, who would you replace all the "traitor dems" with? Oh I know, "real dems" that think just like you and faux news does.

DO you think we are all STUPID? Certainly not the poster of this article. Do you always "kill the messenger"??

Because they all seem the same to me now, well except a few stand outs like Dennis Kucinich.
And I think in history the Ohio Gang was about the equal to this, only difference is that Bush is not coming to SF to get poisoned by his wife to save his great family's name because Bush's grandfather Prescott was a Nazi and a Member of the American Nazi party. Can't save anyone from that.

Tell me how this makes you feel about our guy and his chances with the "undecided"? As for me, he's still the one!