Not sure if there were any diaries on the most important anniversary in recent history - Dec 14-, but as a tribute to a great freedom fighter, I am submitting something I wrote a while back. As the nation treads down the irreversible Orwellian path to ever greater tyranny and celebrates the so-called end of the so-called Iraq war by declaring the entire world a battleground against terrorism and gets ready to enact military indefinite detention act, it seem fitting to honor a real defender of Justice
When Obama was elected President in November 08, the entire world sighed with relief. The symbolism was breathtaking: a black man with a Muslim name was chosen by America to replace the Bush-Cheney homeland security terror team. The choice was as audacious as Obama’s campaign and raised hopes around the world that an America covered in shame and misdeeds, would soon be redeemed. The world held its breath and waited for the inauguration. And then in the interregnum between the incoming and outgoing presidents, an event took place that electrified the world and presaged in the most remarkable way the victory of Hope over Despair. On December 14, 08, outgoing president Bush, in one of his last official acts, traveled to Iraq to celebrate and gloat over what Bush believed was the crowning achievement of his administration and what others believed to be the crime of the century: the illegal invasion of Iraq.
It was a calculated move to intimidate President elect Obama. Bush wanted the world to see an American President shaking hands with the Iraqi President in a gesture of success and goodwill; the final act of the Bush years, the so-called triumph of democracy and freedom over tyranny and at same time a hedge against being investigated and tried by the new administration as a war criminal. We all cringed to see this orchestrated, manipulated farce of solidarity between rogue Nations as though all the crimes, propaganda and war profiteering could be brushed aside by a simple hand shake. We all had to grimace and bear it for what could one do to penetrate the impregnable security surrounding the show.
And then the impossible happened, out of nowhere a shoe was flying towards the face of the great liar. And then another shoe straight to the head! Twice President Bush had to duck to avoid the truth of what was coming his way and in that ducking , all the fakery and meaningless gestures calculated to convince the world that Iraq was a success disappeared into nothingness. Eight years of Presidential propaganda vanished into thin air and what instead will be remembered forever is the humble Iraqi journalist who had the audacity and courage to challenge the Lie and call Bush a dog in the name of all the millions of Iraqi widows, orphans and dead , the forgotten victims of an international crime.
It took a humble but courageous Iraqi who had the guts to throw his shoes at Bush to demonstrate that we had become a nation of cowards. In America, land of the brave, we sat in stony , sheepish silence while Bush systematically covered our great land, our people, our institutions and our history with breathtaking crime , audacious lies and eternal shame. So , like the little boy in the Emperor and his Clothes it took an Iraqi bystander to wake us from our slumber and show us how to deal with charlatans: you stop listening and do something. Like investigate ,like impeach, like arresting his lieutenants, like throwing shoes at him every time he appears in public. We needed to stop listening and do something. Al-zaidi taught us that if our leaders in Congress had had an once of that Iraqi man's courage, Bush would have already been impeached and convicted and America would breath free again .
So, in that moment of truth and courage, al-Zaidi gave Obama and the world an immeasurable gift , the pearl of great price, for if a humble Iraqi could out smart Rove, Cheney and Bush and speak truth to power what could the new leader of the free world, President elect Obama, do in the name of truth and freedom and justice? The question then arose: would Obama take off his shoes like al-Zaidi and cleanse America of the shame and dishonor left in the wake of the Bush administration?
It was a daunting task because never before in history had the forces of Greed and Militarism been so united in their quest to undermine constitutional government. Could Obama simply take off his shoes and throw them at eight years of Rovian governmental sabotage; eight years of the most intense undermining and politicizing of governmental institutions and constitutional principles?
Our own history supplied the answer. Neither al-Zaidi nor Obama nor indeed any American citizen stands alone. Our better natures are rooted in a tradition of meeting challenges to our constitutional democracy. Listen to the voices of great American Presidents who faced similar times of no less danger to our Republic and then imagine Obama rising to the occasion with words like these:
Theodore Roosevelt: President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed an inheritance tax whose "primary ... should be directed at "malefactors of great wealth, the wealthy criminal class. ...Roosevelt thought that the wealthy had a special obligation to the government itself. “The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.” The wealthy individual needs to pay for the “protection” that the State provides for his or her property ¾ a military force that defends private property from foreign threat and a legal system/police force that protects private property from domestic theft. Roosevelt is echoing Adam Smith’s observation in the Wealth of Nations: “It is only under the shelter of the civil magistrate that the owner of valuable property can sleep a single night in security.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt: FDR on his foes: “I Welcome Their Hatred” - Daily Kos TV (beta)
“For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today.. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”
Harry Truman: When he heard rumors of such profiteering, Truman got into his Dodge and, during a Congressional recess, drove 30,000 miles paying unannounced visits to corporate offices and worksites. The Senate committee he chaired launched aggressive investigations into shady wartime business practices and found "waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and profiteering," according to Truman, who argued that such behavior was unpatriotic. Urged on by Truman and others in Congress, President Roosevelt supported broad increases in the corporate income tax, raised the excess-profits tax to 90 percent and charged the Office of War Mobilization with the task of eliminating illegal profits. Truman, who became a national hero for his fight against the profiteers, was tapped to be FDR's running mate in 1944.
Eisenhower: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Imagine Obama stepping into TR’s shoes and referring to denizens of Wall Street as the wealthy criminal class!
Imagine Obama stepping into FDR’s shoes and telling the Republicans: You had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to your own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob! Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today.. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
Imagine Obama stepping into Truman's shoes and ordering a war profiteering, torture, and war crime investigation!
Imagine Obama stepping into Eisenhower’s shoes and warning us that Homeland Security and the War on Terror was a corporate ruse to privatize the military and reap profit from fear!
Oh captain, our captain, where is our captain?