Defending Liberty , by Robert Byrd

[ixion]

This Bush administration preys on fear, twists the truth and relies on extreme secrecy in an unprecedented display of contempt for the American people.

Let President Bush speak for himself. "I'm the commander," he told journalist Bob Woodward for the book, Bush at War. "See, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

In this country, the people are sovereign. The first three words of the preamble to the Constitution are "We the people." The people are always owed an explanation by those who serve them. For any public servant to believe otherwise is arrogant in the extreme and can be costly at home and abroad.

Consider the cornerstone of Mr. Bush's foreign policy -- the doctrine of pre-emption, the first-strike war. This doctrine is unconstitutional. It cuts the people's representatives -- the Congress -- completely out of decisions to send Americans to fight and die.




http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0824-03.htm


a great piece on the treachery of the BushCo.

[indepat]

1. Senator Byrd has excoriated W's policies and actions with minced words:

Just wait until he really gets provoked and calls a spade a spade.