With fires burning from lower Manhattan to Northern Virginia, with
the blood of heroes lifting the honor of our Nation, the American people
stood united as one, friends of freedom everywhere stood with us.
Who was not moved by the courage of our police and fire fighters
rushing into burning buildings to save our fellow Americans? Who wasn't
inspired by the courage and valor of Pentagon workers who rushed out of
the building when the attack first struck and then, realizing their
colleagues and friends were in grave danger, turned around and rushed
right back in, to save them?
The infamy of the crime was met with the united will and the united
spirit of a United America, backed by the decent opinion of men and
women in every corner of the world.
Never before in our history have our people been more hurt by a
single act that struck on our shores.
Never before in our history have our people reacted to such infamy,
to such hurt, with a greater and more powerful proof of our courage and
nobility.
Never before in our history has the patriotism and honor of our
people inspired such respect and admiration throughout the free world.
And never before in our history has any leader of our Nation
exploited such an event with such smallness, such partisanship, such
disunity, such contempt and such vindictiveness.
Never before in our history, has any leader of this country exploited
a crisis by deliberately creating anger and hatred of some Americans
against other Americans.
Never before in our history, has any leader of our country
surrendered in the challenge of inspiring our people to bravery and
valor, and tried to make our people act like a timid and fearful nation.
Never before in our history, never, has any President of the United
States so aggressively surrendered his moral authority as leader of free
world to create such worldwide anger, antipathy and fear directed not
towards our enemy, but towards our President.
These words are not partisan.
The national leaders and national security establishment of the
Democratic Party failed to serve our nation in October of 2002. They
marched in lockstep with ideologues, extremists and the partisans of the
Republican Party to support a war that should never have been fought, at
great cost to our country.
The national leaders of our media failed our Nation by treating
propaganda as news, by treating falsehood as truth, by abandoning the
traditions of a free press to act like cronies and courtiers, in search
of corporate profits, political convenience, book deals and cable
contracts in their new creed of
government-media collusion.
The Congress turned its constitutional role of oversight and war
powers into a legislative farce that shed great blood of heroes for the
safety and convenience of politicians.
The American people are disillusioned and angry at all of them, and
for good reason.
But in our system of government there is one President and Commander
in Chief with unique responsibilities and duties. And historians will
judge that the greatest lie ever told by any man who ever held that post
was this:
The man who campaigned as the Great Uniter, and declared himself the
Great Decider, will burn in history as the Great Divider with all of the
catastrophic consequences that are escalating every hour, of every day.
How pathetic that as the sun begins to set on his failed Presidency,
he blames the people of our Nation, saying we have some psychological
trauma rather than learning the lessons of his enormous mistakes. He
will never understand that a grateful nation would rise with relief, if
he only had the wisdom to learn and change, and a grateful world world
will rise with relief, when his days in
office are done.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using
9/11 to create fear throughout the land, rather than bravery, courage
and valor.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using
9/11 to launch partisan and dishonest attacks on genuine American war
heroes because they happen to be members of the other political party.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using
9/11 as a reason to become the only President in our history to become a
world-wide advocate for torture and detention practices that every
leader, of every democratic nation, everywhere in the world, has
publicly or privately pleaded with him to abandon.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for showing
contempt for the advice of our military commanders by allowing the man
he compares to Hitler, to escape from Tora Bora, to pursue an obsessive
war in Iraq, that many of those same commanders warned him about, while
he publicly claimed he always follows their advice.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for treating
the Chief of Staff of the Army with ridicule and contempt, when General
Shinseki so honorably tried to warn him.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history, for putting
his hand on the Bible and pledging to preserve, protect and defend our
Constitution while using 9-11 to claim the unilateral power to break it.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history by accepting
the sacred duty to faithfully execute the laws of the land, while using
9/11 to create fears to claim the unilateral powers to violate them.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for
dishonoring a spirit that had Democrats and Republicans singing God
Bless America at the doors of our Capitol, to personally promote a
politics so venomous, vile and vindictive that he fills the air with
talk of treason and enemies lists compiled by hate-filled supporters.
Even when one of his media partisans slanders the Army that landed at
Normandy and the Marines who took Iwo Jima with preposterous falsehoods
that they committed war crimes, the self-styled war president lacks the
moral integrity to speak out, for fear of offending what he proudly
regards as his base.
Even when the trash of American politics slanders and demeans some
widows of 9/11, this partisan who promised to bring honor and integrity
to Washington lacks the moral stature to speak out, even against that.
George W. Bush will be morally impeached by the court of history for
trying to frighten our people into war with Iraq, with tall tales of
Saddam Hussein working with Osama Bin Laden to create mushroom clouds of
nuclear extermination that would kill the people of New York.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using
9/11 to fan the flames of fear so violently, that at one point, the
Capital City of the land of the free and the home of the brave was
turned into a panicked hutch of rabbits running to the stores for duct
tape, gas masks, bottled water, and bullet proof vests while the
Vice-President of the United States fled to hiding spots at undisclosed
locations.
How ironic, how pathetic, and how fitting that as America prepares to
honor the heroes of 9/11 the Senate Intelligence Committee issues a
report detailing fraudulent exploitation of false intelligence, one of
America's national networks exploits 9/11 with a docu-fraud of
falsehoods, while our "wartime" President exploits 9/11 one more time,
with one more taxpayer financed tour of fear, desperately trying to win
one more national election.
Five years ago some of the finest Americans who God ever put on this
earth gave their lives for their brothers and sisters, for their
neighbors and families, for the country that they and we love so much,
so deeply and so passionately.
No one ever took a poll to determine whether these American heroes
were Democrats or Republicans, because it does not matter.
Who they were, what they did, and the legacy they left us, is
transcendent and timeless. God Bless each and every one of them, and God
give us the wisdom and strength to honor the torch they handed to us.
From the day of those dark hours, those they loved, their husbands,
wives, daughters, sons, neighbors and lovers have scattered from the
ashes to the far corners, sharing a common love, faith and desire to get
the strength from that tragedy to make our country a better place, each
in their own individual way.
God Bless each and every one of you, no matter what path you have
chosen. As you love those you lost, we love you. Our hopes and our
prayers are with you, always.
To our President, who has so dangerously lost his way, and in so many
ways led our country so far astray, we can only hope and pray that he
will rejoin the legacy of those leaders who came before him, from whom
he can learn so much, before more damage is done.
As we honor the great heroes who left us, on that dastardly day, five
years ago, we might all rededicate ourselves to what they stood for so
valiantly.
At our best, America can be a nation of heroes, inspired by those who
came before us, lifted by the example of those who were with us,
dedicated to a nation in which we are truly in this together.
We are brave, not fearful.
Fellow patriots, not domestic enemies.
Offering respect, not contempt, for each other, whatever our
differences.
Valuing truth, not propaganda.
Honoring valor in defense of freedom, not fear to take freedom away.
Acting in a manner befitting the leader of the free world, the
legatees of Thomas Jefferson and Abe Lincoln, not King George III,
Richard Milhous Nixon or Joe McCarthy.
Hopefully with our President, but if necessary without him: some
things have gone terribly wrong and we are in this together, to set them
right.
America is a good and great and glorious land we love.
We take this moment to honor those who have a timeless place in the
American heart, who gave their lives for the greatest nation and the
truest idea that has ever graced the earth.
Together, we put our hands on our hearts and salute their bravery,
their heroism, their Americanism and their example.
Brent Budowsky was an aide to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen on intelligence
issues, and served as Legislative Director to Rep. Bill Alexander when
he was Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Leadership. Budowsky
can be reached at [email protected]..
