This is very relevant to the state of affairs today, this very moment.
A Fading American Conscience?
Tarik Al Maeena
Arab News Columnist
As Americans get drawn into the presidential elections process to pick their new leader some months from now, how many will pause to give thought to the events of the past 18 months, events that have led to the death of over 13,000 civilians and hundreds of American soldiers.
It was back in October 2002, at the United Nations, that their president boldly claimed the existence of weapons of mass destruction in a faraway country — a country armed and ready to fire into the heartland of America. And to bolster his claim, he even managed to bring on stage a metal pipe supposedly housing the tools of an evil intent.
His alarm rang in a chorus of similar threatening notes, from Dick Cheney to Colin Powell, from Condoleeza Rice to Paul Wolfowitz, all nodding in agreement, and all actively engaging the American public in a doomsday scenario. Meanwhile, his man of war, Donald Rumsfeld, was busily oiling the machinery that would deliver Mr. Bush’s “democratic” message.
Despite calls of caution from the US Congress, which passed a resolution stating “Congress and the American people are increasingly concerned that the president is prepared to use armed force against Iraq without broad support by the international community, and without making a compelling case that Iraq presents such an imminent threat to the national security of the United States that unilateral action is justified,” Mr. Bush autocratically went ahead.
Today, in a torn and twisted nation where death has become a daily way of life, where basic services are no better than they were before this invasion, where refugees are an instant byproduct as factions fight for power, America has spawned a new Vietnam. And their presence there has not been welcomed with garlands of flowers.
The agenda for his war is slowly unraveling today. As US officials scurry about to avoid being trapped into admissions of lying and misleading, the truth is beginning to emerge. Charges that this administration was aware of the threats that led to the carnage on that fateful Sept. 11 are adding to the deceit. The world is certainly no safer today.
When Americans decide on their future leadership early November, they will have an option: A choice to preserve what was once a universally admired conscience, or to cave in to this dubious administration.
And when conscience begins to fade, immorality waits impatiently at the corner, eager to usurp its place.
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