An open letter to Gary Schmitt of Project for a New American Century.
Mr. Schmitt:
I caught your act on Neil MacDonald’s Face to Face. I say “act” because there is no possible way that any thinking human being could possibly believe the tripe you claimed to be true on that show. I hesitate to call you a liar though, Mr. Schmitt. Instead I prefer to believe that you are simply deluded...an actor who has become lost in a farcical role. It is, I believe, the most charitable possible explanation of your performance on Face to Face. It is also the only possible way to explain the bizarre and untrue claims of the Bush administration, which you are so inextricably entwined with.
Let’s just have a little look at the facts instead of the twisted explanations you so arrogantly put forth on my television set, Mr Schmitt.
First and foremost there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. End of story. The weapons inspectors said so; the world rejected your “intelligence” (which consisted of some forged papers and some cartoon drawings); and your armed forces have been unable to present any evidence of such weapons. George Bush, no doubt under the tutelage of you and yours, Mr. Schmitt, lied to us.
Next would be your fantastical claims of ties between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. There weren’t any and you, again, have been unable to prove that there were. That doesn’t keep you from trying to continue the misperception though. You couch it in more careful terms now, and try to drag in third parties, but you still try to put forth what is at its very heart, an untruth.
Then there’s the little matter of the legality of the invasion. To put it simply and bluntly, the United States of America illegally launched a war of aggression against Iraq. You did it without cause and without provocation. You did it against the wishes of most of the world. You lied to the American people and the world at large about why you were doing it and the you lied about the evidence you had to back up your reasons.
When the Bush administration was caught in one of those lies by Joseph Wilson, the response; straight from Dick Cheney’s office; was to reveal that Wilson’s wife was a CIA operative. I don’t know that you were directly involved in that little act of treason, Mr. Schmitt, but I do know that you fully and unquestioningly support those who committed that treason.
Claiming that you were justified in launching your invasion because Iraq had violated a United Nations’ resolution is ridiculous. The United States had also violated Resolution 1441 and nobody invaded you. Even without your own violations of the resolution, claims to be enforcing a UN resolution when the UN tells you not to clearly puts you in the wrong. The United States does not have the right to unilaterally enforce UN resolutions. No argument, just the way it is.
Claiming that the US, because of its power in the world, is somehow above international law is the act of a cowardly and guilty man, Mr. Schmitt. You made that claim with a straight face. The US is not above the law though. Suggesting that any single entity, no matter what the justification, is not bound by the laws and mores of the greater community is to say that gangsterism is acceptable. Gangsterism is not acceptable, Mr. Schmitt.
You also put forth the proposition that Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, has no right to say that the illegal invasion you launched was illegal. I’m sorry Mr. Schmitt, but the suggestion that the man in charge of the agency that makes international law lacks the authority to judge your criminality is so inane that it evades description. Mr. Annan has every right to suggest that your politicians broke the law because your politicians did, demonstrably, break the law.
The list of crimes committed by the Bush regime under the care and feeding of Project for a New American Century is long and continues to grow. International law, US domestic law, and US military law have all been broken. The rights and freedoms of the American people and people all over the planet have been transgressed. The murder of thousands of civilians and the use, by the United States of America, of weapons of mass destruction such as depleted uranium on civilian populations are documented fact.
So here is the deal, Mr. Schmitt. Your organisation has unprecedented connections within in the White House. Project for a New American Century has set the agenda since George Bush came to office. That actions of the Bush regime, under the oh-so-careful control of PNAC, have closely matched the agenda that PNAC has been putting forth since the Clinton administration. We all know that now.
If you want to act like an adult, Mr. Schmitt, you will come forth and admit, openly and clearly, that the driving force behind the invasion of Iraq was direct control of the Iraqi oil fields and a military presence in the oil-rich region we call the Middle East. Adults tell the truth and take responsibility for their actions, you see. It is only the most spoiled and recalcitrant child that continues to lie after those lies have been revealed and it is only the most irresponsible child that refuses to take responsibility for their actions.
That childishness is, I feel, at the base of your apparent mental illness. In fact, it is at the base of the collective mental illness that plagues the Bush White House and the Project for a New American Century. The cure is simple though. What you need to do is appear on television and, instead of just perpetrating the same old lies that made you ill in the first place, tell the truth. Come clean. Stand up like a man and take your lumps.
It’s the right thing to do, Mr. Schmitt. Wouldn’t doing the right thing for a change feel good?
Mr. Schmitt:
I caught your act on Neil MacDonald’s Face to Face. I say “act” because there is no possible way that any thinking human being could possibly believe the tripe you claimed to be true on that show. I hesitate to call you a liar though, Mr. Schmitt. Instead I prefer to believe that you are simply deluded...an actor who has become lost in a farcical role. It is, I believe, the most charitable possible explanation of your performance on Face to Face. It is also the only possible way to explain the bizarre and untrue claims of the Bush administration, which you are so inextricably entwined with.
Let’s just have a little look at the facts instead of the twisted explanations you so arrogantly put forth on my television set, Mr Schmitt.
First and foremost there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. End of story. The weapons inspectors said so; the world rejected your “intelligence” (which consisted of some forged papers and some cartoon drawings); and your armed forces have been unable to present any evidence of such weapons. George Bush, no doubt under the tutelage of you and yours, Mr. Schmitt, lied to us.
Next would be your fantastical claims of ties between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. There weren’t any and you, again, have been unable to prove that there were. That doesn’t keep you from trying to continue the misperception though. You couch it in more careful terms now, and try to drag in third parties, but you still try to put forth what is at its very heart, an untruth.
Then there’s the little matter of the legality of the invasion. To put it simply and bluntly, the United States of America illegally launched a war of aggression against Iraq. You did it without cause and without provocation. You did it against the wishes of most of the world. You lied to the American people and the world at large about why you were doing it and the you lied about the evidence you had to back up your reasons.
When the Bush administration was caught in one of those lies by Joseph Wilson, the response; straight from Dick Cheney’s office; was to reveal that Wilson’s wife was a CIA operative. I don’t know that you were directly involved in that little act of treason, Mr. Schmitt, but I do know that you fully and unquestioningly support those who committed that treason.
Claiming that you were justified in launching your invasion because Iraq had violated a United Nations’ resolution is ridiculous. The United States had also violated Resolution 1441 and nobody invaded you. Even without your own violations of the resolution, claims to be enforcing a UN resolution when the UN tells you not to clearly puts you in the wrong. The United States does not have the right to unilaterally enforce UN resolutions. No argument, just the way it is.
Claiming that the US, because of its power in the world, is somehow above international law is the act of a cowardly and guilty man, Mr. Schmitt. You made that claim with a straight face. The US is not above the law though. Suggesting that any single entity, no matter what the justification, is not bound by the laws and mores of the greater community is to say that gangsterism is acceptable. Gangsterism is not acceptable, Mr. Schmitt.
You also put forth the proposition that Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, has no right to say that the illegal invasion you launched was illegal. I’m sorry Mr. Schmitt, but the suggestion that the man in charge of the agency that makes international law lacks the authority to judge your criminality is so inane that it evades description. Mr. Annan has every right to suggest that your politicians broke the law because your politicians did, demonstrably, break the law.
The list of crimes committed by the Bush regime under the care and feeding of Project for a New American Century is long and continues to grow. International law, US domestic law, and US military law have all been broken. The rights and freedoms of the American people and people all over the planet have been transgressed. The murder of thousands of civilians and the use, by the United States of America, of weapons of mass destruction such as depleted uranium on civilian populations are documented fact.
So here is the deal, Mr. Schmitt. Your organisation has unprecedented connections within in the White House. Project for a New American Century has set the agenda since George Bush came to office. That actions of the Bush regime, under the oh-so-careful control of PNAC, have closely matched the agenda that PNAC has been putting forth since the Clinton administration. We all know that now.
If you want to act like an adult, Mr. Schmitt, you will come forth and admit, openly and clearly, that the driving force behind the invasion of Iraq was direct control of the Iraqi oil fields and a military presence in the oil-rich region we call the Middle East. Adults tell the truth and take responsibility for their actions, you see. It is only the most spoiled and recalcitrant child that continues to lie after those lies have been revealed and it is only the most irresponsible child that refuses to take responsibility for their actions.
That childishness is, I feel, at the base of your apparent mental illness. In fact, it is at the base of the collective mental illness that plagues the Bush White House and the Project for a New American Century. The cure is simple though. What you need to do is appear on television and, instead of just perpetrating the same old lies that made you ill in the first place, tell the truth. Come clean. Stand up like a man and take your lumps.
It’s the right thing to do, Mr. Schmitt. Wouldn’t doing the right thing for a change feel good?
