I have obeyed the Law, mostly, for my entire life. Yes, there was the inevitable adolescent curiosity with certain noxious weeds & altered states of consciousness. I have, on occasion, interpreted the speed limit rather than strictly obeying it. In my foolish youth I did not necessarily adhere to the blood alcohol limit for driving - believing, in the arrogance that comes with ignorance & inexperience, that I was in control of my faculties & the motor vehicle.

I say all this not as a form of special pleading, nor to establish some pattern of wanton law-breaking. Nor is this the beginning of some tedious public confession for the betterment of my soul - that I will leave to fallen movie stars. It is simply to establish that I am not a Saint, have never aspired to that rank, nor do I too harshly judge those who fall short of that rank - been there, done that, thank God or Fate no one was hurt & I've matured now into a law-abiding citizen.

I know that many of our political leaders, particularly Mr. Bush, could claim these same experiences, with one major exception. The entire time I was willfully breaking the Law, I knew I was breaking the Law, and fully expected to suffer punishment if caught while doing it.

My father was never rich, was never politically connected. In all the jobs I have done during my life, none ever came with the promise that illegal acts committed while working would be absolved. I always fully expected to suffer, myself & myself alone, any consequences arising from any action I took. This I expected regardless of whether actions I took were solely my own decision or on orders of another - for in accepting the orders of another, there, too, I make a decision.

You see, I am a Free Man - and as such, fully expect to be accountable for my actions. Forgive me for waving the flag here - but this is what my parents taught me America was all about: free men & women freely taking action & fully expecting to enjoy the benefits, or to be held accountable for the consequences, of those actions.

It is apparent Mr. Bush does not share the same experiences I have after all, regardless of whatever superficial similarities there may be between his youthful indiscretions & mine. He, apparently, has never expected to suffer any consequences for actions he has taken. It is apparent in his enlistment with the Texas Air National Guard - and his willful abrogation of his duties when they interfered with what he wanted to do. It is apparent in his business life when, time after time, friends of his father or those who sought to curry favor with his father purchased worthless stock at wildly inflated prices to protect him from his bad business decisions. It is apparent in his use of insider information to profit in stock trades, withhold that information - and then claim it was a "technical" violation. It is apparent in his insistence that others take the blame for his cherry-picking of intelligence, insisting that he was mislead by others - and that other nations were similarly mislead.

It has never been so sadly apparent as when Mr. Bush attempts, retroactively, to make legal the illegal acts he has committed or ordered others to commit. We have heard much from Mr. Bush on Personal Responsibility - even as we have seen precious little evidence of it from him.

I will not argue here whether torturing prisoners in our custody makes Mr. Bush liable under the War Crimes Act or whether American laws extend to actions undertaken on foreign shores by Americans on foreign subjects. I will not argue here whether "water-boarding" constitutes torture, or even whether prisoners in our custody were subjected to "water-boarding." I will not argue here on the Constitutionality of making illegal acts retroactively legal - ex post facto in legal terms. These are arguments better left to people with more extensive knowledge of the Law than I can claim to possess. I will not even argue here whether, in some cases, illegal action is demanded by circumstance.

No, I am here, today, to discuss the responsibility of Free Men & Women in a Free Society. You recently claimed, Mr. Bush, to have read the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus. I, too, have read this novel - though I read it as a Senior in High School, as most of my contemporaries did. I'm not sure what you took away from your reading of this modern classic - Tony Snow was frustratingly vague on this point - but I know one of the things I was struck by when I read it: the responsibility of a Free Man or Woman in a Free Society to accept responsibility. Pretty heavy stuff for an eighteen year old - but then, you see, that is when our Society begins to accept you as a Free Man or Woman. In most States you can sign a contract in your own name. In my day it was when you could legally partake of alcohol - albeit in watered down "cereal malt beverage" form. You may, at that time, take up arms & place your life at risk to defend your Country - and ask no one's permission first.

And what did I conclude, pimply-faced, fearing the future I now selected for myself & myself alone - what did I conclude those many winters ago that the responsibility of a Free Man in a Free Society was?

That the responsibility, no, the privilege of Free Men & Women in a Free Society is to make decisions. Like our other freedoms, this was also bought & paid for with the sweat and blood and very lives of those who came before us. But unlike our other freedoms, with which we are endowed and guaranteed, this is one we must, each of us, earn anew again each day - for it is only in the willing acceptance of the consequences of the exercise of this privilege that it has any existence - a decision made without appreciation of the consequences is not a decision.

Many Free Men & Women, people of principle, have committed illegal acts they felt circumstances compelled - and they accepted, even welcomed, the consequences. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr - never did they ask to be absolved. Members of the Continental Congress knew that by signing the Declaration of Independence they committed treason & signed their own death warrants.

Was the need compelling that we torture those we held in secret captivity? Was the information so necessary that illegality had to be countenanced?

I do not know. But I do know that a Free Man, a truly Free Man, would stand honorably, bravely, before History & proclaim:
This I did - I thought it necessary to protect that which we hold dear. I am here to submit myself for punishment - for Free Men & Women do not hide in the dark, nor make special pleadings, nor lawyerly maneuvering - they own their actions as only Real Men & Women do.

Anything else is posturing in someone else's flight suit.

My ancestors emigrated here in 1682 just so we could commit treason against the United States - when it was finally born. We were liberal members of the Society of Friends (Quakers to y'all) you see.

I really get tired of this bullshit. My family fought this bunch when they called themselves Loyalists & wanted to hang us for insisting on our rights as Englishmen.
My family fought this bunch when they called themselves Whigs and wanted to invade Canada & passed the Alien and Sedition Acts.
My family fought this bunch when they called themselves the American (Know Nothing) Party and wanted to restrict immigration to only Northern Europe and ban Catholics from holding office.
My family fought this bunch when they called themselves Republican-Democrats and thought it was okay for one human being to own another.
My family fought this bunch when they called themselves John Birch and thought it was okay to legislate a man's politics.
My family fought this bunch when they called themsaelves Dixiecrats and thought seperate could ever be equal.

I'm tired. I'm feeling old. And I'm deathly afraid that my son will also, one day, have to re-fight these battles.

But I'm not so tired & I'm not so old that I will ever risk being the first in my line to fail in a fight we have fought for 324 years.

Fuck 'em.

I recently linked to a website listed in a thread here on DU - I don't even remember who's, there were so many - to protest ABC's airing of The Path to 9/11. This particular website (and, again, I'm sorry I don't remember which, I went on many that week) recommended that, since ABC hadn't sold any advertising for The Path to 9/11 that people email ABC's regular advertisers to try to register our displeasure. The website even provided links to various advertisers - I clicked on several & did, indeed, register my disapproval of their support of ABC. This, of course, was in addition to emailing "the usual suspects." Frankly, I thought little about it, this action seeming a side issue to the main one of letting my Congressional delegation, ABC Corporate, Disney Corporate, local ABC affiliate & local newspaper know of my personal disgust that someone would put fictional dialog in the mouths of people I believe to have been trying their very best.

I expected nothing more than form emails back from advertisers - and wasn't disappointed. Only one seemed a little "snarky" and I decided to post it, along with my equally snarky reply on the GD Board - simply for the amusement of my fellow DUers. It can be found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

I was greatly surprised by the reactions it provoked - I had thought it would simply die out, as so many do, overwhelmed by the doings of Pundits & People In Power in respect to The Path to 9/11.

I seem to have struck a nerve in many of my fellow DUers - perhaps the same nerve which caused me to reply in a snarky manner, the nerve that has been hit so often of late. The one that reacts to those who seem to say:

"Thank you for registering your opinion - and allow us to pretend we consider it."

That nerve apparently exists in another DUer - his thread can be found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Suddenly, what I had thought an afterthought in a campaign against a repugnant film, and the afterthought of posting one response to it for the amusement of my fellow DUers, has become something of a mini-boycott.
And then I remembered Joe Liebermann, "victim of Internet bloggers" according to Main Stream Media Pundits - who then dismiss us as having no real power.

"Thank you for registering your opinion - and allow us to pretend we care."

But Mr. Liebermann lost the primary. And a small boycott of an advertiser has started. Because someone, just like me, sitting at a computer, spoke in their one, small voice. And connected with another voice out there in the electronic wilderness. And another.

So, the next time someone dismisses you as just one, small voice remember the power we have discovered here, in a community of lone, small voices - and reply to those Pundits & People In Power:

"Thank you for registering your opinion - and allow us to pretend it matters."

Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary, recently announced that pResident George Bush had read "three Shakeapeares" over the Summer. The following is an excerpt from a recent press conference.

Newspaper Reporter: "Mr. pResident, which are the 'three Shakespeares' you read recently?"
pResident Bush: "Hamlet, Romeo, and Juliet."
ABC 'News' Reporter: "Mr. pResident, do you think that President Clinton's obsession with reading ACTUAL books is the reason he like, TOTALLY, didn't kill Osama bin Laden or was it the Monica Lewinsky Scandal?"

Slight muttering as the White House Press Corps looks uncomfortable, settles down a little further away from ABC 'News' Reporter.

Helen Thomas: "Mr. pResident, you do realize, of course, that Romeo and Juliet is one play, don't you, Sir? That would mean you had read only 'two Shakespeares.'"
pResident Bush: "Today we are pleased to announce the foiling of another Terrible Terror Plot. Three men were stopped in Los Angeles while carrying violin cases containing hammers. While they weren't within 30 miles of it, we suspect that their ultimate target was Los Angeles Airport. Gonzales has the details, but I believe their Terrorist Cell went by the name of 'Larry, Moe, and Curley.'"
ABC 'News' Reporter: "Mr. pResident, do you think that President Clinton's failure to move earlier against slapstick comedians lead directly to the 9/11 Attacks?"

Press Corps mutters, one to the other, even more noticeably. There is now a space of three empty chairs around the ABC 'News' Reporter.

pResident Bush: "Any other questions?"
ABC 'News' Reporter: "Yes, sir. Will you autograph my copy of The 9/11 Commission Report - Revised Edition just published by Disney Books? Available for $14.95 for a limited time at www.abcnews.com "

In the spirit of "Path To 9/11", Disney/ABC Edutainment is PROUD to present "Path To World War." (Based upon a soon-to-be-written history book by somebody - but fictionalized for dramatic effect.) SEE! That The Holocaust was planned and executed by the Hindenburg Administration - WATCH! As Chancellor Hitler valiantly tries to prevent it! SEE! As Admiral Canaris foils Himmler's attempt to prevent the Polish attack on a German radio station. VOMIT! As the National Socialist German Workers' Party retains a majority in the Reichstag thanks to shameless propaganda spewed by ABC Radio! COLLABORATE! As Mickey Mouse and Goofy rewrite history from a Right Wing bias!

FACT: The Reagan Administration secretly supplied arms to the mujahadin during Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. To provide "plausible deniability" the money & arms were distributed through Pakistani Intelligence - overwhelmingly to Islamist groups.
RESULT: Rise of Osama bin Laden & the Taliban, thousands of weapons unaccounted for when war ended.

FACT: The Reagan Administration secretly supplied arms & spare parts to Iran during Iran-Iraq War while secretly supplying satellite intelligence to Iraq.
RESULT: Iran IS NOT defeated by Iraq, ayatollahs more deeply entrenched than ever over secular elements. Iraq learns (during Iran-Contra Scandal) of America's duplicity in prolonging War, Saddam Hussein now considers all American pronouncements "flexible." Severe economic damage to Iraq from cost of prolonged War sets up rationale for invasion of Kuwait.

FACT: The Reagan Administration, in response to Lebanese Civil War, stations Marines in Beirut barracks. In response to car bomb attack on U.S. Embassy - for which no responsibility has ever been established - American warships shell predominately Shi'ia neighborhood in Beirut. In retaliation, Hezbollah (newly formed in response to Israel's invasion of South Lebanon) bombs Marine barracks, resulting in largest loss of American servicemen since Vietnam War and until present invasion of Iraq. Reagan pulls Marines out of Beirut three months later.
RESULT: Before bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya & Tanzania, Osama bin Laden points to Beirut bombing as proof that U.S. policy can be changed by "martyr operations" - as long as the death toll is high enough.

FACT: Hezbollah, probably with encouragement from Iranian ayatollahs, kidnaps U.S. citizens in Lebanon. The Reagan Administration secretly offers arms & spare parts to Iran, fighting an invasion by Iraq, to secure release of hostages.
RESULT: Iran becomes regional power through surrogate Hezbollah (and Iraqi Shiites when, during the first Bush Administration, they are encouraged to revolt by U.S. after Gulf War & then left to be slaughtered by Saddam's forces.) Hezbollah grows in power as arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, taking U.S. citizens hostage in Lebanon many times to extort more arms for Iran from Reagan Administration.

FACT: Due to the Reagan Administration's policies during Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein is deeply in debt to other Arab nations, especially Kuwait. After being assured by Ambassador Gillespie (a Reagan appointee) that the U.S. "has no position on your border dispute with Kuwait," Hussein invades Kuwait. The United States, joined by many other non-Muslim nations, stations troops in Saudi Arabia to defend the Kingdom.
RESULT: Osama bin Laden, already a powerful voice due to his successes in the Afghan War (aided by considerable support from the Reagan Administration) uses this "Occupation" by "Crusader Forces" to rally Islamist groups around an umbrella organization: al-Qaeda, or "The Base."

Conclusions
The Reagan Administration (many of whose prominent members are members of the present Bush Administration) is directly responsible, through their secret policies in the Middle East, for:
1. The September 11th Attacks on the World Trade Center & the Pentagon (both in creating the conditions for the rise of Osama bin Laden & in giving him the rationale for the attacks.)
2. The attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Kenya & Tanzania and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole (see above.)
3. The rise of Hezbollah (as opposed to other groups in South Lebanon fighting the Israeli Occupation) by rewarding Iran, through arms sales, for Hezbollah's hostage taking.
4. The rise of Iran to become a regional power (by enabling them to survive the invasion by Iraq & rewarding them for Hezbollah's terrorist activities. Also by setting up conditions which led to the radicalizing of Iraq's Shiites.)
5. The current Iraqi Civil War - by setting in motion the forces which would lead to the radicalizing of Iraq's Shiites and to the radicalizing of the region's Sunnis (al-Qaeda.)

So, with these examples (and the "FACTS" are so well known I didn't bother with citations - a few minutes with any competent search engine should yield more information than you could ever want) I think we can conclude that the errors we are today paying for can be laid squarely at the feet of Ronald Wilson Reagan.
We could, also, consider other missteps of the Reagan Administration in the region - notably how bombing Libya in retaliation for a Syrian-backed bombing of a disco which led directly to the downing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland - but I think those already spelled out will suffice to show the dangers of Cowboy Diplomacy - whether we are talking about a California Cowboy or a Connecticut Cowboy.