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Bush Family
Values
AS A SOCIAL worker, I know that the same
things that ensure a family's survival down through the generations
can also guarantee a country's survival.
High on this list of valuable traits are
trust, clear messages and knowing when and how to use limits, anger
and force to ensure safety.
An absolute killer of trust in a family -
and country - is a double message. Here's the kind of double message
that spells disaster for parent/child trust:
"Uncle Steve, who beats his kids silly, is
baby-sitting you tonight. By the way, dear children, you won't be
able to reach us, and we'll be home very, very late."
And here's a White House double message that
spells a parallel disaster in the president/citizen trust
department: "In the Arab world, there are violent enemies out to get
us. Two of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were citizens of the United
Arab Emirates and some funds for this catastrophe most likely came
through the Dubai banking system. By the way, dear citizens, a UAE-owned
company is going to take over port terminals in several major
American cities - and I'll veto any bill to halt the deal."
Mr. President, I know the deal is finally
dead now, but as I look back, I'd like to know how you didn't know
in the first place that it would scare us to death.
During your State of the Union, you spoke
explicitly and bravely of the need to wean Americans away from our
addiction to oil. Could it be that the angry reaction of oil-rich
Bush family friends, who plan to line your pockets with millions in
post-presidential opportunities (as they have your dad's), scared
you senseless? Did this fear propel you to cling for weeks to a
potentially catastrophic decision on the port deal?
When Americans travel abroad these days, we
have been made alarmingly aware of how the decisions of U.S.
leaders, once respected, are now deeply mistrusted. (Of course, many
abroad do not make the sophisticated distinction between leaders and
everyday Americans.)
Now, Mr. President, we all know that foreign
travel - as well as reading and studying - has never been your cup
of tea.
I'll leave aside how ill-informed you were
about the real state of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But how
your well-traveled, well-read, splendidly educated circle of
advisers, the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rove-Wolfowitz Gang, believed that a
deeply divided and chaotic Iraq would welcome us easily and swiftly
- and the world would welcome an unprovoked invasion - is beyond me.
Here's another example of how the world
feels about us:
Tickets for the Turkish film "Valley of the
Wolves - Iraq," which has played recently in Turkey and 14 other
countries, including Britain, Egypt and Syria, have been hotter than
last summer's heat wave. (Three guesses who the wolves are!)
Gary Busey, who always seems to be in need
of a good dentist and a good bath, plays a Jewish-American doctor
who cuts out the organs of Iraqi casualties, sending them off to the
United States and, naturally, Israel. Billy Zane plays a hateful
U.S. intelligence agent who viciously pits Arabs, Kurds and Turks
against each other.
But viewers lined up for weeks to see this
movie with its perverted view of America, waiting weeks for a chance
to hate us even more.
Mr. President, it seems to me that you
believe that the best way to hold on to your power is to keep us
terrified. Beyond your words, actions speak volumes.
And they show a man seemingly far more
concerned about lining his own pockets and those of his already
wealthy friends than the safety and well-being of your fellow
citizens.
SaraKay Smullens
Philadelphia
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