U.S. should examine its government
By John Sargent
Skiff Staff

Since when did America become the great defender of democracy, morality and righteousness that our good Christian President George W. Bush so praises us for?

You would think, by the way our government officials speak, that this land in which we live was not stolen from the Native Americans whom the great European pilgrims all but wiped out with violence and disease.

You would think that this nation was not built upon the backs of African slaves for more than 400 years.

You would think that blacks, for decades after slavery was abolished, were not beaten, sprayed down with fire hoses in the street, lynched, hanged, raped, imprisoned, treated as third-class citizens and denied every right guaranteed by the Constitution and by God.

You would assume that America had some noble cause in Vietnam. You would assume that there was some just reason for America dropping the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, destroying both of the cities and killing more than 300,000 civilians.

You would think that there was some valid reason why America, during the Reagan administration, sponsored violent, murderous forces that destabilized the government in Nicaragua and tortured and killed thousands of civilians.

You would think that the Gulf War was about anything other than the United States trying to control all of the oil in the Middle East.

You would think that there was a valid reason why America under the Clinton administration bombed a pharmaceutical company in Sudan which supplied most of the medicine for that country, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.

And I don’t even want to start on this current Bush administration. I wouldn’t want to be labeled as a terrorist or an evil-doer for questioning the motives of our government — the defender of human rights around the world.

First of all, a war is defined as a conflict between states or nations, not a conflict between good and evil or America versus “terror.” When examining the facts about this war, let us use common sense.

For instance, If this is a war, why are our detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba not labeled as prisoners of war, which under the Geneva Convention would protect them from inhumane treatment and torture?

If we have concrete evidence that proves Osama bin Laden orchestrated or ordered the Sept. 11 attacks, why have we not presented this evidence before the world court?

If we really care about helping the 7 to 8 million civilians in Afghanistan who are on the brink of starvation, why then did we order Pakistan to stop sending humanitarian relief in mid-September?

If this is a government for and by the people whose decisions are made with informed consent of the people, why has our government allowed such limited press coverage of the “battle scene” in Afghanistan or the detainees in Cuba?

Bush once stated that our government will not “discuss intelligence matters, how we gather intelligence, and what we know... When our government acts, you’ll be informed.” Sounds like democracy to me.

Since when did holding your government accountable for their actions become unpatriotic? Thomas Paine wrote that, “It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government.” It’s not a crime to think for yourself. We don’t need to assume that every action the government takes is always in the best interest of the American people.
Bush has declared that, “It is our responsibility to history ... to rid the world of evil.” He could start by cleaning out his cabinet.

John Sargent is a sophomore philosophy major from Fort Worth.
He can be contacted at (j.w.sargent@student.tcu.edu).

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