"Why, Mr. President, can you send hundreds
of thousands of troops to far away countries to kill suspected
'terrorists' with cluster bombs and munitions coated with
depleted uranium and tanks and
warplanes and an endless supply of high-tech weapons and I, as an
American citizen, cannot go to my neighbors' house and kill them if I
suspect them of being
terrorists?"
"Are you implying that you are more intelligent than I, and
therefore have the wisdom to decide who to kill, including hundreds of
thousands of innocent men, women and children because suspected
'terrorists' are in areas near those innocents?"
"And, Mr. President, if you can pick up anyone off the street in far-off
countries and send them to hidden places to be tortured, without benefit
of legal counsel or the basic necessities human beings depend upon for
keeping their sanity, why can't I, likewise, drag my neighbors into my
dark, rat-infested basement and torture them until they tell me exactly
what I need and want to know concerning their suspected terrorist
activities?"
Is your answer, "Because you, dear citizen,
have a police force to keep you safe from terrorists, so you need not
take the law into your own hands."
"I see, Mr. President. But, you say I have a police force to keep me
safe: I noticed you didn't say I have an army to keep me safe. Is there
a difference in an army and a police force?"
Would you answer and say, "There is really no distinction between the
two in today's world, where terrorists are hiding behind every tree and
every small child."
"But, Mr. President, are you telling me that our armed forces are
trained to protect and to serve, just as our police force is trained to
protect and to serve? In truth, are not our armed forces trained to kill
and break things? Is our police force trained in the fine art of
torture? Are they trained to kill whole families because a suspected
terrorist might be in the bushes? Is our police force really adept at
displacing millions of families from their homes and towns and cities?
Does our police force shoot at speeding cars and trucks simply because
suspected terrorists are in them? Does our police force dive-bomb our
citizens with super-sonic jet planes for the purpose of protecting and
serving us?
Is your answer, "There are things a Commander in Chief must do
that average citizens cannot fathom in their day to day living the
average citizen has no idea how difficult it is for me to send people
off to kill and be killed?"
"But, Mr. President, were you not an average citizen before you became
the most powerful person in the world? Were you miraculously transformed
into a god-like being, with omniscient powers of perception and good
judgment? Were you suddenly aware of all of the consequences of all of
your actions?"
Would you answer me by saying, "I have the best advisers in the free
world; I have the best brain-power ever amassed in one think-tank to
show me the good and proper way to lead a nation of free people."
"If this is your answer, Mr. President, then why have you destroyed so
many lives? Why have you bankrupted our nation in the eight short years
of your stewardship? Why have you neglected to maintain and repair the
crumbling infrastructure of our once solvent and viable country? And,
why have so many of your advisers and high-ranking people left your
command? Were they saying things you did not want to hear, or did they
leave because they feared for their lives and fortunes because of
impending war-crimes trials?"
"You have suddenly become silent, Mr. President; is it because you are
trying to think of some very important, deep, philosophical answer, or
are you thinking of all the people you plan on pardoning
before leaving office? How long is the list, Mr. President?
Is your name the first one on that list?
When you leave office, will you once more become just an ordinary
citizen, like me? Or will you go on lecture tours and collect
$$$$$$$$$$$ for telling crowds of adoring people how you gave up
golf in order to honor those who went off to kill and be killed, while
on your watch?"
"I think I know the answer, Mr. President but I would dearly like to
hear yours."
