Mary Pitt: Forgeries, Fakes, And Cover-Ups

The Republicans and the media are still rumbling, ruminating, and roaring about the ''forged'' memos that were disclosed by CBS regarding the service of George W. Bush in the National Guard during the Viet Nam War. The rage is unbelievable against CBS and, particularly, against Dan Rather for having been duped by phoney documents and for not having vetted them adequately.

First, had not the Bush service documents been so efficiently hidden, destroyed, or otherwise kept from the eyes of the American people or had George W. Bush just gone into the service and done his share in that war effort, it would not be necessary for the curious to attempt to make sense of his unexplained absences. It would be in the public record, in detail, just as are the records of the heroism of John Kerry.

But the greater outrage in the mind of thoughtful people is that the Republican Party can become so indignant over "forged" papers which reflect the common perception that "strings were pulled" in order to keep the scion of the Bush family from having to put his life in danger in a real shooting war or that he was a "troubled" young man who caused his family a great deal of concern. At the same time, this President accepted at face value the "Niger papers" which claimed that Saddam Hussein had contemporaneously attempted to purchase "yellow-cake uranium" from Nigeria when, in fact, the request was made in 1991.

This canard was presented to the American people and to the United Nations as a reason for preemptive invasion of that unfortunate nation, the destruction of the little super-structure that remained there, and the occupation of Iraq for as far as we can see into the future. When the forgery was disclosed, as well as the fact that they had been informed that the papers were faked, the informaion was not only shrugged off but the informant was punished by the "outing" of his wife, an undercover CIA agent. The identity of the person who notified the media of her identity has not yet been discovered, While there is an "investigation", no results have been published.

Against the wishes of the President, the 9/11 Commission was formed and they questioned many who were in possession of information regarding the attacks on the Twin Towers. Mr. Bush and vice-President Cheney, however, did not testify under oath. They did "visit with the Commission" but only informally and not by sworn testimony. And when the Committee had finished its work, it issued a "report" to the American people. Before this report was allowed to be published and released, it had to go through a "vetting" process by the administration which censored out such "sensitive" items as any testimony regarding possible participation by Saudi Arabia or any of the other "special friends" of the administration.

From the beginning, when Mr Bush issued an "executive decision" that negated the laws regarding the opening of Presidential papers from previous administrations, the tone was set for the most secretive government in the history of this nation. While the President was swaggering around the world, advocating "open and transparent democracy" and threatening to make war on other nations because of their lack thereof, he was issuing orders, enacting directives, and demanding legislation that effectively erected walls between the American people and their elected representatives.

Americans are forbidden access to proximity with the President as never before. People who want to send him a message during his rare public appearances are rounded up and imprisoned behind wire fences well away from where he will ride down the street in his limousine. Only persons with invitations are allowed to attend his campaign speeches after careful "vetting". It is as if the man is terrified of the American people and wants no contact with them at all. White House press conferences are conducted by underlings as Mr. Bush refuses to be questioned by reporters. For a people who are used to Presidents like Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter who would walk into a crowd of people, shaking hands and answering questions, it is as if we had been conquered by a remote, regal monarch who is afraid of contamination by "the great unwashed".

I dream of a day when truth returns to these United States, when the President is truly a "man of the people", when we are once again led by a person whom we feel that we know and who knows us and relates to the problems of our every-day lives; a day when our nation is respected in the world and whose word is accepted as true and a day when we, ourselves, once again have an "open, transparent" government, and we can again gaze upon Old Glory with pride and with great feeling, sing "God Bless America" with the sure knowledge that He already has.

Mary Pitt is a septuagenarian Kansan who is self-employed and active in the political arena. Her concerns are her four-generation family and the continuance of the United States as a democracy with a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". Comments and criticism may be addressed to mpitt@cox.net .

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