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The Lowest Points of the 'Decade of the Oligarchs'

Bush put US on path to banana republic status

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 24, 2009 2:50 PM CST

(Newser) – The 2000s were dominated by George W. Bush and the new American oligarchy he represents, writes Juan Cole. He lists hit 10 lowest points of an awful decade:

  • “The constitutional coup of 2000,” in which “ugly racial and other low tricks” and a “far right-wing Supreme Court” delivered the election to the worst president in history.

  • The Sept. 11 attacks and “the alacrity with which Americans surrendered their yeoman liberties to a Bonapartist regime.” Al-Qaeda, a “small fringe crackpot group,” became a convenient post-Soviet bogeyman for the oligarchs.
  • “The great $12 trillion Bank Robbery,” in which Bush and Hank Paulson shoveled an entire year’s worth of GDP into Wall Street’s pockets.
  • The Iraq war, launched "on false pretexts such as 'weapons of mass destruction' or 'democratization,' for the sake of opening the Iraqi oil markets to US hydrocarbon firms."
  • The deterioration of health care and the fact that "hundreds of thousands of children are going hungry in the richest country in the world."
To see all 10 and learn more about Cole's reasoning, click here.

President-elect George W. Bush, right, announces four new Cabinet nominees as Vice President-elect as Dick Cheney looks on during a press conference December 29, 2000 in Washington, DC.
President-elect George W. Bush, right, announces four new Cabinet nominees as Vice President-elect as Dick Cheney looks on during a press conference December 29, 2000 in Washington, DC.   (Getty Images)
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Bush-Cheney were not simply purveyors of wrong-headed ideas. They were the agents of the one percent, and their policies make perfect sense if seen as attempts to advance the interests of this narrow class of persons. - Juan Cole

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 54 comments
Non-deep-thinker
Dec 26, 2009 5:02 AM CST
DID CLINTON ATTACK IRAQ? LOL. I just looooove this question. It just tells me so much. --------------------------------------------------- All the Democrats would LOVE to have the following story just vanish from the history books forever. Or at least they'd love to have general amnesia take place over the land, and nobody discover that the following ever happened. ---------------------------------------------------- NEWSTORY from Dec 15, 1998. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From the Oval Office, President Clinton told the nation Wednesday evening why he ordered new military strikes against Iraq. The president said Iraq's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors presented a threat to the entire world. "Saddam (Hussein) must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons," Clinton said. Operation Desert Fox, a strong, sustained series of attacks, will be carried out over several days by U.S. and British forces, Clinton said. "Earlier today I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces," Clinton said. "Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors," said Clinton. Clinton also stated that, while other countries also had weapons of mass destruction, Hussein is in a different category because he has used such weapons against his own people and against his neighbors. --------------------------------------------------- This news-story was of course preceded by an earlier news-story-- in 1993-- that went like this: "On June 26, 1993, President Bill Clinton ordered U.S. warships stationed in the Persian Gulf and in the Red Sea to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles against the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in downtown Baghdad. Tomahawk missiles were fired from the USS Peterson in the Red Sea and from the cruiser USS Chancellorsville." ________________________________ Major amnesia about the above would greatly simplify the Democratic lie that George Bush appeared on the scene, picked this issue out of thin air, and attacked some friendly nation out of the clear blue for no particular reason. Or perhaps to advance the career of Dick Cheney. lol Too funny.
CHRiSTFELD
Dec 26, 2009 2:50 AM CST
Doo-Doo: borderline retards don't know the difference between "your" and "you're".
Non-deep-thinker
Dec 26, 2009 1:51 AM CST
What's interesting to me is that these guys have memorized every word by Bush and Cheney, and poured over every sentence they ever uttered, so they know them all by heart, but when it comes to Clinton and other Democrats, suddenly things get real fuzzy and gauzy and words no longer have an "actual meaning". Words now get to mean whatever they want them to mean. It's the old Double Standard Problem. When Bush had low approval ratings, this was SERIOUS, SERIOUS business, something which symbolized every bad thing that was going on everywhere in the universe. Now that Obama's ratings are in the dumpster, poll ratings no longer mean that much.
 

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