Now Is No Time to Sing Kumbaya: We Must Hold the Bush Regime Accountable

Posted by Ian Welsh, Firedoglake at 7:34 AM on November 14, 2008.

So, I'm hearing a ton of arguments that we should all just let bygones be bygones, because gosh darn, there are so much more important things to do than bringing Bush apparatchiks who smashed the constitution to bits, invaded another country based on lies (a war crime that Nazis were hung for) and who were criminally incompetent in their management of the economy, Katrina and everything else, to account.

Yes, we should all be BIGGER than justice, and just let bygones be bygones. What could be the harm in just saying "hey it's over now, let's fix the problems these criminal saps made and not bother to go after them." (I'm sure rapists and murderers who have killed and harmed far fewer people are wondering why this standard doesn't apply to them.)

The SAME people who were responsible for Nixon's crimes, were responsible for Iran/Contra. They and their proteges came back and were responsible for Bush, Iraq, torture, screwing up Katrina and so on.

But we're supposed to let bygones be bygones so they can do it again in the next Republican administration.

Yeah, and folks wonder why things like Bush happen. If you refuse to hold people of any significance responsible for crimes and screwups (like all the bank CEOs keeping their jobs) they will do it over and over again.



So yes, let's all sing Kumbaya, and not get JUSTICE for all the crimes that were committed. And lets not hold anyone to account for incompetence or stupidity, but make sure they keep their jobs, or even if they lose them, that the second Republicans are back in power, they can have them again.



If that's what America does, America will go down in flames. Guaranteed. This continued unwillingness to ever hold elites to account for their crimes and incompetence is a far bigger long term problem than the economy or Iraq or baby boomers, or medical problems or anything else. It is the core problem and as long as it is not solved, crisis after crisis will continue to occur.



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Tagged as: america, bush, cheney, nixon, war crimes, justice, reagan, kumbaya

Ian Welsh is the managing editor of The Agonist and a sometime contributor to FDL and the Huffington Post.