Secrets

by James Glaser
September 19, 2002

I am listening right now to some House of Representative hearing about Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a General Meyers are answering questions. So many times I have heard, "We could get into this in more detail in closed session" or as some Representative said, "very difficult to talk about this in open session."

Yes, it probably is hard to be open and honest right out in front of the American people. These people are so out of practice talking like the rest of us do. These people know that they might be quoted about what they say. In open session every American can hear what they are saying and that must be hard.

There are some Representatives who are asking questions to the Secretary that are so soft as to seem like the Secretary gave them these questions and his answers are real smooth. Others are playing "hard ball" and both the Secretary and the General have a hard time with them. This is usually where the "closed door/ open door" comments come in.

If one reads our Constitution, you can see that the founding fathers had very little trust of a federal government and the Bill of Rights was set up to protect us from that government. Well just like our founding fathers, I do not have enough trust of our federal government that I would let them send our young people to war on the basis of a Secret.

What this administration is saying is, Trust Us. We know that this war with Iraq is necessary, but we can't tell you why everything we are saying is true, because it is a secret. I am sorry, but our history tells me that lies and deceit by my own government getting us into past wars, does not allow me to trust them for this war.

Just the fact that most of the Generals from the first Gulf War are against this war and these guys know lots of those secrets, tells me that this war is a "hose job." Don't you even think that any of the people that have voiced concerns will ever testify before Congress, these hearings are a set up for an outcome that was decided before these hearings started. The questions are designed to give credence to the Administration's desires for war.

Right after this program a Senate hearing about 9/11 was broadcast and that same open/closed session thing was used time and again. The woman testifying kept talking about how much information was still classified, so she couldn't talk about that. Thousands of pages of documents were declassified, but not the page that told what George Bush knew before the attack. That CIA document was still classified.

Just a few Questions

We read stories about things that happen in this world and their is never a follow up that would tell us the rest of the story. Some times I wonder what happened after this start of a story was reported.

This summer someone stole, from the most secure room in America's War Command Headquarters, two lap top computers with highly secret information on them. Last I heard was that they caught some one. Who? What will happen to them?

The new President of Afghanistan now has thirty American body guards. Why? Is he our puppet?

There were people in both the FBI and CIA that screwed up and let the September 11th attack take place. 3,000 Americans died. Will anyone lose their job or be charged with dereliction of duty? Remember we spend billions on these two agencies.

Does anyone wonder why we know everything about Iraq and Saddam, but we knew nothing about the terrorist until they attacked?

President Bush and his crew planned the War on Iraq before he became President. Is this true? The report was titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources For A New Century" and was produced in January, 2001, by a think tank called "Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Who are these people and were they headed by Dick Cheney? Were Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby working for this think tank?

How are the American citizens that President Bush has thrown into prison with no rights as citizens being treated? Do we torture them?

How much will it cost us to keep the hundreds of Taliban in our prison in Cuba forever? They have been told even if they have a trial and are found innocent, we will never let them go. Are we now torturing them in other ways? Have any died? Have we told their wives and children that their father and husband will rot in our prison until the day he dies? Will we at least send home their body to their families?

Have we started on that pipeline across Afghanistan that we first tried to get the Taliban to let us build?. Will the American Oil Company that the President of Afghanistan worked for get to build it?

Will the people of Pakistan ever get a democracy and a Constitution or will America back their dictator until he kills all possibility of freedom for that country?

Will we ever say anything to Saudi Arabia and Egypt about their people killing 3000 Americans? Are they such close friends that it would be impolite to ask about that?

Did we ever change the color on the cluster bombs or the food packets we dropped on the people of Afghanistan, so little kids looking for food would not get killed or maimed?

What was George Bush told about the September 11th attack in August of 2001 and why was Donald Rumsfled told not to fly in civilian aircraft?

Second to last, where is Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar?

And last of all, would Jesus start a war knowing that thousands of people will be killed and many of them children? Would Jesus at least try to sit down with Saddam Hussein before any attack was made and work things out peacefully? America being a "Christian" country, at least in name if not deed, should ask if Jesus would kill thousands before he turned his cheek?