The left cares about power, not America
By Carol Devine-Molin
web posted June 6, 2005
The Left-leaning crowd – notably Democratic politicos, the mainstream media, the New York and Hollywood literati/glitterati set, and various surrogate organizations including Amnesty International – continue to be emboldened. With the new revelations surrounding Mark Felt as "Deep Throat", they're luxuriating in memories of their Watergate heyday thirty years ago and the "press takedown" of Richard Nixon, a Republican president. And of course, the Left likes nothing better than to destroy Republican presidents. In fact, it's the Left's favorite blood sport.
All this Watergate nostalgia has to have them hankering for another impeachment, another "Deep Throat" type informant to ruin President Bush and create havoc for the Republicans. But, with or without a new-styled "Deep Throat", you can certainly expect the Left-wingers to continue their ever-increasing coordinated attacks upon the GOP. Moreover, from here on in, we can expect the Democrats and their minions to attempt to impeach each and every Republican president, starting with George W. Bush.
Apparently, former Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry is already making noises to impeach President Bush regarding a document dubbed the "Downing Street Memo", which purports to prove that the Bush administration actually knew all along that WMDs didn't exist in Iraq and connived to cook the books and fix the evidence. What a total crock! For the umpteenth time, the entire world - including the UN and the intelligence services of America, Britain, France and Germany – believed that Iraq possessed WMDs. OK, so our CIA gave us lousy intelligence. Tell us something that we don't already know.
Here's the long and short of John Kerry's latest great adventure in the Senate where he's poised to lead the charge against President Bush in impeachment proceedings: Kerry now wants to sell us more gobbledygook, as he did in 1971 when he provided thoroughly scurrilous and inaccurate testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accusing our troops in Vietnam of committing systematic war crimes (raping, randomly shooting at civilians, blowing up bodies, razing villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, cutting off heads, ears, limbs, etc.). And let's not forget Kerry's fantastic claim of having spent Christmas in Cambodia in 1968, during the Nixon administration (Hello? LBJ was still in office at the time). Oh yes, according to Kerry, he was in Cambodia to transport CIA operatives and Special Forces. Does anyone who's sane buy even an ounce of that BS? And now we have to hear Kerry pontificate about so-called evidence – for the purpose of leaving no shadow of a doubt – that President Bush lied about WMDs. In truth, Kerry's impeachment efforts amount to character assassination against President Bush. Fuggetaboutit! Kerry needs to take another vacation. Democrats are so predictable and over-the-top. Come to think of it, Howard Dean makes a perfect spokesman for the party of the negative ninnies.
If nothing else, the American people should be cognizant of the following: The bankrupt political Left has no intention of moving this nation forward with new ideas and new approaches that would benefit our nation. Obstructionism - which is certainly damaging America - is the name of the game for Congressional Democrats and their surrogates. The Democrat minority and its like-minded allies want nothing favorable to redound to the Republicans. For the Left, power is their god. Moreover, the Left-wingers are caught in a time warp, as they continue to immerse themselves in the same old mentality and same old tactics without evolving one iota.
From observing mainstream news reports, it's quite apparent that the Left is on a newly energized attack-spree aimed at undermining the Bush administration in the US and around the globe. We're hearing claims that: a) compare the Gitmo facility to a "Soviet gulag" and, b) accuse Gitmo prison guards of mishandling and abusing the Qur'an. Standard Leftist methods are being utilized: It's all about lies, demagoguery, and incredible doses of mudslinging and hyperbole. But what about actual proof to the various charges? Once you move past the hype/spin and recycled stories, there is little that rates as substantive to bolster the nasty allegations of the Left. Moreover, it's particularly disturbing that it was the human rights organization Amnesty International that equated the prison at Guantánamo Bay to a "Soviet gulag."
Well, was there any "Qur'an abuse"? As we now know, the Newsweek story of "Qur'an flushing" by military personnel at Gitmo was found to be pure claptrap. The Bush administration, as usual, investigated all allegations and found only a few isolated incident of Qur'an mishandling or desecration by prison guards. According to piece by Reuters, "The U.S. military Friday released details about five cases in which the Islamic holy book was kicked, stepped on and soaked in water. In one case, a guard's urine splashed onto a detainee and his Quran. Southern Command said a guard urinated near an air vent and the wind blew his urine through the vent and onto a detainee and his Quran. ‘It is unfortunate that some have chosen to take out of context a few isolated incidents by a few individuals without making clear the policies and practices of the overwhelming vast majority, the 99.9 percent, of our military personnel,' said White House spokesman Scott McClellan."
That being said, responsible news media outlets need to frame their stories in proper perspective. There were very few occasions of mishandling/desecration of the Qur'an, and any violations were appropriately investigated and addressed by the military. The mainstream media, and the world for that matter, cannot expect perfection. There will always be a few military personnel that fail to follow the rules and abide by their training. However, to paraphrase an old adage, it's vital that we "don't let the good be the enemy of the perfect." Overall, the American military is conducting itself quite well at the Guantánamo Bay prison.
Fox News journalist Bill O'Reilly is sounding the clarion call that the Left is orchestrating powerful rhetorical attacks against the Bush administration, and these allegations warrant response. That's good advice. The administration fails to consistently respond to politically driven allegations, and O'Reilly believes that's a mistake. And he's especially peeved at the leadership of Amnesty International since political bias is clearly at the root of their charge likening Gitmo to a Soviet gulag. In his 5/26/05 Talking Points Memo, O'Reilly notes: "From the get-go, Amnesty International objected to the Bush administration's aggressive response to 9/11 and went ballistic over the Iraq War. There's no question that A.I. is a Far Left outfit, but now it has become openly hostile to the USA on the terror issue… Amnesty International's executive director, Mr. Schultz, was on the board of Planned Parenthood and the People for the American Way, two very Far Left organizations."
To any thinking person, equating Gitmo to a Soviet gulag is patently absurd and mean-spirited. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld rightfully calls the comparison by Amnesty International "reprehensible." The detainees eat well, receive medical treatment, and worship in accordance with the Islamic faith. Detainees are not being murdered or subjected to forced labor.
Amnesty International is essentially devoid of moral clarity and fails to properly differentiate between detention facilities that have a very limited scope of abuse and those with massive abuse records. At the heart of Amnesty International's problem with Gitmo is that some detainees are being held "incommunicado." The organization's displeasure is somewhat understandable. However, these al-Qaida operatives are killers and thugs that were caught on the battlefield. The reality is that they are not going to be released from detention anytime soon. Moreover, these al-Qaida warriors are trained to make false allegations of heinous abuse and torture against their captors. It's part and parcel of the larger propaganda war being waged by al-Qaida. That's something that Amnesty International should always keep in mind. And from the perspective of conservatives, radical Islamists and the American Left share significant bonds. That was not lost on author David Horowitz, who has written extensively on the subject in his book, Unholy Alliance. 
Carol Devine-Molin is a regular contributor to several online magazines.
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