Questions About 9/11

I had intended to post the following questions on September 11, the fifth anniversay of the attacks. Unfortunately, my computer got all messed up--possibly for all time. Fortunately, a friend of mine gave me an old computer his family was no longer using, so I am online once again. My thanks to Mike Foley for his generosity.

At any rate, on to today's subject.

George W. Bush spent the evening of 9/11/2006 lying to America again, once more tying his war of choice in Iraq (which had nothing to do with the attacks, and as a Senate report released last weekend confirmed al-Qaeda was an enemy of Saddam Hussein and wanted him deposed--Hussein considered al-Qaeda a threat to his regime) to the war on terrorists.

It was utter bullshit, and an insult to the memory of those who died that terrible day five years ago. In response to Bush's deception-laden speech, I have some serious questions to ask:

1. Why, five years after 9/11/2001, is Osama bin Laden still at large? Why has the Bush regime done absolutely nothing to capture or kill him?
2. Why, when bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora, did the Bush regime drop the ball and let him get away? Why was money appropriated for operations in Afghanistan to get bin Laden appropriated for a build-up of forces to threaten Iraq?
3. Since Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda were enemies, and bin Laden wanted Hussein removed from power as much as Bush did, isn't the invasion and occupation of Iraq giving al-Qaeda exactly what it wanted? Why do what al-Qaeda wants us to do?
4. Why did the Bush regime abandon the hunt for bin Laden?
5. Why, when they knew Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11--and when they knew Iraq had no WMDs, did the Bush regime choose to go after that country?
6. Why did the Bush regime lie to the public and the Congress about Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Why did they exaggerate crimes committed by Hussein? Why did they manipulate intel on Iraq?
7. Why is the Bush regime spying on American citizens, especially in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Constitution? Why, when the special FISA court set up to issue warrants for foreign surveillance has the loosest standards for issuing warrants (including granting them 72 hours after surveillance has begun), did the Bush regime choose to circumvent the court to spy without warrants? Could the law not have been changed again by Congress to accomodate the need for expediency? Assuming the reason the Bush regime circumvented the FISA court in its NSA wiretaps was because they feared the court--with its lax standards--would deny the warrant applications, why would the court have denied them? Isn't the most logical answer that the people being spied on have nothing to do with terrorism? And why is the Bush regime spying on people not connected to terrorism? Why is it placing itself above the law and the Constitution, blatantly violating both?
8. Why is the Bush regime violating the Geneva Conventions by torturing prisoners, and trying to rewrite those rules so they can continue their torture programs with impunity from prosecution?
9. Why did top members of the Bush regime, including Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney and Richard Armitage, compromise national security by illegally disclosing the identity of a CIA undercover operative to members of the press?
10. Where is Osama bin Laden?
11. Why is the Bush regime holding prisoners without charge or access to attorneys, and trying people using secret "evidence" in violation of the Constitution?
12. Why is Halliburton (among other companies with ties to Bush regime members) being given exclusive no-bid contracts in Iraq? Why is the company being allowed to bilk taxpayers and defraud the military?
13. Why, having bungled the occupation of Iraq to the point where winning there is impossible--and when the Taliban is retaking Afghanistan, is the Bush regime making the same overtures of war against Iran? Sun Tzu, the legendary warrior and strategist whose writings on warfare are still being taught today, cautioned against opening multiple fronts because it stretches one's forces leaving one vulnerable. Why is the Bush regime compromising the strength of our Armed Forces by committing them to so many fronts?
14. Why are war crimes authorized and committed by the Bush regime going unpunished? Why is the Bush regime trying to place itself outside the ability of the International Criminal Court to prosecute war criminals, if America has not committed war crimes? Shouldn't the rule of international law apply equally to everyone?
15. Why, in the face of all evidence to the contray, is the Bush regime still exploiting 9/11 to bolster support for its war of choice in Iraq? Why is it exploiting 9/11 in order to press for war against Iran?
16. In light of last week's press conference in which Bush blasted Congress for failing to rewrite Article III of the Geneva Conventions so he can get away with torture of prisoners, why did Bush respond to a hypothetical question arguing he would have no problem with other countries using the same twisted definitions he is using to justify the torture of prisoners? Doesn't that essentially give the green light to, say, North Korea to torture American prisoners in its custody and then claim it is only following the U.S. example? Why is Bush okay with that?
17. Where is bin Laden?

These are questions that, five years after 9/11/2001, demand honest answers. Unfortunately, honesty is something completely absent from the equation where the Bush regime is concerned. Americans should demand these answers, by removing Republicans from power in Congress this November and pressuring Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.