The Importance of Being Henry J. Hyde
Press Action
Sunday, December 28, 2003
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/spinoza12282003/
By Abu Spinoza
Congressperson Henry J. Hyde is a famed legislator. In a recent letter to the Washington Post, he disputes Louis Fisher’s view that the “[U.S.] Congress abdicated too much authority to the president in the buildup to war in Iraq” and that “Congress was misled by the administration about the existence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.”
Rather, Hyde insists “mistakes were made by the White House, the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.” He asserts his faith “that the search for WMD may yet turn up evidence of their existence.” He goes to dismiss the old-fashioned and rational view that “military force demands solid evidence that a threat is imminent and war is unavoidable.” Hyde rhetorically asks, “Evidence in a juridical sense? Or in the court of public opinion?”
His own view is fairly candid. The call for evidence is “inconsistent with the Bush doctrine that America’s self-defense may require a first strike.” Yes, indeed! That is reminiscent of the Nazis. Therefore, why did Bush et al. get upset when former German Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin compared “the Bush doctrine” to that of the Nazis?
He goes on to add: “The critical issue is whether Congress took responsibility for the use of force. In this case, it did so unambiguously” and repeats a now standard line that, “Many members now agree that Hussein’s unspeakable crimes justified support for war.” Since the administration’s lie about weapons of mass destruction has proved to be hallow, it is now proudly claimed that Bush administration invaded Iraq out of sympathy for the human rights conditions of Iraqis!
Hyde could well remember that he and his fellow legislators abdicated the responsibilities of the U.S. constitution, which states in Section 8(11) that Congress has the power to declare war. It is certainly a high crime to invade and occupy a country on the basic of falsified evidence and forged documents. Men, like Hyde, are complicit in such activities.
It does not occur to Hyde that when Hussein was committing his “unspeakable crimes,” he was actually being supported by the USA and other Western countries. Citing analysis and documents uncovered by the National Security Archives, Dana Milbank reports that “Donald H. Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the United States’ public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would not derail Washington’s attempts to forge a better relationship.”
So it is somewhat difficult to believe that Hussein’s “unspeakable crimes” could have been a possible justification of war of invasion of Iraq. This is a war in which, according to Iraq Body Count, between 7,970 and 9,800 Iraqi civilians have been killed. With congresspersons like Hyde and Co., it would appear that members of the Turkish parliament have a better sense of legal and moral responsibility and the courage to reject an imperialist war of conquest than the fat cats who occupy power here in Washington, D.C.
Abu Spinoza is a columnist for Press Action.