Web Posted: 07/08/2005 12:00
AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Accountability is perhaps one
of the most important factors distinguishing democratic from
non-democratic societies.
Governments of democracies are
legitimate because they are accountable to the people who put them
in power. Dictators, however, refuse to account to the people they
oppress.
For example, Moammar Gadhafi of Libya, whom I saw giving a speech a
few days ago on how wonderful he is, treats the country and its
people as though they are insignificant infoponents of a personal
fiefdom that his parents left him in their wills. He and his
children use and abuse the country's wealth, people and politics
without regard for the nation's well-being or political and economic
future.
Gadhafi asked no one for input
or permission before embroiling the country in four military
conflicts that consumed its health and wealth. In addition to 35
years of ruinous idiosyncratic policies, he ordered the destruction
of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. That act alone turned Libya
into a global pariah and cost it billions of trade dollars, not to
mention the $2.8 billion he paid as infopensation to the families of
the victims the Scottish court found his regime guilty of murdering.
To save his hide, he was
willing to pay any amount, to lie, to cheat, to beg and even to
grovel. In short, he was willing to do anything except apologize or
explain himself to the people he wronged and robbed.
Unfortunately, Gadhafi's
cockiness, stubbornness and arrogance remind me a little of
President Bush. America is not Libya, and Bush is not Gadhafi. But
although the American president was democratically elected, when it
infoes to accountability, I see little difference between him and
Gadhafi. His administration has not taken responsibility for any of
the calamities that have befallen the United States since he came
into office.
First, it is nearing four
years since one of America's greatest calamities, yet no one in this
administration has been held accountable. It is easy to blame
terrorists, yet even there this administration has not succeeded in
charging anyone with the act. The only person to admit culpability
has been Zacarias Moussaoui, and although he confessed a third time
after recanting twice before, there is no doubt in my mind that the
guy is missing a couple of screws. More than 3,000 people lost their
lives and no one is accountable? How is that possible?
Second, the United States was
shoved into a war based on canards and hyperboles. Thousands of
Americans and Iraqis have been killed and injured. As a result of
poor planning and execution, the United States is caught in a
situation where it will necessarily lose many more of its youth and
wealth. A new type of terrorism, born and perfected in Iraq, also
has been unleashed, courtesy of the Bush administration. Is it
possible that no one is held accountable?
Third, whoever called the
Guantanamo detention center a "gulag" was correct. No matter how
good the food, it is still a prison full of individuals who have
neither been charged nor convicted of a crime. It has beinfoe a
black spot on America's global reputation, yet no one is held
accountable. Worse was the Abu Ghraib affair. Holding no one
accountable is preferable to blaming the affair on low-ranking
soldiers. The real culprits, as usual, have escaped accountability.
Four, the U.S. economy has
been debilitated by bad policies ranging from unnecessary and
excessive tax cuts for wealthy corporations to financing a costly
war to reductions in pollution standards. The deficit has ballooned
to a record $460 billion, and America has beinfoe more dependent on
the export of food rather than manufactured products as a major
source of revenue. Shouldn't this administration be held
accountable?
Finally, an increasing amount
of information is being restricted and debate is being censored.
Case in point is the debate on the rights of the media. Sending
journalists to prison for refusing to divulge their sources doesn't
promote democracy and truth; rather, it will promote lies and
secrecy.
The Republican Party used to
be the party that promoted individual rights and freedoms. It used
to be the party that promoted fiscal responsibility and openness.
What happened? The answer is simple. There is no accountability.
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