to our eternal shame

Listening to the September 11th, 2001 emergency calls made to the 911 operators in New York City by people trapped in the World Trade Center towers, calls that were played today in the penalty phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the tragedy and horror of that heartbreaking event came rushing back to me nearly as vividly as it was on that transformational fall morning. I found myself thinking about the direction our government has taken, how our countrymen's desire for righteous vengeance was twisted into a ghastly experiment in empire and nation-building with no obvious justification other than to satisfy the personal vendettas of a privileged few as well as to massage their entirely unwarranted self-importance, and to grease the palms of the well-heeled power brokers who help them maintain their lawless regime's control of the United States of America.

We are nearly five years from that unparalleled attack on our country and the perpetrators remain free and unpunished in any real way. We have sullied our national reputation, we have alienated a huge percentage of the world's population, we have virtually destroyed our own economy, and we have placed ourselves in a position of extreme vulnerability, yet our leadership continues to pat themselves on the back for doing a "heckuva job" rather than groveling for our forgiveness as they should be in a just universe.

George W. Bush and the members of his staff and administration have tarnished the memory of the innocent victims of that horrible day. They have spit on the charred corpses of our fellow Americans, yet they now are showing every indication of taking us down yet another road to ruination completely unchecked with seeming little likelihood of having their apocalyptic visions derailed.

The president and his administration have betrayed the public trust, and have irreparably damaged our great country.

They are not simply incompetent.


They are traitors.