The disgust I harbor for what this country is allowing itself to become grows daily. We detain our own citizens without stated cause and deny them access to counsel (“the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial […] be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation […] have the assistance of counsel for his defense” Amendment VI). We invade, unprovoked, a sovereign nation (“The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war” (John F. Kennedy). Somehow either the majority of the American public just missed these facts, or no one’s explained it to them properly.
Today’s Washington Post article about our refusal to allow Iraq reconstruction contracts to non-coalition entities contains a quote by Canadian prime minister-to-be Paul Martin. He says, “I understand the importance of these kinds of contracts, but this shouldn’t be just about who gets contracts, who gets business. It ought to be about what is the best thing for the people of Iraq.” Brilliant. Remember all that Bush rhetoric about how the entire war should be for the good of the Iraqi people? Someone explain to me how restricting free trade, thereby denying a chance that the best contractors to do the job might have a shot, can be in Iraq’s best interest? I understand that we’re bitter that no one wanted to go to war with us, but now Iraq deserves the best reconstruction possible that leaves the jobs in its economy when everything is all done.