Democracy for Vancouver

Sam Nunn.

Of the seven participants in a summit in Indiana with Barack Obama –only two of them were put out by the Obama campaign to hold a press avail afterward: Former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn and Illinois Senator Evan Bayh – both vice presidential contenders for Obama’s ticket.
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Former Senator Nunn told reporters that while he is honored to have his name mentioned he has “never aspired to that office,” and that he has “no expectation of being offered any office.”

Although Nunn said he is not sitting on the edge of his chair ready to go back into government he left the door open saying, “Certainly I would talk to Senator Obama if he wanted to talk about it but I think the chances of an offer are pretty slim and that I would have to do a lot of thinking and talk to my family and do a lot of reflecting about what was really the best role for me.”

The best role for Nunn - if not doing penance washing the feet of the poor in the slums of Panama City - is on the same corporate boards (including Coca-Cola and GE) that have made him incredibly wealthy since leaving the Senate 11 years ago.

There isn’t much that could keep me from voting for Obama come November (not even FISA), but if he picked Nunn as his running mate I’d fill out my ballot with barf bag in hand, because I’ve actually talked to Sam Nunn. And he is a warmongering monster.

I was a baby reporter back in Rome, Georgia in December 1989 when our first war-president Bush decided that Manuel Noriega had reached the end of his useful life as puppet dictator and CIA flunky. Since I was the one destined for law school, and despite having only 6 months on the job, I was tasked with studying the Panama Canal Treaty and interviewing Nunn on the justification for and legality of an invasion of Panama and possible seizure of the Panama Canal.

By my reading, there was no justification, particularly for seizure of the Canal.

But according to Nunn, no justification was necessary. Fuck Carter and his limp-wristed Panama Canal Treaty - we never should have given the goddamn thing back in the first place. We built it and protected it for 75 years, and if that Noriega fucker thinks he can cut us off, he’s picked a fight with the wrong bully.

And as for the innocent Panamanians that might get injured or killed in an invasion, Sen. Nunn? This isn’t about people, it’s about property. Our property. A negligent caretaker let some squatters in and let those vermin think they had title to the place, but our judge and jury come with howitzers, A-10 Warthogs and amphibious assault vehicles. Game over.

In the end, Nunn’s “Democratic” support helped give Bush 41 the cover he needed to squash Noriega and shuttle him off to a roach motel in South Florida, where he still resides. And because the winner writes the history - and the U.S. citizenry has the attention span of crack-addled spider monkey - the dead innocent Panamanians didn’t make much news here.

But it’s curious that the Panamanians weren’t allowed to try Noriega themselves, the way the Iraqis tried Saddam. Were we afraid of what might come out in a trial we didn’t control, whether it was evidence of CIA drugdealing, full involvement of the U.S. in Noriega’s corruption, or the civilian toll of “Operation Just Cause”? Or were they afraid that the families of the innocent civilians killed in the U.S. invasion might be a bit too sympathetic toward Noriega to make good jurors?

In any event, Sam Nunn is the ultimate might-makes-right hawk, Dick Cheney with a southern accent. He is, to this day, the most amoral person I have ever spoken to.

I can only hope that Barack Obama is using Nunn as a national security beard to give him the gravitas in the foreign affairs/defense arena that his age and limited time in the Senate cannot, and that he has no real intention of bringing him onboard.

Because if Sam Nunn is made VP or SecDef or given any other official position within an Obama administration, then Iraq (and Panama) will not be the exception, but the rule.