Democracy for Vancouver

I always have our son lay out his clothes for school before he goes to bed, and was surprised when he came downstairs this morning in a different outfit than he’d chosen last night. He’d remembered that his school asked the kids to wear red, white and blue in honor of the victims of 9/11.

I have no problem with memorializing that awful day; I myself chose all black this morning, not realizing why until L. explained his choice of outfit. But to me, the patriotic color scheme is only a reminder of the way our grief was turned into jingoistic, racist fervor against the Islamic world, and how 1,000,000 Iraqis have paid with their lives for the insanity unleashed by two powerful and powerfully disturbed men: Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush.

It has served Bush well these last seven years, having bin Laden at large. Had he been captured or killed in those first weeks, we would never have gone into Iraq; the bloodlust of the American people would have been sated, and we would have turned back to the problems we are facing at home. There would have been National Guard troops and equipment in Louisiana when Katrina came ashore. There would have been no Abu Ghraib, and we may not have become the country that tortures its prisoners, accepts domestic spying, and hands over our Constitutional rights to the very man whose negligence made 9/11 possible.

And we would not have faced the possibility of a President McCain with our economy in shambles, our military broken, and Russia threatening to invade Poland because we have so little influence - and no military might to pose a deterrent.

It’s a wonder the Republicans chanting USA! USA! at the convention last week could hear themselves over Osama bin Laden’s laughter.