On the meaning of liberation...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5395.htm

  How Do I Liberate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
  by Harry Browne
  December 18, 2003

  Sunday's capture of Saddam Hussein made it a great day a great day for
  empty rhetoric and meaningless posturing by politicians and
  journalists.

  Somehow it was assumed by politicians and the press, without
  explanation, that Hussein's capture has vindicated the Bush
  administration's attack on Iraq. But from September 2002 to March
  2003, George Bush said nothing about capturing Saddam Hussein.

  Instead, Bush talked incessantly about weapons of mass destruction and
  Iraq's ability to attack the U.S. with them as well as Al Qaeda camps
  in the Iraqi desert. How does finding Saddam Hussein make Bush's
  claims any more true than they were last week?

  We're told that that the Iraqis can see now that Saddam Hussein isn't
  coming back to power as though they couldn't figure that out for
  themselves with 130,000 foreign troops occupying their country.
  But in the wonderland occupied by politicians and journalists, the
  capture of Hussein must mean that all the resisters also known as
  "loyalists of the old regime" would have no more reason to resist.

  Some politicians said that if anti-war protesters had their gotten
  way, Hussein would be in his palace today, instead of in jail. Yes,
  and if the anti-war protesters had gotten their way, several hundred
  Americans and thousands of Iraqis would be alive today, instead of
  dead.

  The press played its part in the celebration. Wolf Blitzer of CNN said
  that Hussein's capture proves to the world that "the President of the
  United States means business" whatever that means.

  In fact, we've known all along that George Bush means business the
  business of getting reelected.

  There were plenty of TV pictures of Iraqis firing AK-47s into the air.
  But no inquiring minds bothered to ask how everyday Iraqis could be
  carrying AK-47s out in the open, when the American occupiers have
  imposed strict gun-control edicts and are at war with resisters.

  What if Saddam Hussein says that all the dreaded Weapons of Mass
  Destruction were destroyed years ago? Well, we know that George Bush
  believes in preemptive strikes, and he's already made one on this
  front. On Monday, he said of Hussein:

  Hes a liar. Hes a torturer. Hes a murderer. . . . Hes a hes just he is
  what he is: Hes a person that was willing to destroy his country and
  to kill a lot of his fellow citizens. Hes a person who used weapons of
  mass destruction against citizens in his own country. And so its he is
  the kind of person that is untrustworthy and Id be very cautious about
  relying upon his word in any way, shape or form.

  In other words, "Believe him only if he confirms what I've been
  telling you for the past year."

  Liberation

  Donald Rumsfeld said that Hussein's capture means that the Iraqis can
  now be free in spirit, as well as in fact.

  Ah yes, liberated Iraq. It is now a free country. George Bush has
  liberated it.

  How has Iraq been liberated? Let me count the ways . . .

  1. The country is occupied by a foreign power.

  2. Its officials are appointed by that foreign power.

  3. Its citizens must carry ID cards.

  4. They must submit to searches of their persons and cars at
  checkpoints and roadblocks.

  5. They must be in their homes by curfew time.

  6. Many towns are ringed with barbed wire.

  7. The occupiers have imposed strict gun-control laws, preventing
  ordinary citizens from defending themselves making robberies, rapes,
  and assaults quite common.

  8. Trade with some countries is banned by the occupying authorities.

  9. The occupiers have decreed that certain electoral outcomes won't be
  permitted.

  10. Families are held hostage until they reveal the whereabouts of
  wanted resisters much like the Nazis held innocent French people
  hostage during World War II.

  11. Protests are outlawed.

  12. Private homes are raided or demolished with no due process of law.

  13. The occupiers have created a fiat currency and imposed it on the
  populace.

  14. Newspapers, radio stations, and TV are all supervised by the
  occupiers.

  This is liberation in the NewSpeak language of politics.
  Words like freedom just don't seem to mean what they used to, do
  they?

  Harry Browne was the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1996
  and 2000.

  He is now the Director of Public Policy for the American Liberty
  Foundation.
  You can read more of his articles at www.HarryBrowne.org

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