Bush's State of the Union: Billions for Endless War

George W. Bush's State of the Union Address, masked in
talk of "freedom" and "democracy," was an outline of a
brutal agenda of endless war, global empire, and the
destruction of what remains of basic social services.

The war against working people

Bush said, "First, we must be good stewards of this
economy, and renew the great institutions on which
millions of our fellow citizens rely." He followed this
with his promise to reduce or eliminate "more than 150
government programs."

These cuts are part of the neocon agenda to roll back
every gain made by working people in this country. In a
period of growing unemployment and rising cost of living,
the Bush agenda is to slash spending for education,
housing, and healthcare, as it is asking for yet another
$80 billion to finance the war against the people of Iraq.

More than $150 billion has been spent on the war;
meanwhile hospitals are being shut down, schools are
overcrowded, jobs are disappearing and state and local
budgets are facing enormous deficits. Under the Bush
Administration, there is simply no money available to meet
human needs.

These cuts come at a time when working people are watching
their loved ones die in Iraq in increasing numbers. The
more than 1400 soldiers who have died are not the children
of Wall Street executives and neocon warmongers; they are
the children of the inner cities and poor communities,
forced into military service by the poverty draft.

Bush then outlined his plan to privatize the Social
Security System, justifying it with the outright
fabrication that the system is facing bankruptcy. The
truth is that Social Security is not in deficit, not now
and not for at least the next forty years. The trust fund
will have a surplus next year of $1.8 trillion. In 2011
when the baby boomer generation will start retiring in
large numbers, the surplus will be $3.2 trillion. These
surpluses, plus future payroll-tax revenue, are sufficient
to maintain the current level of benefits through 2042,
according to the Social Security fund's very conservative
actuaries.

The hype about Social Security "going broke" is a myth
being created by the Wall Street profiteers behind the
Bush Administration who want to destroy the public's
confidence in Social Security. This is a sales pitch to
convince the public to spend over $2 trillion to create a
separate system to divert Social Security funds into the
stock market--including giving nearly $1 trillion to the
Wall Street firms to manage the new individual accounts.
This plan, while benefiting private investment firms,
would force cuts in benefits and result in raising the
retirement age, both of which Bush admitted were "on the
table." Furthermore, it would place the retirement
benefits of millions of people at risk, subject to the
fluctuations of a volatile and uncertain stock market.

Increased Repression

Bush said, "We will pass along to our children all the
freedoms we enjoy, and chief among them is freedom from
fear." Yet all he is selling is fear and repression.

He promised to fight for a constitutional amendment to ban
same-sex marriage--part of a fundamentalist hate campaign
to deny basic human rights to members of the Lesbian, Gay,
Bi and Transgendered community.

Bush also promised to continue his war against people of
color by "taking on gang life," conservative code words
for increased racial profiling and police brutality.

In all of his talk of freedom and democracy, he did not
once mention the Patriot Act, which undermines every
single right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Nor did he
disavow his Administration's policy of illegal detentions
and torture.

Iraq: Permanent Occupation

Bush hailed the phony election in Iraq as a triumph for
democracy. To put this election, held under occupation,
in perspective, it is helpful to remember another
election, also held under occupation, 38 years ago:

On September 4, 1967, the New York Times carried the
headline, "U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote: Officials
Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror."

The article said, "United State officials were surprised
and heartened today at the size of turnout in South
Vietnam's presidential election...The hope here is that
the new government will be able to maneuver with a
confidence and legitimacy long lacking in South Vietnamese
politics. That hope could have been dashed either by a
small turnout, indicating widespread scorn or a lack of
interest in constitutional development, or by the
Vietcong's disruption of the balloting."

At the time the election took place, the U.S. had hundreds
of thousands of troops in Vietnam. The U.S. was carpet
bombing, dropping napalm, and assassinating activists as
part of its infamous Operation Phoenix. Yet it was able
to organize a phony election and convince the media to
report that the election was a turning point in the effort
to legitimize the war.

This attempt to legitimize the war and occupation of
Vietnam was an abject failure. The election was followed
by the Tet offensive, a massive popular uprising against
occupation forces. The war lasted another 7 ½ years, with
most of the 50,000 U.S. casualties coming after the
election.

Today, the Bush Administration is bringing "democracy" to
Iraq with bombs, bullets, depleted uranium weapons, and
the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib. More than 100,000
Iraqis have been killed. Fallujah, a historic city, has
been destroyed.

This election will only result in greater frustration and
anger from the Iraqi people. Whatever the actual size of
the turnout was, the overriding expectation of those who
voted was that the election would lead to an end to the
occupation of their country. When they realize that the
Bush has no plans to end the occupation, this frustration
will fuel an already widespread resistance.

But Bush said, "We will not set an artificial timetable
for leaving Iraq," because the Administration plans are
for permanent occupation. The neocon cabal surrounding
Bush has long planned a permanent military occupation of
the region, to control the supply of oil and to use as a
base to launch offensive operations against other nations,
like Syria and Iran. The Pentagon is constructing 14
permanent military bases--Bush will not set a timetable
because he has no intention of ending the occupation ever.
U.S. corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel, which
have already made billions in profits, plan to solidify
their grip on the Iraqi economy, particularly its vast oil
reserves.

Endless War

In addition to the continued occupation of Iraq, Bush
listed new targets for U.S. aggression. Using the
now-familiar and discredited accusation of possessing
weapons of mass destruction, Bush made it clear that the
people of Iran, Syria, and North Korea will suffer the
same fate as the people of Iraq if he has his way.

He swore that we must "confront regimes that continue to
harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder."
This same justification, proven to be an outright lie,
was used for the war against Iraq. In Bush language, this
means the intent to attack any country, anywhere, if it
serves the interests of U.S. corporate Empire.

The U.S. government, in the words of Martin Luther King,
Jr., is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”
Its death squads are at work in Colombia. The city of
Miami is a base for terrorist attacks against the people
of Cuba. The U.S. maintains the world’s largest stockpile
of weapons of mass destruction: illegal chemical,
biological, and nuclear weapons.

March 19: Troops Out Now!

Bush concluded his speech with a quote from Franklin
Roosevelt: "Each age is a dream that is dying or one that
is coming to birth." In reality, the dream of the Bush
Administration is a nightmare for working people
everywhere--a dream of global empire, permanent war, and
the destruction of all social programs.

Those who have other dreams must continue to mobilize to
stop the Bush Administration. On the weekend of March 19,
the second anniversary of the beginning of Bush's campaign
of shock and awe against the people of Iraq, the global
antiwar movement will be in the streets to demand an end
to the occupation.

The Troops Out Now Coalition, of which the International
Action Center is a member, supports the calls for actions
throughout the world. In New York City, tens of thousands
will march and converge on Central Park, in a massive,
united regional demonstration to demand the immediate,
complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all occupation
troops from Iraq. The anti-war movement will demand money
for jobs, education and healthcare, not for war and
occupation. Activists are coming from all over the eastern
U.S. to march against endless war, repression, and
corporate greed.

Bush has outlined a plan of attack against working people
everywhere--now is the time for us to respond with a
renewed level of commitment and unity. We need your help
to make March 19 a success.