Suspect Spotted in Abu Dhabi, Considered Armed and Dangerous

Federal and state authorities are hotly pursuing an alleged rapist/killer Marine on the run in some southeastern state. Updates on the search crawl under the CNN feed all day. Meanwhile, the screen displays a different sort of heinous American criminal, at large in, of all places, Abu Dhabi. This one, unfortunately, is unlikely to be apprehended anytime soon.

Our Commander in Chief has been striding around the Middle East talking exactly like a man whose opinion carries some Solomonic weight, not like somebody who spent the last four years waging a "war on terror" that killed hundreds of thousands of Arab civilians and displaced millions more.

Dead civilians is the first and worst charge, real felonies if the world justice system worked. Add in the civil claims against him: squandering of international trust and belief in America, domestic economic wreckage, the revolting trampling of civil rights, the thieving of the treasury by no-bid cronies, and the unleashing of a grisly, vicious war that has (read yesterday's gutsy New York Times report) made psychotic killers of our own young men, and we have a world-class criminal, on the loose.

That he chose to hide in plain sight in the Middle East is especially brazen. Working in Jerusalem in October, I drove into Bethlehem. I'm not religious, so I didn't expect to feel any sort of emotion at the gates to the historic city. The City of Peace's façade now looks exactly like a state prison, say in Joliet or Attica: looming, impenetrable gray walls, guard towers, barbed wire, men with machine guns patrolling the perimeter. Did Bush, the self-proclaimed believer, making his pilgrimage to the place of Christ's birth, notice that Bethlehem is a concentration camp? Does he even know that that sad wall went up on his watch, during which Israeli and Palestinian moderates were given no help or encouragement from his regime?

Old habits of giving the benefit of the doubt to national leaders die hard. Much like Napoleon Bonaparte's farcical proclamation of victory after failing to violently force European-style "democracy" on the Arabs in Egypt two hundred years ago (the setting and subject of my new book Mirage), Bush's too-little, too-late activity in the Middle East is a PR stunt that incredibly seems to be diverting the world from calling him out on his crimes.

In 1800, when the great French general skulked back to France, leaving his army behind to fend for themselves against plague, and Ottoman and jihadi sword, there was no radio, no CNN, no satellite phone service to relay pictures of the suffering of occupier and inhabitant alike. The defeated general was able to proclaim victory in the Orient and install himself as pro-consul, to a populace happily unburdened by the facts.

Our criminal suspect swaggers through the Middle East, cameras flashing, shaking hands with oil potentates and bruised and beaten Palestinians alike (those who will shake his hand, anyway) and the press covers it like a meaningful diplomatic victory lap, instead of what it actually is: a loser's PR tour in a part of the world where the absence of civil liberties plays in his favor. With potential protestors clamped down, he can put a gloss on seven years of illegal, disastrous policy and kleptocracy.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere," our suspect opined, in broad daylight, from a podium in Abu Dhabi. Actually, as his audience knew, but for fear of the mighty war machine he wields, could not say, the dubious-looking fellow at the podium has threatened the security of nations everywhere, not least of all our own.

And, no one, but no one, is bringing him to justice.

Comments

[longhaul]

To compare our president to a rapist murderer who bashed in the skull of his victim then burned her remains is sensational at the least. Our commander in chief was put there by the greatest number of American votes ever, as this is the case aren't we all responsible for the actions he takes on our behalf. If those of you who really beleive the President is a criminal only wag your tongues and scratch your pens, you are more guilty then he for you know what is wrong and do almost nothing about it.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

Hey I here Cheney is going to retire (escape?) there to count his vats of stolen money. Do we have an extradition agreement with this country?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, they don't call the United States the Great Satan for nothing, now, if they'd just stop calling and asking for money...

[Archie1955]

Believe hard enough and Justice will prevail. Perhaps in the near future you will have a truly law abiding government in the U.S. and then Mr. Bush will meet his Waterloo in the form of a war crimes tribunal. Good people can hardly wait.

[Danny]

Rachel Maddow on Air America tonight quoted a United Arab Emirates newspaper editorial that catalogued the crimes of the Bush admin, and what nerve he has to come and lecture them about democracy. I wish I had the link.
I think the rest of the world has moved on beyond Bush. Why can't we investigate and impeach Bush and Cheney for the mountain of crimes that the rest of the world sees plainly, but that most of the U.S. population because of the bush-loving corporate media can't see?

[lungfish]

Good article. Dubyas commentary to Olmert about not believing the NIE fits right in with all the rest of your imagery.

He is a criminal who was aided and abetted both directly by many known players in the PNAC playbook and indirectly by politicians who were more concerned with their political careers than their principles.

I have yet to see a "vengence" plank in any of the potential nominees platforms. Just a few placating comments here and there. If a candidate would stand up and declare that they would pursue accountability for the good of the national image rather than not do so "for the good of the country" I would be very likely to vote for that individual. That is how important I feel accountability is to repairing our image abroad and our morale at home.

Rep Wexlars effort is the best one at present... good luck to him there.

Look forward to reading your book on Napolean, sounds interesting.

[Raven]

Don't worry Nina. Justice will find him.

Could it be that's the Penguin's plan, anyway, sending the idiot off to say hey look at me, I'm the one you hate.

If he's brazenly setting himself up as a target, it's not without Cheney's knowledge and bidding.

Now, I wonder why he would want to do that?

[mommadona]

This man is DARING someone to stop him.
It's what a mentally unstable person does.
They act out.

This man is mentally unhinged.
This man truly believes he is the 'Chosen One'.

This man is a danger to society and needs to be committed for our safety.

There is no way this country can deal with this type of mental incompetence in such a place of responsibility and unbridled power.

[mjjcpa]

I'm sick of you liberals claiming our military is killing civilians at the behest of our President. By that argument George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill and FDR are also war criminals. They are all in fact great leaders who faced the challenges of our times with vision not approval polls. We are not invaders in Iraq, but liberators with an open checkbook where the currency is not only measured in dollars but pints of blood. Someday the planet will thank President Bush and recognize those who supported the founding father of the 21st century.

[Hoelder]

The worst argument after the re - election of Bush was that the American people want him to finish the job. Obviously that is inherently stupid. Unfortunately for us, the simple minded myopic voters in "Red States" clearly should get their fair share of the disaster. I am very depressed about the fact that the resulting chaos will be pinned on the Democrats and not on Farmer Joe, whose vote was bought by Corn subsidies. Then in the end, the Arab mother who lost her children in an American bomb attack will not distinguish between Democrats and Republicans, just American Devils.

[StarBanker]

"killed hundreds of thousands Arab civilians"

If only! I can always count on Huff to brighten my day. It is always nice to know that your intellectual enemies are out of ammunition, if not completely out of their mind. My suggestion Nina is this, if your friends in whatever echo chamber you live in aren't willing to tell you that you've jumped the shark long ago, they aren't friends.

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Sad, isn't it? Crime after crime after terrible crime has been committed under the "great" decider's "watch," yet not a damn thing is being done about it.

It almost makes me lose hope....ALMOST. Karma is a bitch that I cannot wait for George W. Bush to meet, and I, for one, am convinced that he'll meet her eventually.

[paixa3]

George is so dumb, he would not understand your headline.

He is a dolt; zip; evil; daft; evil.

[Iownpeterbilt]

It is increasingly looking like the Suspect in Chief-aka the Decider in Chief, has determined that Iran is also expendable.
It is almost a forgone conclusion that either the U.S. with Olnerts blessings or Israel with Shrubs blessings will attack!!!!!!!!

[brutus948]

great article. This whole trip is about greed. Is about getting the puppets that we have in power in ME to buy our weapons by making iran the boogy man for them to be afraid of. We sell them billions of dollars in weapons and then watch those weapons be used against our own children in a couple of decades.