Free Speech Scares White House

One of the ironic, or hypocritical, aspects to the Bush administration's profession of love for liberty, freedom, and democracy overseas is how much they apparently despise it when it takes place in the United States.

The recent decision to attempt to silence, or counteract, former military personnel over the administration's failed Iraq policy is only the latest example of an administration that came to power by short circuiting democracy and has worked to curb freedoms over the past five years.

In the past, when a Democrat such as John Kerry would criticize the administration over Iraq, they would face attacks on their patriotism and intelligence, such as Zell Miller did in a truly disgusting and dishonest speech at the Republican Convention in 2004.

But today the administration is faced with a growing chorus of criticism from former military officers, some of whom served in Iraq and saw first hand the folly of implementing a plan by people who didn't understand the situation and didn't care to understand the situation.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said he believes that the administration's handling of the Iraq war has violated fundamental military principles, such as unity of command and unity of effort.

A number of people have pointed out the comparison with Vietnam when the military kept quiet and saw a war disintegrate. Apparently not wanting that to happen again, several retired officers are speaking out.

Maybe they believe that if more people like John Kerry had spoken up during the Vietnam War, fewer Americans would have died. And that prospects probably scares the Administration. Just imagine if someone in the media were to put 2 and 2 together and figure that out then Kerry's Vietnam criticism could be viewed in a whole new light and his current views would also gain credibility.

And who wants to be in office when everyone knows the other guy would be a better president. Nearly half the country figured that out long ago, the worry for the White House is that more than half might now have figured it out. Look what a recent poll found out:

Unhappiness with Bush is so pervasive that 49 percent of registered voters say they would vote for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry if the 2004 presidential election were held today, to 39 percent who say they would vote for the president.