The actual state of the union and what President Bush has to say about it are two different things. In his opening remarks, he said the state of the union has never been stronger. Is that really true?
In the course of his presidency, America has gone from crisis to crisis. The nation has been plunged into wars in far off foreign lands. Iraq has been destroyed on the empty rhetoric of “weapons of mass destruction”. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. American soldiers have sent on a brutalising mission. Abu Ghraib has sent disturbing images around the world of a nation that does not practise what it preaches.
A new term, “enemy combatant”, which still has no real legal meaning has been coined to deprive prisoners of war of their rights and of due process, and even American citizens could be held as an enemy combatant.
Torture has been redefined. There is no such thing as American torture. It's only practised by foreign nations.
People have been kidnapped and sent to secret prisons in foreign countries by way of extraordinary rendition, beyond the control of any court of law.
The economy is in or is facing imminent recession. Many have lost their homes in the recent so-called sub-prime mortgage fiasco. The ordinary American has not been better off in terms of social security or medical care.
American power has never been stronger, but some might say that he state of the union is in a shambles.
In the course of his presidency, America has gone from crisis to crisis. The nation has been plunged into wars in far off foreign lands. Iraq has been destroyed on the empty rhetoric of “weapons of mass destruction”. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. American soldiers have sent on a brutalising mission. Abu Ghraib has sent disturbing images around the world of a nation that does not practise what it preaches.
A new term, “enemy combatant”, which still has no real legal meaning has been coined to deprive prisoners of war of their rights and of due process, and even American citizens could be held as an enemy combatant.
Torture has been redefined. There is no such thing as American torture. It's only practised by foreign nations.
People have been kidnapped and sent to secret prisons in foreign countries by way of extraordinary rendition, beyond the control of any court of law.
The economy is in or is facing imminent recession. Many have lost their homes in the recent so-called sub-prime mortgage fiasco. The ordinary American has not been better off in terms of social security or medical care.
American power has never been stronger, but some might say that he state of the union is in a shambles.
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