by BRUCE A. DIXON
Who says there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats in the White House? Imagine for a moment that the announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death had come four years earlier, while George W. Bush was still president.
Having already used the top-gun carrier landing stunt for his 2003 “mission accomplished” speech, president Bush might have had himself lowered to the announcement scene by cable from a helicopter at one of the more than one thousand US military bases worldwide. With Vice President Dick Cheney hovering at some undisclosed location the president, Bush would declare yet another battlefield victory in the global war on terror. Bin Laden’s body, the president might say, was promptly buried at sea within hours of his death in accordance with Muslim tradition. Minister of Fear Tom Ridge would elevate the national alert level to pale orange. Military and intelligence officials would insist that the killing of Bin Laden proves that “torture works.” At the Pentagon Secretary of War Robert Gates, in consultation with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might advise withholding any photographs of the corpse, and security would be increased at US embassies and installations around the world.
Instead Barack Obama made the announcement solemnly, sternly and alone at the White House. There were no references to “smokin’ him out” or “mission accomplished,” no ridiculous color-coded alerts, nor references to a “war on terror.” Speaking from an undisclosed location, former vice president Dick Cheney congratulated President Obama, who announced that Bin Laden’s body had been buried at sea shortly after his death, according to Muslim tradition. While Republicans in Congress tweet that “torture works,” military and intelligence officials who ordered and supervised torture such as General Petreaus, are quietly promoted. At the Pentagon, Secretary of War Robert Gates, consulting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly decline to release photographs of the corpse. Security was increased at US embassies and installations around the world.
The real difference between Republicans and Democrats in a case like this isn’t in how the White House would act. The difference is how rank and file Democrats, the so-called antiwar movement choose to react. If this were 2006 or 2007, many would recall the widespread news reports of Bin Laden’s death back in December of 2001, and the fact that Bin Laden audio or video tapes had a habit of emerging at incredibly convenient times for the Bush administration, like the eve of the 2004 election. Why should a government and military establishment, antiwar activists would wonder aloud, that told hundreds of well-documented lies to get us into Iraq alone be trusted to tell the truth now?
The difference is, those are questions that don’t get asked with a Democrat in the White House. Democrat Barack Obama doesn’t just start with a clean slate. Thanks to the president’s bipartisan and visionary policy of “looking forward, not back” atrocities and crimes of administrations past are forgiven and forgotten, and all the excuses offered for them enshrined as unquestioned historical fact. The Pentagon says they killed Bin Laden in a weekend firefight, won’t show pictures and dumped the body at sea. That’s it and that’s all. Unless another courageous soldier like Bradley Manning comes forth, we’ll never know any different, end of story.
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