A picture may be worth a thousand words, but three pictures can be priceless.  Two pictures appeared in today’s newspaper. And they made me sick. The third picture, on another page, made me damn proud to be an American.

The Smirk was on the face of Paul Wolfowitz, presently top dog at the World Bank, who was rewarded with the job by Emperor Bush II for exemplary service rendered. What service did he render? He rigorously underestimated the difficulty in defeating Iraq, and is now in the process of losing his gratuitous gig because of an unethical lapse involving a huge salary for his girl friend. I suppose if I were the World Bank president and could give my girl friend a big chunk of cash for “services” rendered, I’d be wearing a smirk too; even if I couldn’t get away with it. Keep the faith, Wolfie.

The Lips, same page, second picture, belongs to none other than our friendly Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, now on the congressional hot seat. Alberto’s lips are tightly squeezed together in kind of a shut-tight pucker reminiscent of his facial occlusion when asked a tough question; or his string of “I can’t recalls”, indicating a common form of political amnesia; or his egregious, skin-saving tactic of blaming associates for not keeping him informed. I write resumes, Gonzie.

The Truth was not on the face of Rep. Ron Paul, nor was it is his eyes. No, the truth was in Ron Paul’s mouth, and when it came out it startled the nation, prompted a neocon gag-bang, and made his colleagues in Congress dampen their drawers.

What Ron Paul said was so shocking that politicians on both sides of the aisle, and beyond. have been fumbling with ways to either refute what Paul had said, or demand an apology, or nervously laugh it off, or Super Glue his mouth shut. None of the above will work, however, because it’s too late. Now the cat is out of the bag and there’s little chance of collaring the critter and stuffing it back in.

The fact is, Ron Paul’s most devastating statement, revealed in the Blitzer and Dobbs interviews, was so unexpected that Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.--- considered by many, the Dean of Alternative News---wrote a “must-read” article with a title that was stunning in its brevity: RON PAUL SAID IT.

And what on earth did Ron Paul say that had the political explosive power of an H-Bomb?  Without stealing any of Rockwell’s words or Ron Paul’s thunder, I will give you what Paul said, and as many quotes as space allows, and you’ll know immediately why his statement made him a marked man---albeit a poll winner---because it was a truth that nobody until then had dared to voice.

“I think the Republican party has lost its way,” said Paul. “It is the advice of the Founding Fathers to follow a non-interventionist foreign policy, stay out of entangling alliances, be friends with countries, negotiate and talk with them and trade with them.”

Paul was then asked if 9/11 had changed anything.

Paul’s answer: “The U.S. foreign policy was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attacked us because we’ve been over there, bombing Iraq of 10 years. We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent American bases. What would we say if China were doing this in our country?”

Responding to Rudy Giuliani’s charge that we invited the 9/11 attack because we were attacking Ira was a “pretty absurd explanation for September 11th”, Ron Paul’s answer was: “I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the shah, yes, there was a blowback. A reaction to that was the taking of our hostages and that persists. And if we ignore that we ignore that our own risk, If we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem. They don’t come here to attack us because we’re rich and we’re free. They come back and they attack us because we’re over there. I mean, what would we think if other foreign countries were doing that to us?”

There it is, Rockwell tells us, this “shocking” theory is finally out in the open: the terrorists were not just freedom-hating madmen, as we are being told, but perhaps had some actual motive for their crime. And that motive, as stated by Ron Paul, is not hard to uncover, unless of course, you have a motive not to uncover it.

Rockwell finishes his article with this thought: “Now, I know that this is a lot for the tender ears of Americans to take; who like to think that their government reflects their own values of faith, freedom and friendliness. The U.S. Government is the enemy of the American people and their values. It is not peaceful, it is not friendly, it is not motivated by the Christian faith, but rather power and imperial lust.”

Come to think of it, I’m glad Ron Paul’s picture wasn’t on the same page of the newspaper with Wolfowitz and Gonzales. They don’t deserve his company.

James T. Moore
http://jamestmoore.us/