Bush Adopts Classic Characteristics of Tyrants

By Sherwood Ross

Increasingly, President Bush is demonstrating how much he has in common with history’s tyrants. Here are 10 areas worth examining for their similarities:

First, tyrants believe themselves superior to others. Hitler considered Germans “the master race.” President Bush and his backers would deny it, but their actions show they think they are inherently superior. Republicans at their Convention jeered the mention of the United Nations. Bush rejects the global warming treaty and his wars and torture violates The Hague Regulations, the Nuremberg Charter, and the Four Geneva Conventions. They are above the laws, get it?

Domestically, Republicans seek to legalize the status of lesbians and gays as inferiors. Bush’s hatchet men impugned Senator Kerry’s Vietnam War record just as the Nazis claimed Jewish veterans did not deserve the medals they won in World War One. In short, Bush and his backers demonize their opponents as inferiors.

Second, tyrants tend to be congenital liars. Bush lied about Iraq’s threat to America just as Hitler lied when he claimed German nationals living in Czechoslovakia were mistreated. His claim Poland attacked Germany first in 1939 was also a lie. The UN told Bush there was no WMD in Iraq, yet Bush made war. As many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians may be dead because of it. Bush also lied when he claimed “we do not torture” prisoners of war. And he fires government employees for who tell the truth.

Third, tyrants will use a “crisis” to grab total power. After the massacre of 9/11, President Bush pushed through the Patriot Act. Recall 1933, when Hitler declared a “state of national emergency” after the Reichstag (Parliament) fire, which likely was set by the Nazis. The new law gives Bush the power to arrest any American citizen. Of the thousands of prisoners in U.S. custody, few have been allowed lawyers and few, if any, trial dates been set for them. The rule of law is dying.

Fourth, dictators torture. President Bush has named as Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, the man who rationalized the torture of captives. The U.S. is also flying prisoners to like-minded dictatorships for torture and/or to hide them from Red Cross oversight. Bush has turned back the clock to the Spanish Inquisition.

Fifth, dictators tend to make serial wars. Soviet Russia’s Stalin attacked Finland, Poland, and Hungary. Japan struck Korea, Manchuria, China, America, and U.K. One war is never enough for a tyrant. Recall Napoleon invaded nations to liberate them from kings, only to put his relatives on their thrones. Having set Iraq ablaze, Bush now threatens Syria, Iran and North Korea. He reveals his own nature by vilifying his enemies as the “Axis of Evil.”

Sixth, dictators are notorious for their closed mindedness. They ignore their critics. Japan and Germany walked out of the League of Nations rather than rectify their conduct. Bush doesn’t listen to critics, either. The Pope denounced America’s war on Iraq as immoral. The UN Secretary-General called it "illegal." Millions the world over protested it. And a majority of Americans call it wrong but Bush ignores them and is destroying Iraq.

Seventh, huge military spending is characteristic of tyrannies. In the Thirties, Germany, Japan and Soviet Russia lavished a high percentage of their gross national product on their war machines. Today, America spends more on armaments than all other nations combined. Dictators tend to be indifferent to the human needs of their publics. Bush proposes funding cuts from education to housing to Social Security to veterans’ benefits. But the Pentagon’s budget is at a record high.

Eighth, tyrants don’t respect the sovereignty of other nations. Bush rationalized his attack on Iraq as “preventive war” -- a euphemism for “aggression.” Bush has given the Pentagon a green light to drop troops secretly into other countries and has already done so in Iran. The Pentagon operates 700 military bases in 130 countries and refuses to leave Okinawa and Greenland despite outcries from their citizens.

Ninth, tyrants have double standards. Bush declares he’s for “freedom” but forges alliances with the heads of Saudi Arabia, and former Soviet Republics where citizens have zero rights. He warns Iran against making a nuclear bomb while he scraps non-proliferation treaties to make America’s nuclear arsenal more lethal. Bush indicts Iran, which spends $4-billion a year on arms, while he spends $500-billion. He warns Iran might make a nuclear bomb while he has 10,000.

Tenth, dictatorships engage in outright suppression or manipulation of the news. The Bush Administration has paid off newsmen to plug its achievements, sent out video press releases disguised as news stories, is spending $300-million to bribe Iraqi journalists, and had even planted a phony journalist in his press conferences. In short: George Bush is turning this country into an aggressive, totalitarian state. Wake up, America!

(Sherwood Ross, who writes on historical subjects for national magazines, is Founder, League for Nonviolent Solutions. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com )
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