Trouble: Ghana’s Worsening Economic Situation

Seth Tekper, Ghanaian Minister of Finance

Weak government revenues heighten the risk of delayed payments to contractors and further tax increases in various sectors, including banking, telecommunications, mining, hotels, and oil and gas, as well as the possibility of civil unrest over the removal of fuel subsidies. The Ghanaian government is struggling to bring down its deficit and inflation, and stem the depreciation of its currency, the cedi. The country's deteriorating economic situation is likely to spill over into 2014. Sporadic protests and tax increases are likely, including extension of the 5% stabilisation levy beyond the 18-month period.

According to the Ghanaian central bank's most recent forecast, export revenues are likely to fall in the last quarter of 2013 in the face of weak global commodity prices. Government revenues declined by 17% below the USD5.7-billion target as a result of falling gold and cocoa prices, and weak domestic revenue collection. Production at the Jubilee Oil Field, which currently stands at 110,000 barrels per day against a budget target of 83,000 barrels per day, has not been enough to offset the revenue decline. In October 2013, Finance Minister Seth Terkper raised concerns that weak commodity prices would undermine the government's ability to cut the budget deficit to 9% of GDP and stem inflation, which is rising above 10%.

The country's public-sector wage bill, which supports over 500,000 workers on the government payroll, has increased from around 35% of domestic revenue collection in 2008 to 73% in August 2013. The shortfall in revenue is likely to spill over into the first quarter of 2014 as government expenditure remains elevated and current fiscal consolidation plans face challenges. The government's measures to boost revenue in 2014 increase the risk of higher taxation, payment delays to contractors, and lifting of subsidies, as well as of freezing public salary increases, with the latter two moves likely to drive strikes, sit-ins, and street protests.

Non-payment risks
Ghana's stock of public debt increased to GHC43.9 billion (USD20 billion 49.5% of GDP) at the end of August 2013, up from GHC35.1 billion in December 2012. Of this, the domestic component amounted to GHC24 billion, compared to GHC18.5 billion in December 2012. External debt stood at USD10.2 billion, up from USD8.8 billion in December 2012. However, Finance Minister Seth Tekper contends that the country's external debt is not out of control, saying that "since its recalculation or rebasing, the nominal GDP has risen from USD17.5 billion to almost USD40 billion". The minister's statement suggests that Ghana is far from experiencing fiscal distress. Nonetheless, servicing the debts is likely to put further pressure on budget.

Reasons for the growing deficit include a high public wage bill, weak export revenue, interest costs, and declining tax revenue, with the central bank reporting a 15.4% projected decline in revenues between July 2012 and August 2013. Growing corruption in the public sector  in particular the tax and customs departments  is considered a factor undermining tax collection. The government continues to overrun wages, interest costs, and arrears, and has already stated it is likely to exceed the 9% budget deficit target. On 17 October 2013, Information Minister Felix Ofosu Kwakye disclosed that the country's wage bill would likely climb by 22.22% to USD4.13 billion by December 2013. As at August 2013, the government's foreign reserves could cover 2.7 months of imports.

The government expects foreign reserves to increase with the USD1.2-billion loan by COCOBOD and the USD750-million Eurobond. Against the backdrop of the current liquidity issues, which are likely to persist until the first quarter 2014, the level of non-payment risks, especially to government contractors, remains very high. In June 2013, construction work on the Atuabo gas plant was suspended due to a payment delay of over USD400 million to contractors. The risk of outright default on debt payments by the government is very low. Furthermore, it is likely to impose stringent measures to curtail profit repatriation and transactions in hard currencies to curtail the pressure on the cedi. In the past, the telecom sector was singled out by the government due to its weekly foreign-exchange remittances.

Taxation risks
The need to reduce the budget deficit and finance capital-intensive infrastructure projects has led to calls for higher taxes, the curtailment of the government's recurrent expenditures, and the intensification of tax collection. In July 2013, the government reintroduced a 5% fiscal stabilisation levy for 18 months on the profits of companies in the banking, insurance, breweries, mining, and communications sectors. A 20% import tax was imposed on the sale of mobile telephones, and an extra 8% withholding tax on rental income was also re-introduced. The government renamed its Communication Service Tax as excise tax in a compromise for scrapping a proposal to tax all incoming international calls.

The government is likely to introduce further taxes and excise duties in 2014. Oil firms are expected to face higher tax demands, except for riskier projects further offshore. The government has started to employ ring-fencing strategies in the oil sector where costs in one contract area are not allowed to be offset against profits from another in determining chargeable income for tax administration purposes. However, in the mining sector, weak global commodity prices and the reintroduction of the 5% fiscal stabilisation levy are likely to lead to further delay (or put on hold indefinitely) plans for a proposed 10% windfall profit tax on mining firms. Foreign firms are likely to face greater scrutiny to increase their tax contributions. The government has insisted that tax evaders will be fined or have their operating licences withdrawn, though we assess the former to be more likely.

Civil unrest
On 29 October 2013, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana announced plans to hold public-sector-wide strike action on 18 November if the government refused to reverse the recent increases in utility tariffs. The government averted a TUC-led strike by reinstating some subsidies and reducing fuel prices by 20% in February 2013.

The TUC is made up of about 18 affiliate unions, including the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), the Mine Workers Union (MWU), and the Maritime and Dockworkers Union (MDU).The risk of strikes in the mining and maritime sectors is low as the MWU and MDU are unlikely to join the call for action by the TUC. The sectors most likely to be affected by strikes are education, health, railways, and local government. Many of these sectors embarked on strikes earlier this year to press home demands for the payment of allowances and arrears. In September 2013, members of the Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (TEWU) embarked on a four-week indefinite strike, which was suspended for two weeks following intervention by the National Security Co-ordinator and the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities.

The likelihood of the TUC strike action taking place on 18 November has increased following the stalling of negotiations between unions and the government. A mitigating factor is the fragmented nature of the TUC's leadership amid accusations that its leadership has been engaged in fighting a proxy war between the ruling party and the main opposition. The government has been accused of being complicit in attempts to break the ranks of the unions by buying off their leadership.

Outlook and Implications
In the six-month outlook, it is highly unlikely that the government will be able to reduce the budget deficit to 9% and inflation to single digits. The government's challenging financial situation is likely to stretch into the first half of 2014 as global commodity prices continue to stagnate. Weak government revenues create risks of delayed payments and further tax increases in various sectors, including banking, telecommunications, mining, hotels, and oil and gas. It is very likely that the government will extend the 5% stabilisation levy beyond the 18-month period.

The government's attempt to cut the public-sector payroll is likely to drive public protests by organised labour groups. The current state of public finances leaves the government with little or no room to make any concession to organised labour as this will further deepen the fast-deteriorating budget deficit position. Moreover, a review of workers' salaries and general working conditions will be conducted in January 2014 and it is likely that there will be a call for public-sector wage increases to counter rising inflation.

In the event of any strike action, it is likely to be largely peaceful in the form of sit-in and marches. Traffic disruptions are likely in the case of peaceful marches on the main streets of the central business district area of Accra. The risk of these peaceful protests degenerating into rioting will increase if union members loyal to the opposition take over the organisation of public marches. Protests in front of government ministries pose a risk of riot police dispersing protestors using teargas and batons, while running street battles between riot police and protestors will expose bystanders to collateral harm from protestors' projectiles and teargas canisters. However, the risk of rioting exceeding one day and causing disruption to cargo and significant property damage is moderate.

Editorial

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

The Insight welcomes Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom into the ranks of those fighting to save the Achimota Forest from the hands of environmental wreckers.

Dr Nduom like us insists that Achimota Forest must remain a forest and nothing more.

The Insight also takes note of the very positive comments made by Nana Akomea, former communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) urging Government to abandon plans to destroy the forest.

 We are particularly shocked that this reckless move to destroy the Achimota Forest is led by none other than the Forestry Commission itself.

The time has come for all Ghanaians to stand up against all the forces which appear hell bent on destroying the environment.

There can be no compromise in the struggle to save the Achimota Forest.

We salute Dr Nduom for joining our ranks.

GOVERNMENT HALTS WINDFALL TAX

Gold Bars

By Maxwell Ofori

The Government of Ghana has buckled under pressure by mining companies and decided that it will no longer impose the windfall tax.

 In the 2013 budget, the Government announced that it would levy a 10 per cent tax on profits of mining companies by the end of the year.

 However, the mining firms warned that the imposition of the tax would discourage future investments.

 Ghana earns only five percent of the total value of gold exported from its shores.

At the time, government insisted that the tax is one of several steps to rake in more revenue from the profits of the mining companies.

 The companies say the definition of windfall profits is unclear and worry that they are being over taxed.

 Dr Edward Larbi-Siaw, Tax policy advisor at the Ministry of Finance told “Joy Business” that Government beat a retreat because of “concerns by players in the industry”.

He said “When there is no windfall you can’t tax”

“May be the mines beat us to it, in fact I went a to a certain meeting when they were arguing that our windfall profit tax is structured that even if you make a loss you will pay then I said but what’s the meaning of windfall profit, there is nothing like a loss?” he said 

NDUOM IS ANGRY

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom

Public anger at the decision of the Forestry Commission to transform the Achimota Forest into an amusement park is growing and the latest to join the fray is Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum, former Presidential candidate of the Progressive People Party (CPP).

Dr Nduom’s anger follows the disclosure that the Forestry Commission intends to spend US$322, 434 million on the building of the amusement centre.

 It will have a prayer centre, restaurants, a shopping mall, car parks, a drive safari, commercial enclaves and a culture village.

 The Insight which first broke the story said the project has received the endorsement of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

In a letter to President John Dramani Mahama, Dr Nduom said the “Achimota Forest must remain a forest”.

The Achimota Forest is the only forest belt in Accra and its destruction would adversely affect the geography of the capital city and its surroundings.

 Nana Akomea, former Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has also condemned the move.

Speaking on “Good Morning Ghana”, he said the government ought to take firm steps to protect the environment.

Iran’s Nuclear Talks: Theater of the Absurd

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani 

By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

For the umpteenth time, Iran and the P5+1 are holding talks to ‘resolve’ the impasse in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.   And for the umpteenth time, the absurdity of these meetings is reflected in the futile, repetitious, meaningless dialogue amidst threats and ultimatums. 

Feigned smiles and optimism add to the theatrics.   While theatrics are part and parcel of US foreign policy, surely one must wonder why the rest participate in this absurd political drama.

 The current negotiations, as with past talks, place a great deal of emphasis on Iran’s enrichment activities giving the impression that enrichment is at the crux of the matter. It is, as far as Iran goes, but this is not the whole narrative.   There is far more at stake in the outcome of these talks  - America’s power to shape and implement international treaties according to its whim.

Leading up to the latest round of negotiations, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman claimed that ““… it has always been the U.S. position that that article IV of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty does not speak about the right of enrichment at all [and] doesn’t speak to enrichment, period.”  (Eminent scholars have successfully argued that Iran has the right to enrich uranium under the Treaty).    This has not always been America’s ‘position’.

There is clear indication of a direct correlation between America’s ‘position’ on Article IV and the degree to which a nation is willing to comply with American demands.   In this case, during the rule of the Shah, one of America’s pet dictators, Iran had the right not recognized today. During the administration of President Ford National Security Decision Memorandum (NSDM) 292, dated April 22, 1975, stated that the U.S. shall “Permit U.S. materials to be fabricated into fuel in Iran for use in its own reactors and for pass-through to third countries with whom we have Agreement.”  

A year later, the United States went from giving its permission to enrich to demanding that Iran do so.  In NSDM 324, dated April 20, 1976, President Ford authorized the U.S. negotiating team to “Seek a strong political commitment from Iran to pursue the multinational/binational reprocessing plant concept, according the U.S. the opportunity to participate in the project.”    The United States was looking to make a profit from Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities.

However, the 1979 Iranian Revolution put an end to American plans and aspirations.  Iranians sent a clear message: Iran would no longer seek America’s “permission” to declare its rights under international treaties.    Iran’s insistence on reclaiming its sovereignty led to a decision by the United States to stop Iran’s nuclear program in its tracks  (and overthrow the regime).   It failed.

These negotiations are not about Iran, but they are centered on Iran.   The outcome of these talks is equally important to all countries, specifically to Russia and China –and to a lesser degree, Europe.  For the first time since the end of the Cold War, there is a perception of a shift away from the unipolar world.   At this fateful juncture, should America prevail in hijacking international law to suit its policies of the day (dictated by Israel), then all nations will be subjugated – including Russia and China.

Russia rises as world leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Many are the references in the speeches of US Presidents about the need to "lead the world", an arrogant and intrusive approach from those elected by a percentage of their own people and nobody else. Yet today, what has America's "leadership" led to, where has it led the USA and its allies, what is its standing in the hearts and minds of the international community?

The Helsinki Final Act, or Helsinki Declaration, of 1975, was perhaps the visible face of the stance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, looking for friendly relations with the West while it brought generations and millions of oppressed persons education, healthcare and decent public services, freeing them from the yoke of imperialist tyranny.

By 1989, the USSR was spending on average 250 billion dollars - a quarter of a trillion USD - on development projects overseas, implementing policies which guaranteed the right to basic services in countries where imperialism and colonialist policies had syphoned off the resources, placing corrupt political figures in power so as to guarantee the one-way direction of resource flow - outwards.

Scroll back seventy years, when the Russian Revolution was for the first time bringing backward societies into the front line of industrial development, guaranteeing housing, for free, free public utilities, free or heavily subsidized communications, subsidized public transportation, free primary and secondary education, free higher education, free healthcare, free dental treatment, zero unemployment, safety on the streets, security of the State, social mobility, indexed pensions, guaranteed basic foodstuffs, leisure time activities, free sports facilities, free cultural facilities... and back then we could already see the true mettle of the west.

The psyche of the United States of America, its poodle-in-chief, the UK and in turn the ex-colonies of London, principally Australia and the sickening clique of sycophants which crawl around, licking Washington's legs and feet - namely France and to varying degrees the NATO pack - is in essence Anglo-Saxonic, is based upon wanderlust, imposition of cultural values in a top-down, holier-than-thou approach which saw the same nations drawing lines on maps.

No sooner had the Soviet Revolution taken shape than there they were, interfering in the Russian Civil War, arming White Russians, fomenting bloodshed, in the most shocking act of intrusion. They lost because the Soviet peoples wanted the Revolution. Nobody asked them in 1989-1991 if they wanted to action the clause in the Soviet Constitution which gave the nations the option to withdraw voluntarily from the Union as the political leadership unilaterally tried an experiment - monetarist market economics.

With this experiment came calls to break up the Warsaw Pact, promises being delivered in a cynical fashion by NATO member state leaders that NATO would not encroach eastwards if the Warsaw Pact was folded. It was, and NATO did. To Poland, to the Czech Republic, to Slovakia, to Romania, to Bulgaria, to the Baltic States, forming a ring around Russian territory, a vice around Russia's throat. True, any concentration of NATO troops would be obliterated by a salvo of missiles so thick that it would blot out the Sun and a further salvo would send the States allowing such troops to build up on its territory back to the Paleolithic Era. However, the point is that NATO lied.

Like all liars, NATO has something to hide. It was patently obvious back in 1919, it has been patently obvious since then with its numerous imperialistic ventures, installation of Fascist repressive regimes, labeling progressive policies as dangerous when we see today that a "dangerous" label from NATO is in fact a humanitarian medal because those it derides have the best social political records.

With the USSR, there was a counter-weight to NATO's evil; after 1989-1991, there was a twenty-year gap while Russia found its feet. Now with Vladimir Putin back at the helm, we see Russia today is calling the shots, while Washington flounders in the excrement of its own policy-making - Iraq, today a failed state and far worse off than it was under President Hussein, ditto Libya, where Muammar al-Qathafi was to receive a UN prize in 2011 and which was leading the human development indices for Africa.

The Taleban was to all intents and purposes a failed CIA experiment, Operation Condor turned Latin America against the United States of America, Cuba comes across as the poor little good guy, successfully implementing socially progressive policies and even exporting excellent education and healthcare policies abroad despite an inhumane economic blockade imposed by the worst perpetrator of human rights records on the island - the USA and its Guantanamo Bay torture camp.

Yet this comes after the CIA torture flights, it comes after Abu Ghraib and it comes with Syria, where the west's support for terrorists has destabilized vast swathes of territory, where the west's darling "rebels" have committed the most shocking human rights abuses, including decapitation of children and where the west's darling terrorists have used chemical weaponry, trying to blame this on president Assad.

The fact that the FUKUS Axis (France-UK-US) jumped to conclusions so early after months of trying to incriminate President Assad, and the fact that Russia so masterfully managed to stop NATO's next little war, speaks volumes about where Washington and its poodles, and Moscow, stand today in the hearts and minds of the international community.

The former come across as greedy, interfering warmongers without one iota of moral values, underlining their collective history of massacres of innocent people striving only to preserve their freedom, and the latter comes across as a balanced and responsible member of the international community, backed up by the BRIC block and countless other member states of the UNO increasingly sick and tired of Paris, London and Washington, the FUKUS Axis.

Today we can understand that the Cold War was about the West trying to paint a grey picture of the USSR, yet in this the West has failed miserably. Soviet values and ideals - fraternity, peace, respect for sovereignty, development over deployment - live on and the social and economic system which was successfully implemented over seventy years shines like a beacon for today's repressed societies, struggling to put food on the table, struggling to pay energy bills, struggling to find a house, struggling to maintain a job, while the super-rich clique of corporate elitists rub their hands in glee at their ever-increasing profit margins.

This was predicted, seventy years ago. How long will it take for the people of the world to discover than an alternative exists, one that has been tried and tested and one which, by and large, can work?

Syria: From Fermenting Uprising to Delivering Polio

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." (Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832.)

In Syria, now, apart from funding weapons to a reported thousand different factions of foreign terrorists from perhaps eighty plus countries, NATO, the US, UK and their Middle East cohorts have seemingly delivered polio.

Prior to interruption by the devastating uprising - designed largely from within the US Embassy in Damascus (i) before Ambassador Robert Ford fled across the border for a flight to the safety of Maryland - Syria had one of the highest polio vaccination rates in the region, with the World Health Organization estimating that eighty three percent of children were vaccinated. By 2012, a year in to the engineered destabilization, the figure had dropped to fifty two percent.

Prior to the current outbreak announced this week, affecting, so far, a reported twenty two children: "The last virologically-confirmed indigenous case was reported on 29 March 1995, although a virologically-confirmed case was also reported in November 1999. Genetic sequencing confirmed its relation to a virus strain circulating in India and it was considered an importation. No polio cases have been confirmed in the Syrian Arab Republic since then", stated the WHO.(ii)

The Gates Foundation records that: "Polio remains endemic in just three countries - Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan." The Global Eradication Initiative notes that: "Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan repeatedly re-infect one other, with Afghanistan appearing to receive a higher share of the poliovirus importations."(iii)

 CIA organized a fake vaccination programme in and around the town of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was believed living with his family, prior to his US assassination in May 2011 (if it was, in fact, him - many questions remain.)

The fake programme was aimed at obtaining DNA from bin Laden family members. A senior Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi was recruited to: "organise the vaccine drive in Abbottabad, even starting the 'project in a poorer part of town to make it look more authentic, according to Pakistani and US officials and local residents."(iv) 

Understandably, subsequently, not alone in Pakistan, but regionally, people are reticent to trust those introducing unknown substances to the bodies of their children. "Trust me, I'm a doctor" has a bit of catching up to do in the inoculation confidence building arena. 

The resultant tragedy is not alone a set back to eradicating a devastating illness, but that suspicion is such that, according to the WHO, eighteen people connected to the vaccination programme were killed and seven injured, between July 2012 and May 2013, in an ongoing tragedy. Yet when Alfridi was sentenced to thirty three years in jail by a Pakistani Court, the US was so enraged that $33 million was withheld in aid to Pakistan.

Pakistani fighters in increasing numbers are now reported as traveling to Syria: "The network sending Pakistani Sunni fighters to Syria is jointly run by the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) and the banned sectarian group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi,both of which are affiliated with al-Qa'ida. ... Abdul Rashid Abbasi, a close associate of TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, said  ... fighters already in Syria are under the command-and-control structure of al-Qa'ida in Syria."(v) Moreover, they are believed to be in the East of Syria, where the polio has been identified. (Polio can be "carried" from affected areas, by those who never actually develop the disease.)

It is also surely a redundancy to point out (again) that if the above carefully researched and referenced article is correct, NATO, the US-UK regime and their allies are funding that great collective bogeyman al-Qa'ida.

However, back to the polio outbreak: "High-ranking sources from the World Health Organisation here say indications are that the polio outbreak reported from Syria can be traced to Pakistan", states The Hindu, adding that the conclusive test results will not be returned until early next week. (vi)

Further: "Before this, the virus from Pakistan was found in Egypt, Palestine and Israel, according to the WHO. Pakistan was responsible for the international spread in 2011 and the virus from Pakistan caused an outbreak in western China, according to the WHO."

Syria is attempting a further inoculation outreach, in near impossible circumstances on the ground, further appallingly hampered by a crippling embargo which affects the entire health system.

Sometimes it truly seems as if the demented Armageddonists and George W. Bush's "Crusaders" have shaped a "New World Order" which has regressed to the Four Horsemen of the Apoclaypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death.

How America was lost

US President Hussein Obama (R) with his mentor George Bush (L)

By Paul Craig Roberts

"No legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its power, position, and prestige.” Dean Acheson , 1962, speaking to the American Society of International Law.

Dean Acheson declared 51 years ago that power, position, and prestige are the ingredients of national security and that national security trumps law. In the United States democracy takes a back seat to “national security,” a prerogative of the executive branch of government. 

National security is where the executive branch hides its crimes against law, both domestic and international, its crimes against the Constitution, its crimes against innocent citizens both at home and abroad, and its secret agendas that it knows that the American public would never support.

“National security” is the cloak that the executive branch uses to make certain that the US government is unaccountable. 

Without accountable government there is no civil liberty and no democracy except for the sham voting that existed in the Soviet Union and now exists in the US.

There have been periods in US history, such as President Lincoln’s war to prevent secession, World War I, and World War II, when accountable government was impaired. These were short episodes of the Constitution’s violation, and the Constitution was reinstated in the aftermath of the wars. However, since the Clinton regime, the accountability of government has been declining for more than two decades, longer than the three wars combined. 

In law there is the concept of adverse possession, popularly known as “squatters’ rights.” A non-owner who succeeds in occupying a piece of property or some one else’s right for a certain time without being evicted enjoys the ownership title conveyed to him. The reasoning is that by not defending his rights, the owner showed his disinterest and in effect gave his rights away. 

Americans have not defended their rights conveyed by the US Constitution for the duration of the terms of three presidents. The Clinton regime was not held accountable for its illegal attack on Serbia. The Bush regime was not held accountable for its illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The Obama regime was not held accountable for its renewed attack on Afghanistan and its illegal attacks on Libya, Pakistan, and Yemen, and by its proxies on Syria. 

We also have other strictly illegal and unconstitutional acts of government for which the government has not been held accountable. The Bush regimes’ acts of torture, indefinite detention, and warrantless spying, and the Obama regime’s acts of indefinite detention, warrantless spying, and murder of US citizens without due process. As the Obama regime lies through its teeth, we have no way of knowing whether torture is still practiced. 

If these numerous criminal acts of the US government spread over the terms of three presidents pass into history as unchallenged events, the US government will have acquired squatters’ rights in lawlessness. The US Constitution will be, as President George W. Bush is reported to have declared, “a scrap of paper.” 

Lawlessness is the hallmark of tyranny enforced by the police state. In a police state law is not a protector of rights but a weapon in the hands of government. [see Roberts & Stratton, The Tyranny of Good Intentions] The accused has no recourse to the accusation, which does not require evidence presented to a court. The accused is guilty by accusation alone and can be shot in the back of the head, as under Stalin, or blown up by a drone missile, as under Obama.

As a person aware of the long struggle against the tyrannical state, I have been amazed and disheartened by the acceptance not only by the insouciant American public, but also by law schools, bar associations, media, Congress and the Supreme Court of the executive branch’s claim to be above both law and the US Constitution. 

As Lawrence Stratton and I show in our book about how the law was lost, liberals and conservatives chasing after their favorite devils, such as child abusers and drug pushers, and prosecutors, judges, and police devoted to conviction and not to justice, have gradually eroded over time the concept of law as a protection of the innocent, With the atmosphere of threat created by 9/11, the final destruction of the protective features of law was quickly achieved in the name of making us safe from terrorists. 

The fact that we are no longer safe from our own government did not register. 

This is how liberty was lost, and America with it. 

Can liberty be regained? Probably not, but there is a chance if Americans have the necessary strength of character. The chance comes from the now known fact that the neoconservative Bush/Cheney regime took America and its puppet states to war in Afghanistan and Iraq entirely on the basis of lies. As all evidence proves, these wars were not the results of mistaken intelligence. They were the products of intentional lies. 

The weapons inspectors told the Bush regime that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Despite this known fact, the Bush regime sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN with fabricated evidence to convince the world that Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction” and was a threat to the world. Even if such weapons had existed in Iraq, many countries have them, including the US and Israel, and the presence of weapons does not under the Nuremberg Laws justify unprovoked aggression against the possessor. Under the Nuremberg Laws, unprovoked military aggression is a war crime, not the possession of weapons that many countries have. The war crime was committed by the US and its “coalition of the willing,” not by Saddam Hussein. 

As for the invasion of Afghanistan, we know from the last video of Osama bin Laden in October 2001, attested by experts to be the last appearance of a man dying of renal failure and other diseases, that he declared that he had no responsibility for 9/11 and that Americans should look to their own government. We know as a reported fact that the Afghan Taliban offered to turn over Osama bin Laden to Washington if the Bush regime would provide the evidence that indicated bin Laden was responsible. The Bush regime refused to hand over the (non-existent) evidence and, with support of the corrupt and cowardly Congress and the presstitute media, attacked Afghanistan without any legal justification. Remember, the FBI has stated publicly that it has no evidence that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 and that that is why the crimes for which the FBI wanted bin Laden did not include responsibility for the 9/11 attack. 

The war propaganda campaign was well prepared. Yellow ribbon decals were handed out for cars proclaiming “support the troops.” In other words, anyone who raises the obvious questions is not supporting the troops. Still today insouciant Americans sport these decals on their cars unaware that what they are supporting are the murder of foreign women, children and village elders, the death and physical and mental maiming of American soldiers, and the worldwide destruction of the reputation of the United States, with America’s main rival, China, now calling for a “de-Americanized world.” 

A country with a population as insouciant as Americans is a country in which the government can do as it pleases. 

Now that we have complete proof that the criminal Bush regime took our country to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq solely on the basis of intentional lies, how can the legal institutions, the courts, the American people possibly tolerate the Obama regime’s ignoring of the obvious crimes? How can America simply accept Obama’s statement that we mustn’t look back, only move ahead? If the US government, which has committed the worst crimes of our generation, cannot be held accountable and punished, how can federal, state, and local courts fill up American prisons with people who smoked pot and with people who did not sufficiently grovel before the police state. 

Doubtless, the Obama regime, should it obey the law and prosecute the Bush regime’s crimes, would have to worry about being prosecuted for its own crimes, which are just as terrible. Nevertheless, I believe that the Obama regime could survive if it put all the blame on the Bush regime, prosecuted the Bush criminals, and desisted from the illegal actions that it currently supports. This would save the Constitution and US civil liberty, but it would require the White House to take the risk that by enforcing US law, US law might be enforced against its own illegal and unconstitutional acts by a succeeding regime. 

The Bush/Cheney/John Yoo neoconservative regime having got rid of US law, no doubt the Obama regime thinks it is best to leave the situation as it is, rid of law. 

Without accountability, America is finished. Not only will Americans live in a police state with no civil liberties, but the rest of the world is already looking at America with a jaundiced eye. The US is being reconstituted as an authoritarian state. All it takes is one failure of accountability for the police state to become entrenched, and we have had numerous failures of accountability. Does anyone really believe that some future government is going to make restitution to persecuted truth-tellers, such as Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowdon, as was done for Japanese Americans? 

Now that we know for a certain fact that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were based on propaganda and lies, Congress and the world media should demand to know what was the real secret agenda. What are the real reasons for which Afghanistan and Iraq were invaded? 

No truthful explanation for these wars exists. 

Paul O’Neill, the Bush regime’s first Treasury Secretary, is on public record stating that at the very first cabinet meeting, long prior to 9/11, the agenda was a US attack on Iraq. 

In other words, the Bush regime’s attack on Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11. 

What was the Bush regime’s secret agenda, kept secret by the Obama regime, that required an illegal, war criminal, attack on a sovereign country, an action for which officials of Hitler’s government were executed? What is the real purpose of Washington’s wars? 

It is totally and completely obvious that the wars have nothing to do with protecting Americans from terrorism. If anything, the wars stir up and create terrorists. The wars create hatred of America that never previously existed. Despite this, America is free of terrorists attacks except for the ones orchestrated by the FBI. What the fabricated “terror threat” has done is to create a thorough-going domestic police state that is unaccountable. 

Americans need to understand that they have lost their country. The rest of the world needs to recognize that Washington is not merely the most complete police state since Stalinism, but also a threat to the entire world. The hubris and arrogance of Washington, combined with Washington’s huge supply of weapons of mass destruction, make Washington the greatest threat that has ever existed to all life on the planet. Washington is the enemy of all humanity.