Right on

Mansour El-Kikhia: No accountability for Bush policies
San Antonio Express-News

Accountability is perhaps one of the most important factors distinguishing democratic from non-democratic societies. Governments of democracies are legitimate because they are accountable to the people who put them in power. Dictators, however, refuse to account to the people they oppress... His [Bush's] administration has not taken responsibility for any of the calamities that have befallen the United States since he came into office.

First, it is nearing four years since one of America's greatest calamities, yet no one in this administration has been held accountable. It is easy to blame terrorists, yet even there this administration has not succeeded in charging anyone with the act. The only person to admit culpability has been Zacarias Moussaoui, and although he confessed a third time after recanting twice before, there is no doubt in my mind that the guy is missing a couple of screws. More than 3,000 people lost their lives and no one is accountable? How is that possible?

Second, the United States was shoved into a war based on canards and hyperboles. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis have been killed and injured. As a result of poor planning and execution, the United States is caught in a situation where it will necessarily lose many more of its youth and wealth. A new type of terrorism, born and perfected in Iraq, also has been unleashed, courtesy of the Bush administration. Is it possible that no one is held accountable?

Third, whoever called the Guantanamo detention center a "gulag" was correct. No matter how good the food, it is still a prison full of individuals who have neither been charged nor convicted of a crime. It has become a black spot on America's global reputation, yet no one is held accountable. Worse was the Abu Ghraib affair. Holding no one accountable is preferable to blaming the affair on low-ranking soldiers. The real culprits, as usual, have escaped accountability.

Four, the U.S. economy has been debilitated by bad policies ranging from unnecessary and excessive tax cuts for wealthy corporations to financing a costly war to reductions in pollution standards. The deficit has ballooned to a record $460 billion, and America has become more dependent on the export of food rather than manufactured products as a major source of revenue. Shouldn't this administration be held accountable?

Finally, an increasing amount of information is being restricted and debate is being censored. Case in point is the debate on the rights of the media. Sending journalists to prison for refusing to divulge their sources doesn't promote democracy and truth; rather, it will promote lies and secrecy... There is no accountability.