Posted by CODEPINK Staff
By Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern Calfornia
When I heard that the war criminal known as Donald Rumsfeld would be appearing in the area, I could not wait to confront him. Along with handful of enlightened citizens and friends, we showed up at his event at the resting place of his fellow liar, Richard Nixon.
Along with two good friends at a cost of $50 each, we decided to enter the event as attendees and force ourselves to listen to more lies and also receive even bigger lies packed into his new book, “Rumsfeld’s [dumb] Rules.”
The venue was lit up and nearly full with empty heads in suits and satins. Then came the lying king to live music and he starts off with a complaint that the emcee’s introduction was “moderately good.” I do not know if he wanted us to know the length of his lying life or simply state his age but it went something like, “I am just about one third of our nation’s age and that it makes me old and our nation very young.” No kidding, I thought!
We had decided to give him some space to feel comfortable before launching our vocal missiles. So his other rants included the advice to his daughter that “she should not worry about who to work for but to find and hang out with intelligent people.” I hope that the young lady would not consider her father in that category.
Then he expressed his shock that the “realities [of our nation] lie outside the 60 square miles of Washington.” I wish he had discovered that before “shocking” the mothers and their children of Iraq and later Afghanistan. He followed that up with another obscene admission that “as a wrestler, I always look at things from my opponent’s perspective.” I so wished he could have applied this rule to allow himself to see the world from the perspective of his millions of victims.
We three were getting a bit testy and restless. There came the opportunity when he said that what keeps him awake is “America’s weakness because we ‘only’ spend 4% of our GDP on defense.” That was it for us …
Brian stood up and yelled: “The ends do not justify the means.” On hand were a bunch of paid uniformed goons to quickly drag Brian out. I stood up, following Brian’s cue, looked into the eyes of the liar and yelled: “Rumsfeld lied; people died!”
The well-lit venue with empty suits and satins were in shock at our uncivilized outbursts. “Take them out! Throw them out!” were some of the compliments I was able to hear clearly from the empty suits and satins.
Oh yes, thrown out we were in a matter of seconds but not before those few precious seconds were captured on camera by a courageous grandmother and comrade. Click here to watch.
The lessons I learned from this adventure are that those who have destroyed the lives of others deserved to be yelled at, unashamedly. And that they are nothing more than empty suits and must be treated as such. And that this is the best expression of democracy. So I invite you now to visit your local bookstore and if you find the liar’s new book, Rumsfeld’s Rules – grab a copy or copies – and move them to the criminal section. This can be your important contribution to protect and defend our dying democracy. If, however, you’d like to join me next time another liar visits our town, you know well how and where to reach me. I cannot wait to have you by my side for our next adventure!
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