An article published by The Daily Beast mocked the trial of former US President Donald Trump for the crime of paying money to star Stormy Daniels, and the failure to prosecute former US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger and other presidents and senior officials for crimes much greater than Trump's crime.
Ben Borges, a philosophy professor at the University of Georgia, said he welcomed Trump's impeachment trial and demanded that current and former presidents be subject to the law as everyone in America or abroad.
Why is Bush not prosecuted for invading Iraq?
He explained that he demands the prosecution of George W. Bush and those who were with him in power and decided to invade Iraq, noting that that invasion was not just a mistake, but a criminal and moral crime, as it subjected an entire nation to cluster bombing, invasion and occupation for years against the will of the majority of its population because of allegations about "weapons of mass destruction" that were not supported by any meaningful evidence.
Even if there was any reason to believe that the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, the idea that he planned to share them with his archenemies in al-Qaeda was always fanciful and unimaginable.
No comparison.
Borges expressed surprise that the crime of paying to silence a woman was compared to the crimes committed by Bush and his associates, which led to the killing and dismemberment of hundreds of thousands, the displacement of millions from their homes, and the waves of chaos and bloodshed that have swept the region for decades, directly leading to new atrocities such as the rise of the Islamic State.
Former US President Gerald Ford (1974-1977) unconditional pardon of former US President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) was a dangerous signal that former presidents are above the law, adding that former US President Barack Obama's pardon of those who committed acts of torture of al-Qaeda detainees under Bush Jr. reinforced Ford's actions.
Double standards
Borges went on to say that Bush is just one in a long line of outlaw presidents who have not faced justice. Richard Nixon, for example, conveyed to the Pentagon the infamous directive "bomb anything that flies and anything that moves" during Nixon's illegal bombing of Cambodia.
Trump himself has committed crimes worse than any of the crimes he is currently under investigation. For example, Trump has dramatically increased the rate of drone strikes, even though such strikes often kill civilians living in countries with which the United States is not at war.
The worst of double standards and the most disturbing is the absolute indifference to foreigners who live in far-fledged, poor and geopolitically insignificant countries, and are burned to death as in Yemen, Cambodia and Iraq.