This is not schadenfreude

As I and millions of other Americans await Pat Fitzgerald's announcement this morning, I want to point out that my barely restrained glee is not schadenfreude. This is not partisanship, either. The atrocities committed in America's name in Iraq began with Bush 41, continued under Bill Clinton, and achieved maximal evil fruition under Junior. Junior is merely the ripe-to-rupture pustule on a boil that's been growing for some time now. No, this is about seeing justice -- well, I was about to say prevail, but we're a long way away from that still. Today, justice will get its nose through the doorway. With luck, it'll muscle its way into the room and not budge until it flushes every last crook and liar down the drain. Over at Huffington Post, James Moore writes in The Criminalization of Criminals: Leaking the names of CIA agents is not politics; it is a crime. Lying to congress about evidence for a war is not politics; it is a crime. Failing to tell a grand jury that you met with a reporter and talked about the CIA agent is not forgetfullness; it is a crime. Deceiving your entire nation and frightening children and adults with images of nuclear explosions in order to get them to support a bloody invasion of another country is not politics; it is a crime. Anyone other than Karl Rove and Lewis Libby and Tom Delay who does not get this, please raise your hand. The three of you will need to stay after class for further instruction in civics. That's putting it mildly. We're talking about DEATH, people, DEATH on a grand scale. Check out the images of terrorized and wounded Iraqi children on Maryscott O'Connor's diary at Daily Kos. We're talking about the death of CIA operatives left out in the cold thanks to the Cheney Cabal's vendetta politics. We're talking about the death of 2000 American soldiers, and counting. We're talking about the death of tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children -- look at those photos. How many of those Iraqis were insurgents, and how many were innocents? And this, all of this, is being done in the name of the American people. Time after school is the least of it. These bastards need to be deprived of power, shamed, humiliated before the eyes of the world, tried and punished for their crimes against humanity (Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, extreme rendition, the continuing savagery in Iraq). Even now, Dick Cheney and George Bush want to retain the power to torture detainees. Impeach Bush and Cheney. Throw out every Senator and Representative who supported this war and still lacks the gumption to say this was and is WRONG. As pointed out in a recent Kos diary, the decision to go to war in Iraq wasn't a mistake. It was criminal . . . and criminals should be punished. I've seen every cherished American principle perverted under this Administration of thugs. If justice intrudes on this gang's party -- no matter how small, be it only a single indictment for perjury -- then it isn't schadenfreude if I break out the champagne and celebrate myself silly. It isn't schadenfreude at all. It's hope. D.