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World

Bush 'Most Dangerous Person on Earth'
says Yale Law Professor

By Jack Nichols

Hartford, Connecticut-Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale University's Law School, says that George W. Bush is "the most dangerous person on earth." Yale University is Mr. Bush's alma mater.

In a September 22 op-ed in the Hartford Courant Professor Balkin says that the most dangerous person is "not who Bush would like you to think it is," and the professor fears, he says, what will happen if Americans fail to stand up to the man in the White House.

The pre-emptive strike doctrine enunciated by Bush, says Professor Balkin, allows this man to ignore Congress: "Our Constitution left the power to declare war to Congress because of the fear that if the president could act unilaterally, he might seek to aggrandize himself by taking the country into one war after another," he writes.

Yale Constitutional Law Professor Jack M Balkin labels Mr. Bush as 'The Most Dangerous Person on Earth'

Bush, by shifting the nation's forces from one military offensive to another, can draw the public's focus away from issues at home, such as the economy, and can hide his foreign policy blunders. "The more often the president attacks other countries pre-emptively, the more likely it becomes that our country will be attacked in turn. The president can then justify additional military action in response, and no patriotic American will oppose it.," he says.

A leader who takes his nation to war "pushes aside all other concerns."

Professor Balkin writes:

"In this way, the president can effectively govern through war, with disastrous consequences for the nation and for the world. Armed with the doctrine of military pre-emption, the perpetual political campaign perfected by our last president might well become the perpetual military campaign of future presidents."

Bush, believes the professor, had a legitimate reason to go on a war footing following the events of September 11. His stated goal of eliminating al Qaeda, however, or capturing Osama bin Laden, has been forgotten. "With victory not achieved and Afghanistan still unstable, he has now attempted to shift our attention to a new war with Iraq."

The world faces a single man, says Professor Balkin, who is "armed with weapons of mass destruction, manifesting an aggressive, bullying attitude, who may well plunge the world into chaos and bloodshed if he miscalculates. This person, belligerent, arrogant and sure of himself, truly is the most dangerous person on Earth. The problem is that his name is George W. Bush, and he is our president."

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