“The Fine Print”, by Michael Schrader

 

It’s Time For a Regime Change

 

“Mr. President, the U.N. resolutions are ready.”

“Good, Ari.  Let’s go through them.  I want those UN peaceniks to know that evil is bad, regime change is good.”

“Point one.  Regime change is necessary because the current regime is not the legitimately elected government, but instead gained power through deceit and fraud.”

“Too many words!! Let’s take this one step at a time.  What does having a mamma and a papa have anything to do with elections?”

“I’m sorry, let me simplify.  A legitimate government is one that is supposed to be there.”

“So let’s say that you are invited to dinner at the Presidential palace.  Since you are supposed to be there, then you are the legitimatable govern…in charge, right?”

“Not exactly, Mr. President.  There is more to it than that.  Let’s say that the invitation you have was meant for someone else.  Then you were only there through deceit and fraud, because you weren’t supposed to be there, someone else was.”

“Deceit and fraud?  I do not know what those words mean…translate….”

“Deceit and fraud are cheating, Mr. President.  Trickery.  Like when we hold elections and all votes go to the party, no matter how people actually voted.”

<Chuckling> “That’s a bad thing?  We are the only party who are the true patriotics, who know what is best for the citizenians.  The other parties?  Mindless rabble.  Kill them all!”

“We are, your grace.  It’s amazing how simple it is to sabotage an airplane and make it look like a tragic accident.  Boo hoo!”

“Plane crashes are good, but they are not enough.  We need to blow up a building or something.  That will shut the opposition up!”

“Speaking of blowing things up, it’s time to move onto point two, Your Excellency.  Point two – we need the authority for regime change because the Evil One possesses the capability of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.”

“What kind of an evil person would want to blow up Catholic churches?  I mean our friends may not control them, but that Pop…”

“Pope, sir….”

“Pop, Pope – whatever.  He’s over there in Berlin. . .”

“Rome…wait a minute, how did we get on this, anyway?”

“You said weapons of Mass destruction, and the Catholics have Mass…”

“No, not Mass, capital M, but mass, small m.”

“There are two English words, ‘mass’?

“Yes!”

“What does the other one mean?”

“Many.  Weapons of mass destruction kill many people.”

“Like nucular bombs?”

“That’s nuclear, and yes.  Also chemical and biological weapons.”

“How do we know that the Evil One might make these weapons?”

“Let’s start with nucular, I mean, nuclear.  If they have a nuclear power plant, then they have nuclear weapons.”

“Aren’t nuclear power plants good things?”

“Absolutely.  They provide electricity.  But they need to be destroyed, because someone might take the plutonium and make nuclear bombs.”

“So a good thing is evil.”

“Absolutely.  Same thing with chemical plants.  Most chemicals help people, but there are a few doozies out there, so we must destroy all their chemical plants to make sure those doozies are never manufactured.  If people die because that can’t get the good chemicals, well, that is just a small price to pay for preserving freedom and righteousness.”

“What about the biotological weapons? What are they?”

“The biotological, I mean, biological?  Well, those are bad germs that kill people.”

“I thought we got rid of those bad Germans that kill people during that big war thing.”

“That was World War II, and biological weapons are germs, not Germans.  <Sees blank look on the President’s face.>  You know, germs?  That bad stuff you get in a boo-boo if you don’t wash it?”

“Oh…What about these germs?  Don’t we all have them?”

“Sure we do.  The key is for what purpose we have them.  You will hear the infidels claim that they are conducting medical research on the bad germs in order to find a cure for them.”

“That’s sounds like a good thing.”

“Except we know the truth.  The so-called doctors at so-called hospitals are none other than evil scientists working at disguised weapons plotting ways to use these germs to kill us.”

“Ohh!  That’s bad!”

“It sure is!”

“What are we gonna do about it?”

“Bomb their hospitals, I mean biological weapons facilities in disguise, of course!”

“Won’t that hurt sick people?”

“Sure, but who cares.  They are all the same, so who cares who we kill, as long as we kill as many of them as possible.”

“That’s a pretty strong case, my friend.  Surely the UN will support regime change.”

“That’s only the half of it, Mr. President.  Let’s not forget about the civil rights violations.”

“Civil what?”

“Civil rights.  Oh, if only you hadn’t been out celebrating so much when you were in school.  Let me explain this simply – civil rights are how the government treats its people.  The Evil ones have a long history of mistreating their minorities – beatings, murders.”

“But haven’t we done the same thing with our minorities?  Sure, but that’s different.  We are the true believers.  The Big Guy said that we should root out the non-believers.  And besides, once minorities actually believe that they are our equals they will take over, and where will we be?  We would have to work!!!  Uggghhh!”

“Not only do they mistreat their minorities, but they also arrest people without ever telling them why, and throw them in a dingy jail where they are under constant watch and not permitted to contact the outside world.”

“How horrible.  Surely, that itself is enough to convince the UN that we must act now!”

“Let’s not forget the little invasion a few years back.”

“What invasion.  I must have missed that class…I was sick, that’s it.”

“You see, Mr. President, many years ago the infidels invaded the country on their southern boundary.”

“Why?  You know, countries shouldn’t be just taking over other countries.  Very bad.”

“Very bad indeed.  You see, this other country had valuable mineral resources, and the infidels wanted them.  They claimed it was their manifest destiny…in simpler terms, that they were supposed to own the land … and they took it.”

“What did the other country do?”

“They fought the best they could, but in the end they were overwhelmed by superior forces.”

“That’s terrible!  We shouldn’t stand for that!”

“We won’t.  We must punish these renegades and put in a government more to our liking that will respect its people and the boundaries of its neighbors.”

“Absolutetively!  Excellent work, my friend and trusted advisor, Ari Hazzeem.  Do you think the United Nations will go for regime change in the United States?”

“We can only hope, President Hussein.”

 

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