It was recently announced former Secretary of State Colin Powell would be the commencement speaker at Northeastern’s graduation in 2012. University President Joseph Aoun lauds his resume and service in a press release on the school’s website. However, Aoun fails to mention in that praise that Powell knowingly lied to the United Nations National Security Council and the American people to invade Iraq. He has never been held accountable for his crime. Almost 5,000 American soldiers are dead. Some are former Northeastern students. Thousands of troops are physically maimed and countless others scarred with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Military suicides have never been higher. Hundreds of thousands, if not a million, Iraqis are dead. The country is a wasteland thanks to our use of depleted uranium, which can be seen in the sharp rise in birth defects in Fallujah.
Powell just adds to a long list of war criminals and financial terrorists that openly rape and pillage the American people with impunity. When I graduated in 2006 our speaker was the chief executive of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt. I understand GE’s work with the Northeastern co-op program has enabled thousands of Northeastern students to gain real-world experience. During his speech, Immelt received a standing ovation and thunderous applause as he painted a wonderful future for the many graduating seniors who would be working full-time for him. What has Immelt accomplished since that time? Well, he has received billions of dollars in taxpayer money through bailouts. He then takes that money and sends jobs to China. Under his watch he has terminated employment for 21,000 Americans, a number larger than the capacity crowd at the TD Garden that day. All the while his company is making billions of dollars overseas and paying $0 in corporate taxes in the United States. Not bad for the head of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, eh?
The graduating class of 2008 invited the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox. As a member of congress in 1998 he vehemently opposed comprehensive regulation on over-the-counter derivatives such as credit default swaps. The over $1 quadrillion derivatives market remains a ticking time bomb. It was also under his watch that Bernie Madoff swindled thousands of investors while whistle(-)blowers were ignored.
Environmental Protection Agency Chair Christine Todd Whitman spoke in 2003. Just a few months after speaking, in August of that year, it was reported she lied to the people of New York in stating the air quality was safe in the days after the attacks on September 11. Thousands of first responders are now sick and dying or have died. These heroes have been fighting for years to receive health care and are now forced to enter a terrorist background check before getting the care they deserve.
Finally, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the commencement speech in 2000. You may not be old enough to remember, but in 1996 Albright gave an interview to Leslie Stall of “60 Minutes.” In that interview she justified the killing of 500,000 Iraqi children thanks to the first Gulf War and the sanctions imposed on Iraq.
You should expect nothing less from my dear alma mater. Thanks to an epic Freedom of Information Act request, it was reported last year that in 2006 Northeastern took federal tax payer money to shred the Fourth Amendment. They mount backscatter X-ray radiation scanners and cameras on roving vans, and hide cameras on buildings and utility poles to secretly monitor the American people. This was in 2006. Who knows what the university is doing now to spy on Americans at home?
It is sad to see that over the course of the 2000s Northeastern has consistently used war criminals and Wall Street shills to boost their egos, promote the police state and indoctrinate the generation that is going to lead the 21st century. Do not buy their lies. Do not lust for blood or succumb to greed. Ask questions and research the information I’ve stated in my letter. And when Powell gets up to speak at graduation, think of all the death, destruction and pain his lies have caused before you stand and applaud.
– Ryan Nadeau graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in communications.
