Friday, July 16, 2004

Say it. SAY THE WORD, or I'll...

Torture. Such an ugly word. So un-American. Little wonder, then, that the American press rushed to scuttle it in favor of the much-more-palatable "abuse," before anyone had a chance to latch on to it for a sound bite. "Prison torture scandal" would scan much less favorably among the consuming public than the more-compassionate-sounding "prison abuse scandal."

But that's what it was, -torture- and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. People's lives were threatened. People -guilty or not doesn't matter- were robbed of their humanity, their dignity, their hope, their faith, their lives ...and at some point it no longer matters how the torturers justified their actions, because they were just that wrong. Someone needs to hang. The integrity of 200+ years of American history is at stake.

We cannot be too plain about this, and if anything I am being irrationally calm: President Bush, on the advice of his counsel, held himself and his agents to be above the reach of Law. Think about that a moment if you need to, and if you find that you aren't completely outraged, slap yourself and think again. Nothing is more important to a civil society than the Rule of Law. Everyone is subject to Justice. President bush must be held accountable for the torture of innocent Iraqis. Good GOD, even the Washington Post agrees with me:

There is no justification, legal or moral, for the judgments made by Mr. Bush's political appointees at the Justice and Defense departments. Theirs is the logic of criminal regimes, of dictatorships around the world that sanction torture on grounds of "national security." For decades the U.S. government has waged diplomatic campaigns against such outlaw governments -- from the military juntas in Argentina and Chile to the current autocracies in Islamic countries such as Algeria and Uzbekistan -- that claim torture is justified when used to combat terrorism. The news that serving U.S. officials have officially endorsed principles once advanced by Augusto Pinochet brings shame on American democracy -- even if it is true, as the administration maintains, that its theories have not been put into practice. Even on paper, the administration's reasoning will provide a ready excuse for dictators, especially those allied with the Bush administration, to go on torturing and killing detainees.

Here's another look at it, which includes a link to a .pdf of the Pentagon memo itself http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=0Shrzgi8q7&Content=385

Some twenty years ago, after four years of Reagan, I started to think that maybe, if things here in the states got too conservative for my well-being, that I'd leave for friendlier parts. Time passed of course, and I remembered how slowly things change in politics. Today, I'm worried about my country again, but now I'm more inclined to stick it out and fight for what's right. But if I see them coming my way with electrodes and a hood, I'm outta here.

"Jeez, finally..."

Welcome, welcome! Yes I finally gave in and joined the bloggers, like the last monkey to come down out of the trees (or was it the last dolphin to come out of the sea?)

More soon.