Oh my god. I cannot believe that as a civil society -- or one that pretends to be a civil society when it is convenient -- we are even having this discussion. Pursuant to the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, a thorough airing of this subject was had, and it included an examination of all the methods used by the Nazis, Japanese, etc. At that point we still had a strong mythological sense of ourselves as "the good guys", and as a Nation that was our high point. "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" -- I still remember believing that. When the Conventions were adopted, the U. S. agreed with most of the world that we would not practice such things as Waterboarding, with its roots in the Spanish Inquisition. We even executed at least one person for practicing it!
When we began to "practice" this form of torture, apparently we did it so badly I hear they routinely drowned detainees. They eventually got the bright idea of having doctors monitor their tormentees, thereby subverting those doctors relationships with the Hippocratic Oath. I've been cruising around looking at politically neutral websites and I am disheartened to see how many people in this country favor torture. My friends laugh at my naiveté. Always have, always will. So who cares -- this is what I think.
There are at least two basic concerns. One is that of the pragmatist, who simply says that the information gained by cruel methods will produce unreliable information. This is a given, a fact told to us by respected Military professionals worldwide. You might get a correct answer along with all the screaming and gasping and near-drowning, but you won't know and you'll waste time. Professionals know this.
This leads me to believe that there are those in high places that tortured because they could. Some people probably enjoyed it. Some did as they were told. But pragmatically, if it doesn't work, why bother? And if they were told by leading military authorities before-hand that it didn't work, why did they insist upon using such obscene methods? Personally, among the gang that was BushCo -- let's include W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and Rice.
I believe there is the possibility that at least one was a psychopath -- a person incapable of empathy -- and there were at least a few sociopaths. They ALL seem like sadists. Now I admit to arm-chair analysis, but I'd love to hear an eminent psychiatrist or two analyze THESE guys. I was relieved to hear one of Condoleeza's Legal guys say that State was anti-torture and argued against it -- but she signed off on it, so what can you say? She'll have to live with whatever her culpability is -- I doubt the others have any capacity to feel remorse. They still think that "enhanced methods of interrogation" work.
Experts know that relationship-building is a far better method for purposes of information gathering than the infliction of pain. If you are dealing, for example, with a Muslim prisoner -- far better to call in the highest Imam or spiritual counselor of HIS brand of Islam (no Sunnis for Shi'ites!) and let the Imam remind the prisoner that Islam not a violent religion, and in this fashion gain the confidence of the man. This method is one that has been used successfully far more often than getting somebody's resistance up by slamming them around as though we were no better than gorillas.
The other consideration is moral. A FOX (!) journalist put it best when he said (loose quote), slamming his fists on the table "I don't give a rat's a** if it works. We are AMERICA!! We don't f*cking torture!" And that is how I feel. We are better than that. Or we should be. If Americans get so worked up about their religions -- and we do -- then why are we so ambivalent about the issue of torture?
If you want to know what Jesus would do -- ask yourself and I think the answer will come very quickly. Torture is against all laws of Spiritual Man and also Religious Man. It is against the very Laws of Man as we have devised them in our current day Code of Law, as represented by the Geneva Conventions. War is a loathsome and primitive way of settling earthly squabbles. But since we ARE still that stupid, let's at least play fair. And that means not creating an entire subculture of goons who will scorch your testicles for fun -- these guys will end up on our local police squad or as prison guards.
Has anyone thought about that? What happens to the men and women who have, in the words of one soldier (profiled in an early article about the Iraq War in Rolling Stone magazine), done things in Iraq they'd be put in jail for the rest of their lives for in regular society? Especially the ones who develop a taste for torture? I can see them now, spreading their wisdom throughout the already hideous penal system. We absolutely MUST continue to support the International Laws that govern our behavior relative to the rest of the world. We like to pretend that we are heroic -- in between bombings of Hiroshima and fiddling around down in Latin America. Supporting such "methods" of interrogation gives the lie to that myth. I rather liked the America of my youth and innocence -- what happened to all that?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Dear Senator Boxer,
First of all -- oh how proud we are to be Californians and to have as representatives the extraordinary Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Madame Speaker Pelosi, and our Representative Lynn Woolsey -- what a group, what accomplishments!
I felt it important -- my family and I felt it important -- to contact you and present our views on the abuses of Justice by the last administration, and the proper way of dealing with such things as the illegal buildup to the Iraq war. So many lives were lost because of the ideology of a few and the passivity of the many. As I have long suspected and as we now know, we were living for 8 years in the grip of an administration with delusions as to how much power the Executive branch should have. Any President whose legal counsel tells him that he can pick me or anyone else off the street as a suspected terrorist -- even strike my home if he wished -- that his wish alone is enough -- I mean it is clear to me that somewhere a line was crossed. The result -- we Americans have bombed -- in our delicate, diplomatic way -- a wide swath through the Middle East in a paranoid display that cost the lives of how many hundreds of thousands we will never know.
We were so insulated from what was happening over there. I was in London in July 2003 or so and I bought a Guardian newspaper. I saw pictures that in one moment told me what this war was doing to our soldiers. There had been some violent interchange in the streets of Baghdad, probably a lot of frustration on our side, and a dead tank in flames -- our helicopters were flying away. But a few men came on the street dancing around the tank and our helicopter came back to shoot them and they did and there were pictures and it was ghastly and no one could see that and think what we were doing was good. An Iraqi man pleading for his life while being shot to death from above -- but we didn't get to see it, and we are knee deep in blood and WE MUST FACE THIS IN OURSELVES, WE MUST ATONE AS A COUNTRY -- WE MUST SEE WHAT WE HAVE DONE BEFORE WE CAN MOVE ON. WE HAVE BLOOD ON OUR COLLECTIVE HANDS, AND UNTIL WE KNOW HOW WE CAME TO UNLEASH SUCH DESTRUCTION ON TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD -- WE CANNOT LET THIS GO. WE MUST EXAMINE OUR PAST.
I have no wish to see dear delusional George II rot in jail, but look what he has done to our national integrity, our constitution, our right to due process and habeus corpus -- oh good god you know. We feel utterly strongly that our country -- our beloved country has committed criminal acts against a sovereign nation for illegal reasons. We are feared and despised -- or we were before the election!
The truth will ultimately be the best medicine for this nation, and we can't gloss over it. If we don't face it -- well, someday somebody like Sarah Palin will talk about the "special powers of the vice presidency" and decide to exercise them because nobody did a damned thing when the President of the United States took the country into a BAD war -- he ignored all of us and everyone stood helplessly by while he did as he pleased. The nation is bankrupt. We may never recover our former standing -- and you know what? That may be just as well -- look what we do with our power -- we don't plant and heal and teach -- we bomb people into submission. I was so ashamed to be from this country for 8 years; but things are looking up -- God Bless Patrick Leahey -- so we are definitely in favor of some sort of Truth Commission -- by the Justice Department if necessary -- so that whatever powers the Executive branch may have gathered unto itself can be exposed and neutralized. We want to know what happened so that necessary safeguards can be implemented.
Just our opinions -- but after 8 years of protesting and watching this thing unfold -- knowing EXACTLY where it would go, it does seem that there SHOULD BE SOME NATIONAL EDUCATION ABOUT THE WHOLE THING! SOME PROCESS OF AMERICAN UNDERSTANDING. MAYBE ABOUT HOW MIGHT DOES NOT EQUAL RIGHT.
It's not a matter of vengeance -- it's a matter of our international standing. It is a matter of national shame and healing. We are so quick to turn on tyranny in other nations -- can we bear to see our own flirtation with it?? Can we look at our culpability, our fear, our capitulation?
Thank you Senator Boxer,
and then I signed off with the usual family signature, the four of us. I know she is in agreement with us but she needs the tangible support of her constituents. Germany was made to face its period of national shame and so we must examine ourselves before others take the trouble for us. It's our responsibility -- we broke our own laws, and we must own up.
First of all -- oh how proud we are to be Californians and to have as representatives the extraordinary Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Madame Speaker Pelosi, and our Representative Lynn Woolsey -- what a group, what accomplishments!
I felt it important -- my family and I felt it important -- to contact you and present our views on the abuses of Justice by the last administration, and the proper way of dealing with such things as the illegal buildup to the Iraq war. So many lives were lost because of the ideology of a few and the passivity of the many. As I have long suspected and as we now know, we were living for 8 years in the grip of an administration with delusions as to how much power the Executive branch should have. Any President whose legal counsel tells him that he can pick me or anyone else off the street as a suspected terrorist -- even strike my home if he wished -- that his wish alone is enough -- I mean it is clear to me that somewhere a line was crossed. The result -- we Americans have bombed -- in our delicate, diplomatic way -- a wide swath through the Middle East in a paranoid display that cost the lives of how many hundreds of thousands we will never know.
We were so insulated from what was happening over there. I was in London in July 2003 or so and I bought a Guardian newspaper. I saw pictures that in one moment told me what this war was doing to our soldiers. There had been some violent interchange in the streets of Baghdad, probably a lot of frustration on our side, and a dead tank in flames -- our helicopters were flying away. But a few men came on the street dancing around the tank and our helicopter came back to shoot them and they did and there were pictures and it was ghastly and no one could see that and think what we were doing was good. An Iraqi man pleading for his life while being shot to death from above -- but we didn't get to see it, and we are knee deep in blood and WE MUST FACE THIS IN OURSELVES, WE MUST ATONE AS A COUNTRY -- WE MUST SEE WHAT WE HAVE DONE BEFORE WE CAN MOVE ON. WE HAVE BLOOD ON OUR COLLECTIVE HANDS, AND UNTIL WE KNOW HOW WE CAME TO UNLEASH SUCH DESTRUCTION ON TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD -- WE CANNOT LET THIS GO. WE MUST EXAMINE OUR PAST.
I have no wish to see dear delusional George II rot in jail, but look what he has done to our national integrity, our constitution, our right to due process and habeus corpus -- oh good god you know. We feel utterly strongly that our country -- our beloved country has committed criminal acts against a sovereign nation for illegal reasons. We are feared and despised -- or we were before the election!
The truth will ultimately be the best medicine for this nation, and we can't gloss over it. If we don't face it -- well, someday somebody like Sarah Palin will talk about the "special powers of the vice presidency" and decide to exercise them because nobody did a damned thing when the President of the United States took the country into a BAD war -- he ignored all of us and everyone stood helplessly by while he did as he pleased. The nation is bankrupt. We may never recover our former standing -- and you know what? That may be just as well -- look what we do with our power -- we don't plant and heal and teach -- we bomb people into submission. I was so ashamed to be from this country for 8 years; but things are looking up -- God Bless Patrick Leahey -- so we are definitely in favor of some sort of Truth Commission -- by the Justice Department if necessary -- so that whatever powers the Executive branch may have gathered unto itself can be exposed and neutralized. We want to know what happened so that necessary safeguards can be implemented.
Just our opinions -- but after 8 years of protesting and watching this thing unfold -- knowing EXACTLY where it would go, it does seem that there SHOULD BE SOME NATIONAL EDUCATION ABOUT THE WHOLE THING! SOME PROCESS OF AMERICAN UNDERSTANDING. MAYBE ABOUT HOW MIGHT DOES NOT EQUAL RIGHT.
It's not a matter of vengeance -- it's a matter of our international standing. It is a matter of national shame and healing. We are so quick to turn on tyranny in other nations -- can we bear to see our own flirtation with it?? Can we look at our culpability, our fear, our capitulation?
Thank you Senator Boxer,
and then I signed off with the usual family signature, the four of us. I know she is in agreement with us but she needs the tangible support of her constituents. Germany was made to face its period of national shame and so we must examine ourselves before others take the trouble for us. It's our responsibility -- we broke our own laws, and we must own up.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
February 18, 2009
I am so very tired of Senator Back-Stabbing McCain, who became Gollum-esque ("Lord of the Rings" ) the minute he seemed to make his back-room deal with former President Bush. Around the time he answered Jon Stewart's question about having gone to the dark side with what amounted to a "yes" he had changed from a man you could really trust to speak the uncomfortable truth into a toad licking "Bushie". To watch the disintegration of Senator McCain's character was utterly painful, though I must admit I loved it when he admitted to Jon Stewart that he'd gone over to the dark side. From what I can tell, he hasn't come back. I don't know why he seems to have such hard feelings for the new President, aside from getting beaten in the election! Those several million votes they managed to steal for McCain didn't help them -- (see Greg Palast's writings to confirm that statement, and remember how confident McCain was, saying that he was looking for victory in "small margins" -- whatever THAT meant!)
Seriously, though -- why be such a jerk? Why even accept a dinner in your honor from a man you clearly despise and intend to stop at every opportunity? The campaign is over, Senator. Please, for the good of the Country, please give it up. That's what you all ask of us every time Democrats are in even the barest of majorities -- give it up for the good of the country. Well, now it's your turn. I don't like your lack of mannerliness towards this most gracious of Presidents. His knowledge of economics is clearly so much deeper than yours -- why not stop fighting a losing battle and join up with your team, Team America, once again.
At first I was shocked by McCain's behavior, but it simply fits in with my theory that his mind has gone south to winter before it finally flies free. I don't know what he is up to but I want him to go away. His ideas are as old and tired as he is. His wife is clearly miserable and possibly having an affair (National Enquirer had some very convincing photos of her making out with some stringy haired troll in Texas, and the article said folks have seen them around town together.) Well John McCain should just go home and stop being an obstructionist force in this desperate time. Make his wife happy in last years, if nothing else, and let our President get to work. OR make himself useful instead of whining about how mean the Democrats are being to him, and how 'if this is change we can believe in nyah nyah nyah!"
He let the Bush administration get away with literal murder PLUS bad policy. It didn't seem to bother him when he was um, how did that wretch Limbaugh put it, something like "bending over, grabbing the ankles" and taking it from the last SIR Mr. President SIR Bush the Younger. It didn't seem to bother him at all during those long soul defiling years when he flogged W's Loser Proposals until there was no discernible difference between the two of them. I am continually surprised by the smallness of that certain block in the GOP. What a disappointment for any kind of bi-partisan or post-partisan movement, and more's the pity. What we have left is the party of McCain and Limbaugh that latest Clark Kent on the block, that Minority Whipped Cantor person.
Regarding the RNC's freshly pulled ad campaign, to the tune of the infamous Aerosmith Hooker song "Back in the Saddle" -- oh, but how can we miss you when you won't go away?
Seriously, though -- why be such a jerk? Why even accept a dinner in your honor from a man you clearly despise and intend to stop at every opportunity? The campaign is over, Senator. Please, for the good of the Country, please give it up. That's what you all ask of us every time Democrats are in even the barest of majorities -- give it up for the good of the country. Well, now it's your turn. I don't like your lack of mannerliness towards this most gracious of Presidents. His knowledge of economics is clearly so much deeper than yours -- why not stop fighting a losing battle and join up with your team, Team America, once again.
At first I was shocked by McCain's behavior, but it simply fits in with my theory that his mind has gone south to winter before it finally flies free. I don't know what he is up to but I want him to go away. His ideas are as old and tired as he is. His wife is clearly miserable and possibly having an affair (National Enquirer had some very convincing photos of her making out with some stringy haired troll in Texas, and the article said folks have seen them around town together.) Well John McCain should just go home and stop being an obstructionist force in this desperate time. Make his wife happy in last years, if nothing else, and let our President get to work. OR make himself useful instead of whining about how mean the Democrats are being to him, and how 'if this is change we can believe in nyah nyah nyah!"
He let the Bush administration get away with literal murder PLUS bad policy. It didn't seem to bother him when he was um, how did that wretch Limbaugh put it, something like "bending over, grabbing the ankles" and taking it from the last SIR Mr. President SIR Bush the Younger. It didn't seem to bother him at all during those long soul defiling years when he flogged W's Loser Proposals until there was no discernible difference between the two of them. I am continually surprised by the smallness of that certain block in the GOP. What a disappointment for any kind of bi-partisan or post-partisan movement, and more's the pity. What we have left is the party of McCain and Limbaugh that latest Clark Kent on the block, that Minority Whipped Cantor person.
Regarding the RNC's freshly pulled ad campaign, to the tune of the infamous Aerosmith Hooker song "Back in the Saddle" -- oh, but how can we miss you when you won't go away?
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