Contrast those spectacles with the fate of extraordinary people like Lynne Stewart prosecuted for her crime of courage, honor and resisting tyranny. She was unjustly charged under the 1996 Antiterrorism Act with four counts of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization and violating Special Administration Measures (SAMS) imposed by the US Bureau of Prisons, which included a gag order on Sheik Abdel Rahman whom she represented as counsel for the defense in his 1995 trial because former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark asked her to take the case.
Lynne took it in the same spirit she spent her entire 30 year professional life as a courageous champion for the rights of the poor, underprivileged and those in society never afforded due process unless they're lucky enough to have an advocate like her. She broke no law, and her trial was a gross miscarriage of justice. Still, the Justice Department asked for a harsh 30 year sentence. It wasn't for any crime committed. It was to send a clear message to all in the legal community not to represent "unpopular clients" and not to afford them their legal right of due process with competent counsel when the government wants them put away.
Lynne for the present had the last word being vindicated in court on October 17 when Judge John G. Koeltl rejected the prosecution's case in the 28 month sentence he handed down allowing Lynne to remain free pending her appeal to a higher court, acknowledging it might overturn her conviction and effectively rebuking the Justice Department for their prosecution of a courageous woman who spent a lifetime fighting for justice.
The outcome was painfully different in an age of Muslim demonization and persecution shown in the prosecution of Dr. Rafil Dhafir, a Muslim American of Iraqi descent and practicing oncologist until his license was unjustly revoked as a prelude to the greater outrage committed against him. Dr. Dhafir was charged and tried in another US "kangaroo court" for what Katherine Hughes called and wrote his "crime of compassion." Katherine followed the trial daily in court for 17 weeks and remains his champion, continuing to work tirelessly for his vindication and release.
Dr. Dhafir was convicted and is now serving a 22 year sentence in federal prison for violating the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations (the IEEPA) having used his own funds and what he could raise from others to bring desperately needed humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies, to Iraqi people unable to get them because of the punitive, harsh and unjust sanctions imposed prior to the 2003 war. He did it through his Help the Needy charity, and for it was convicted of violating the sanctions, tax fraud, money laundering, and mail and wire fraud - a total of 60 counts and found guilty on 59 of them.
The verdict sent another chill through the Muslim community, and as Katherine explained on her web site - dhafirtrial.net - "If we can get Rafil Dhafir, we can get anyone." Not quite, as Lynne Stewart's vindication proves. But it proves something else too. In the age of George Bush, the chance of prevailing against injustice as a white American is a lot better than for a "not-as-white" Arab Muslim, even an American one, especially one courageous enough to take on a mission of mercy in defiance of state policy unjustly prohibiting it.
Dr. Dhafir was confined at the federal prison in Fairton, NJ until December when he was transfered further away from his family, who weren't told. He's now at what's been described as the hellhole in Terre Haute, IN, in an area of right wing extremism and KKK influence, in a deliberate act of further barbaric vengeance to break his spirit, restrict his access to legal help and his family, and cause him undue pain and suffering in an age of US-sanctioned and authorized torture as a method of social control and inhumanity and because no dissenting authority has the courage to challenge Washington's willingness to go against the most basic principles of equity and justice.
A Look Back to Find Direction Ahead
A look back to an important anniversary just reached should have been duly noted and reflected on in the major media, but it passed nearly unnoticed. It was the December 15 anniversary of the Bill of Rights of 1791 to the Constitution framed in 1787. It gave us unimaginable freedoms up to that time written into the law of the land that overall was a great democratic experiment never tried before outside of ancient Athens for a few decades before it ended. It gave people the rights of free expression, religion and peaceable assembly; protection from illegal searches and seizure; the right of due process, against double jeopardy and to remain silent if accused; to a speedy trial by jury if charged with the right to counsel and to be able to call witnesses; protection from any cruel and unusual punishment and more.
Most of the credit for this historic achievement goes to James Madison who drafted the first 10 amendments and with his perseverance got the other Framers to go along. He then managed to get the needed two-thirds vote from both Houses of Congress and ratification by the required three-fourths of the states in 1791 to have them become the law of the land - a major landmark achievement today being defiled by those in power who have contempt for the freedoms the Founders gave us.
Madison is thought of by some to be the "Father of the Constitution," but it's more accurate to call him its Godfather as he had a lot of help from the other 54 Founders who met in the Philadelphia State House, where the Declaration of Independence was signed 11 years earlier, to frame this historic document for the new republic they hoped would last into "remote futurity" - if we could keep it as Ben Franklin warned at the time and would shudder now at how things turned out and condemn those in power responsible.
Two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were serving abroad as envoys to France and Britain and weren't in Philadelphia for this historic gathering. When they were back later on, Jefferson and Madison wanted twelve initial amendments to the Constitution instead of the original 10 that were adopted. Federalists John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, however, opposed the Bill of Rights entirely and managed to exclude from them the other two that included "freedom from monopolies in commerce," or what are now giant corporate predators, and "freedom from a permanent military," or today's standing armies waging wars of illegal aggression.
Imagine what might have been, what was lost, and how the country might be governed today had Jefferson and Madison prevailed. Still they deserve our gratitude for what they accomplished, and it's disconcerting at the least to wonder how much worse off we'd be now if they hadn't gotten any of the Bill of Rights freedoms in our founding law that although lost under neocon rule may one day be restored if we can survive in the meantime.
A Look Ahead In An Age of State-Sponsored Terror Under Neocon Rule
It's time to pause at year's end to give thanks for our blessings but reflect that the spirit of the season demands that the madness of Bush neocon rule be stopped and ended before it's too late. Six years is more than enough to know the administration's agenda at home and abroad is roguish, corrupted by greed and contempt for the law, ruthless in its pursuit of world dominance through the barrel of a gun, and arrogant enough to think it can get away with it because who'll challenge those in charge.
Internally, there no longer are checks and balances as the three branches of government under Republicans and Democrats are united for a common purpose, and their agenda to carry it out is hostile to the public interest. It's the ultimate expression of Lord Acton's dictum that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Positively it does in the age of George Bush and a culture obsessed with power, the lust for more of it, and the worship of the wealth and privilege that comes with it. It wreaks of the Vince Lombardi philosophy that "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing," and the only rules are the ones those now in power make up as they go along justifying whatever they choose to do, regardless of its consequences always harmful to the great majority.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
That Dear Sir, was the most comprehensive article that I have yet to read on the Bush administration, and the plight of our democracy. I agree with everything you said. I hope that the next year brings us closer to bringing back values that havn't been present in our country for many years. Thany you for a great article.
by
Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 11:28:00 AM
I'm very grateful for your comments. I just emailed Editor Rob Kall telling him this article was my venting to sum up all feelings I have about all other articles I wrote during the year. I'm glad you liked it.
by
Stephen Lendman (239 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 76 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 12:52:08 PM
I say this as a positive statement, not as a negative.
THAT WAS A GREAT ARTICLE.
But...
It goes off at a few points in some other directions and could probably be edited down a bit. It's not that ANYTHING you said wasn't worth saying, just that you can only say so much at once.
LIBRARIES will be filled to the brim with books on the evil and incompetence of the Bush Administration. Entire books can be written that won't even BEGIN to cover how much they have done to destroy our country and the world.
Nobody should even TRY to put it all into one article, no matter how noble a cause that might be.
Let's hope, some day, we can write about things getting BETTER for Planet Earth and her people.
CharlieL
Portland, OR
CLL2001@gmail.com
by
Charlie L (2 articles, 2 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 638 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 2:20:09 PM
Seems some of you obviously missed the memo after George was sworn in as President.The Constitution is null and void and it is the new Survival Game.Survival of the fittest. Old ,young and sick must go first.Money is the only measure of a man.See, you missed it too.!!!!
by
cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 3:27:40 PM
If I may quote Stephen :
"At the end of the sixth horrific year under the reign of the Bush modern-day extremist Jacobin-neocons, we can now look ahead, but to what. We have an administration in charge for another two years one longtime analyst characterizes as "a bunch of crooks, incompetents and perverts" with the president's approval rating plunging as low as 28% in some independent polls and a growing number of people in the country demanding his impeachment and removal from office.
It's not likely from the new Democrat-led Congress arriving in January, as their DLC leadership took it off the table and so far only promises more of the same failed policy other than some minor tinkering around the edges to create an illusion of change no different than the deceptive kind of course correction proposed by the Baker "Gang of Ten" Iraq Study Group (ISG) that guarantees none at all. It doesn't leave members of the body politic with much hope for the new year that will likely just deliver more of the same rogue leadership and policy engendering growing public discontent and anger but not at a level so far to scare the those in power enough to want to address it."
In my opinion the very worst thing about this last six year "reign of terror" is the abysmal lack of opposition to it from the so-called opposition party. While more and more citizens of these United States are increasingly outraged by the excesses of this heinous administration we still hear silences and platitudes from the "loyal opposition". It is this climate of appeasement that allows Bush to continue to destroy our democratic processes.
Whenever one cites the numerous examples of such complicities by the Democrats the DLC supporters rush to both ignore the list and to castigate the left for being "unrealistic" or too "demanding". It is the ignoring of the record by these conservative democrats, so-called centrists or democratic libertarians that should make everyone understand that they do not have our best interests at heart. They seek only to restore the power of the Party and not the legacy of our nation.
I wonder at the slate of candidates for the office of the President in '08 that the Dems will field. Hillary, despite her vast accumulation of wealth, some of it from her buddy Rupert Murdoch no doubt, is slipping in the polls. Obama, the primary reason for that slippage is, at the same time, a neophyte to national office and extremely eloquent. He is also, apparently, enmired in a budding scandal as well, over cronyism. Edwards is positioning himself rather well and actually pounding on the real issues. He I would consider voting for.
The real problem in this nation remains that far to many folks would never vote for a man named Barak Hussein Obama, and that is a national scandal. The lack of a party of national stature that is willing to defend our constitution is another scandal as well.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 7:25:25 AM
particularly for his attention to detail. I still would like to add something:
Hypocrisy had always been a part of the US religion. It was needed to connect the official Christian set of values with the rule of mighty dollar. By no means it was aa unique endeavor: this phenomena more or less exists in any human society and if you read the world literature you can find it in Germany or Britain, Japan or Thailand or etc. But in the US it developed in the most ugly form of all- it became a 'genetic part of the character'. Hypocrisy in fact stopped being a tool and became a natural part of life. It effectively replaced the real human qualities. I characterise that as a deliberate madness.
In most societies totally consumed by hypocrisy the only way to cure was a catastrophe. We here are heading for one ( the neocon parasites are the symptoms of that) unless we introduce a new wording into the pledge of allegiance:
' US is the same as any other country
The US people are no different from anyone else
God, please, do not bless the US, bless the Humanity'
Amen
by
Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3358 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 8:29:56 AM
