I was reading Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo, by Murat Kurnaz, when I came across a passage about Kurnaz being subjected to gruesome electric shock torture at the hands of America's brave volunteer warriors. After passing out and being tossed back in his cell to sleep it off, Kurnaz was soon awakened by harrowing screams.
He saw two valiant American soldiers hitting a man who was lying on the ground-his head wrapped in a blanket. Five more patriotic heroes eventually joined in on the beating, hitting the man's head with the butts of their rifles and kicking him with their heavy boots. "Then," says Kurnaz, "they walked away, leaving him lying there."
The next morning, the man was still lying in the same spot: in a pool of blood. It wasn't until later that afternoon that four US officers came to inspect him and an escort team earned their yellow ribbons by taking away his lifeless body.
"I wondered to myself if he had any children," writes Kurnaz. "Whether his mother and father would ever find out that he had been beaten to death. At that moment, I didn't care whether it was him or me. My life was worth nothing more than his. I'd understood for quite some time what this camp was about. They could do with us what they pleased. And I might be next."
Even if the man who was beaten to death was proven-beyond a reasonable doubt-to be personally responsible for 9/11, how can anyone but a sociopath justify such treatment? Can anyone but a sadistic criminal justify the existence of "Gitmo"? How much more will it take before everyday Americans collectively hang their heads in shame over this ongoing crime and the many other examples of their (sic) nation's contemptible conduct?
Are any of you ashamed of the epidemics of preventable diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.? What about the poisoning of our air, water, and food (including mother's breast milk); the one-third of Americans uninsured or underinsured when it comes to health care; the fact that 61% of US corporations do not even pay taxes; the presidential lies, electoral fraud, limited debates, and so on; the largest prison population on the planet; corporate control of public land, public airwaves, public pensions; overt infringement of our civil liberties; bloated defense budget, unilateral military interventions, war crimes committed in our name, legalization of torture, blah blah blah?
What will it take before you are wholeheartedly ashamed to be American?
Ask yourself these two questions: 1. Do I feel the planet is in peril? 2. Do I believe that those in power-those most responsible for the planet being in peril-will relinquish power voluntarily?
If you answered "yes" to number one and "no" to number two, I have one more question for you: How much are you willing to endure before you take serious, sustained action?
Mickey Z. is the author of the forthcoming novel, CPR for Dummies and can be found on the Web here.
http://www.mickeyz.net
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
I reprint here my diary entry from January 2005(!)
The questions are not multiple choice:
1.Do you want your child to be killed in the war in Iraq, Iran, Syria or Korea? If yes, in what way: by bullet, by explosion, by poison, by disease, by beheading or any other form of violent death? If no, do you want anyone’s else’s child (American or not) to be killed in those wars? 2.Do you want your child to lose limbs in the same war? If yes, then which ones: hands, legs, eyes, ears, other vital organs. Make a choice. 3.Do you like to torture people? 4.Do you like to be tortured? 5.Would you like to try to be tortured? If yes, maybe you would prefer members of your family to be present? Indicate if you prefer to be hooded or not. 6.Is it OK with you if your family is restricted in its civil rights (say, cannot leave the US) due to the origin of your paternal grand- grandfather, your religion or facial features’ pattern? 7.Is it OK with you if your family is not restricted but the family of your street neighbor is? 8.Is it OK with you if your son (daughter) decides to join the religion to which the restricted people belong? 9.Is it OK with you if your son or daughter falls in love and wants to get married to one of the restricted people? 10.Would you support a federal legislation forbidding the restricted people to own a firearm or any other sorts of armory? What if you are one of those people? 11.How would you like to be restricted in your rights only by the states? Say, in one state you are allowed to drive a car and in another- it is forbidden to the people of your facial features? 12.What would you do if your children are put on detention for 6 hours in school for refusing to salute to the American flag but you are a restricted person and thus cannot go to the police. 13.What would you do if your restricted son breaks a glass window by the ball and the property owner accuses him of terrorism? 14. What special restriction sign would you prefer to wear: a ring on the neck, a star on the sleeve or a patch on the leg? What color? 15.Will you be Ok if other people wear such signs in public? 16.What would you do if you are pronounced a enemy combatant? 17.Did you like the charred bodies of the Saddam Hussein’s children on TV? Was it better than Janet Jackson’s nipple? If yes, do you think, that they should also show the body of the grandson, killed the same day? 18.Do you believe in God? If yes, which one? Do you agree that other Gods (Allah, Buddha, Krishna) also exist? If no, how do you know? 19. How many main branches of the Christian religion are there in the world? 20.Why do you think we never had a trial of 9/11? 21.300 Russian Children were killed by terrorists in Beslan. UK and Denmark harbor some or the leaders of Chechen Republic from which those terrorists are. Still, Russia does not attack those countries. Why? Why don’t we proclaim the UK the country harboring terrorists? 22.If Osama was harbored say, by China, should we still attack it? 23.How many American people should we sacrifice to get Osama: 3000, 5000, 7000? Pick a number. How about other people, not Americans? 24.If someone captures Osama and offers him in exchange for you, would you agree? 25.Same as in 24, but this time that someone would request a restricted person. Would you consider such tradeoff acceptable?
26.Look at the answers of yours. Are you a good person?
by
Mark Sashine (37 articles, 19 quicklinks, 221 diaries, 3074 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 2:16:52 PM
Americans should be very ashamed of what their Government has done, as noted in the article. You are much better than this, and to let your War Criminal Bush Administration drag you through this should be unacceptable.
Take back your country from these criminals before they destroy all of us.
by
Rolland Miller (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 3:42:38 PM
but I disagree that cancer, heart attack and diabetes are preventable unless you mean only in some cases.
Saddly cancer (as a broad swag of diseases arising from accumulated genetic changes in somatic cells) is an intrinsic part of life. Heart disease and diabetes too. To the extent that we can keep superstition out of science and medicine we (humans) may make progress in the treatments of heart disease and diabetes and in delaying the average age of onset in all of those diseases but the prognosis of preventing them altogether is very poor whilst we are made of biological stuff.
Torture though, and aggressive invasion, one would have hoped that we humans and Americans in particular might have been a little better than that.
As a human being what else can I say but a pox on America!
To Americans I say if you are a decent human being don't emphasise your nationality when you travel.
by
Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 610 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 6:54:00 PM
I am even more proud of our young men and women in uniform. That you can find only distain with America is indicitive of your lack of understanding of the current world we live in. Gitmo is the neccesary reslult of a uneducated, ninth century, fanatic of an enemy we face. Name a war that didn't have a detention center on both sides? I don't see you complaining about the dispicable buchery of the fanatics? Why is that? Why do all "progresives" have an unearned elitest smugness about them? I am proud of my country but I am constanty ashamed of leftists and the stupid things they do and say!
by
David C Beach (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 103 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 8:12:09 PM
Are you for or against launching aggressive invasions when your country had promised not to do so in treaties?
Are you for or against the rule of law?
Why does a contemporary American have any more justification for nationalistic pride than a shit-throwing chimpanzee? At least a shit-throwing chimpanzee is not a hypocrit and has never promised the other chimps that he will observe a code of conduct and respect the rule of law then gone back on his word.
by
Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 610 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 9:19:02 PM
Be nice now, I think a lot more of a s**t-throwing chimpanzee than I do of a leftist. At least the monkey can look in a mirror and not see the words pushover inked on his forhead. When its other peoples wives, childern, and husbans being tortured in Saddam Husseins horrendes prisons did you care? Well no one cares if you cared you didn't do anything about it. We Did. In North Korea there are 250,000 political prisioners. Camp 22 - North Korea's largest concentration camp, where thousands of men, women and children accused of political crimes are held.
Over the past year harrowing first-hand testimonies from North Korean defectors have detailed execution and torture, and now chilling evidence has emerged that the walls of Camp 22 hide an even more evil secret: gas chambers where horrific chemical experiments are conducted on human beings. Here http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/feb/01/northkorea
The tortured in North Korea need help, are you going to save them? then who? Thats right STM the hated USA is there best hope.
by
David C Beach (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 103 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 11:20:27 PM
No, Gitmo is the Result of the White House having to find a whole lot of bodies fast to justify its fruadulent, cartoon War on Terror, so it can tell easy to slick Americans that: Wow, look at all those evil ones we captured (actually, paid for). So the vast majority of detainees are innocent slobs picked up in sweeps or what not, and sold like cattle for the slaughter. Meanwhile, our whipped into a frenzy GIs have been compounding the injustice by abusing them left and right, projecting upon them collective fantasies of incarnate evil that bear no resemblence to these prisoners' realities and histories.
But Gitmo also has another function, and that is to flaunt and enable the culture of sadism that is sweeping through our Right-wing elitists and institutions, the pinnacle of their reactionary, death-and-war cult philosophy and paradigms, every bit as psychotic as Nazi philosphy ever was. They bequeath humanity with the Satanic and seek to spread this culture of vileness and evil to every corner of the planet, all ironically, in the name of freedom and democracy. Madison Avenue has trained our elitists well, showering them over time with many techniques to make manure look and smell like perfume, and to make death look and smell like life.
by
Mac McKinney (37 articles, 43 quicklinks, 113 diaries, 795 comments)
on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 11:33:15 PM
Wow, that's a good one. From Gitmo to North Korea and I'm a Commie. Wheew! The Stalinist manifestation of Communism, by the way, I have always called "Red Fascism". Red China is largely in the same boat, although they aren't even really Communists anymore, just totalitarian corporatists.
Marx, by the way, would have totally disowned the whole lot of these Statists, just as Christ would have disowned the Catholic Church for all its crimes in the Middle Ages, not that I am trying to compare Marx and Christ, other than that they were both founders of historical movements
But you have a point, that Communist regimes like North Korea have quite a head start in torture and mistreatment, but not to worry, Bush is catching up! And they don't openly pontificate about it as a good and necessary thing under the "right circumstances" like our sophists do. We can ony speculate how many thousands of prisoners are trapped in secret CIA facilities now across the globe, or even not so secret facilities, or simply rendered to countries like Egypt who have seasoned sadists. Bush and the Neocons are really Statists too, believing that all power and morality derive from the elite, basically that their shit doesn't stink and that they are entitled to play God, so eventually this attitude, unless confronted, will make us just like North Korea or Red China, and tyranny will regin supreme.
As soon as you start using the tactics of Red and Black Fascists, with torture and abuse of human rights and dignity, you have made your first step into Hell, and it is then downhill all the way, to lower and lower rings of suffering. The deeper you're in, the stronger the pull of gravity to continue downward.
by
Mac McKinney (37 articles, 43 quicklinks, 113 diaries, 795 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 11:58:25 AM
Mr Beach is clearly the type of American who makes Gitmo &
the kind of torture Mickey Z. describes possible. Decent people would have reacted to reading the article -- about the man who was beaten to death by US soldiers while lying helpless on the ground wrapped up in a blanket -- by feeling horror & disgust. But Mr Beach probably felt sadistic pleasure in reading it, and only wished he could have been there himself to join in kicking the helpless victim, & bashing his head in with rifle butts.
Mr Beach, I presume, considers himself a "good Christian," but somehow I doubt Jesus would have been proud of what the soldiers did. The real Jesus (not the one the Religious Right pays lip service to, in order to politically manipulate its adherents) would have wept, to see what those soldiers did.
When rightwing creatures like Mr Beach slither out from under their rocks on Internet discussion boards, it's tempting to try to argue with them. But invariably, these creatures don't respond to the questions that are put to them. For instance, Stanimal asks Beach questions lower in this thread about past US support for people like Sadam, Osama, the Shah ,etc. I predict that Beach will fail to respond to those points. Or he'll come up with a cheap rationalization for them, of the type that an ardent N*zi might well have used, to justify allegiance to that criminal regime.
It's amusing to note that in Beach's bio sketch, he claims to "read for 50-70 hours a week" (& that he thinks "Bush is doing great"). One can easily guess what kind of reading material goes into these 50-70 weekly hours -- no doubt stuff written by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, etc.
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 915 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 11:28:23 AM
I have known there was something 'wrong' with America since I saw photo's of my my friend's buddies in Vietnam. At least one unit of The 173rd Airborne had a culture of collecting Viet Cong ears, the photos had strings of them hanging from their rucksacks. That is the sort of thing our country stands for, regardless of what the Constitution says.
I am tired of having to apologise for what the leaders of my country of birth do in our name.
Veteran '66-68
by
Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 228 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 4:53:48 AM
though I'm quite ashamed at what the self-appointed chicken hawks of the fascist's Bu$h cabal have done to our form of government. The rule of law states that these "Goon's & Thug's" should be impeached, guilty verdicts of Treason and War Crimes sentences by the Hague, with life sentences served at Gitmo enduring what "Enemy Combatant's" have.
Mr. Beach, I suspect that you forgot that Saddam Hussein was a Ronald Reagan Freedom Fighter in the 80's. So too was Osma Bin Laden and the Al-CIAda network was created by the USA to support the (RRFF) in Afghanistan during the USSR illegal occupation.
I suppose you also can't recall that the Shah of Iran replaced a democratic elected president of Iran in 1953, leading to the brutality endured by the Iranians and his secret police. So much for the Bu$h administration's claim about wanting to instill democracies in the ME.
Iran is a signor of the UN N-P Treaty, and has a right to develop nuclear energy, which can be monitored just like the "Alleged" WMD's that Saddam didn't possess.
I ask, what country in the world has used nuclear weapons in the past?
Has Iran pre-empted an attack any country in the past 1000 years, or presently illegally occupy any nations like the US and its War Of Terror are during?
I completely understand why the Arabs have reservations about US intentions in the ME, and as soon as the oil runs out, so will the mis-guided foreign policies the US has fomented there.
by
Stanimal (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 192 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 6:30:41 AM
many years ago, when I was, on balance, proud to be an American. Problem was, I didn't know what I know now. I mistakenly thought that we lived in a country of 'checks and balances' and in which our leaders were concerned with the public good - more or less. And that our government's policies were directed towards promoting democracy and freedom in the world..... Boy oh boy... was I ever deluded. By the Mockingbird-infested media wherein CIA and government soothsayers promoted the benign memes. If anything, that media and information control has only worsened. The up side is that it has become more obvious to many.
Now, the actions of this even further darkened nation can no longer be denied (except for the TV-brainwashed) and our nation stands condemned for the perfidy and evil evidenced by its actions around the world and against its own citizens.
So I ask Mr. Daniels, what's to be proud of? What has the United States done in recent years that cannot be seen to be shameful? Are you proud of the millions of deaths attributable to the CIA et. al., over the years all to support corporatist agendas. Are you proud of the million plus deaths in Iraq .... justified by the global hegemon? Are you proud of the deaths of thousands of our own for the goals of plunder and pillage? Are you proud of the deaths of 3000 caused on 9/11 by our own hand. And the deaths and soon to be many more deaths of First Responders caused by lies by our 'Leaders'? How about the deaths of millions in Kosovo, in Africa, in the Middle East, in Latin and South America ..... all for the fianciers and corporations?
This is what we have become ... from the days of Smedley Butler's wars for corporations in Latin America to the days of megadeath for Oil profits in the Middle East. This is what we are. And I, for one, am deeply ashamed.
As an immigrant, first generation it was not much of surprise to me that US people are the same as everyone else and that in fear and under duress they behave as all people do: they lash, they do stupid things, they murder innocent, they sell their souls and they say they are proud of that. No surprise. I've seen that before. This pride of cowards is a paramount disease. It is based on a prejudice- the original idea that you, your nation, your people are somehow better, that we here do not do this and that, that we here are clean, that.. you know. It is surely also based on ignorance about thyself and other people because prejudice needs ignorance very much so. Then we have those noises about ' 9th Century fanatics', as if Bush is not kissing the hairy butts of Saudis every day or 'what war did not have detention centers' as if we are really in war with some country and not in a self- proclaimed crusade against Humanity.
Oh yes, prejudice is paramount and when we look in the mirror and see Gitmo we ... are ashamed of being who we are. I am sorry, folks, you are the same as everyone else. Now, when you found out about it the hard way you may be proud of something what really matters:
You may be proud of consumers for peace who published the report about USA atrocities in Iraq. You may be proud of Cindy Sheehan. You may be proud of those lawyers who work with the Gitmo detainees. You may be proud of the AWOL soldiers who refuse to be murderers. You may be proud of Vincent Bugliosi, Seymour Hersh, Greg Palast and Rob Kall. You may be proud of Senator Byrd. You may be proud of Katrina heroes. You may be proud of that military dogs chief who refused to let his dogs to be used in torture. You may be proud of what you do here. Oh, yes, there is a lot to be proud of. And that is the real America, the one whose Captain did not die after the Civil War. This pride does not need prejudice. It is the pride of a free person.
by
Mark Sashine (37 articles, 19 quicklinks, 221 diaries, 3074 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 7:50:03 AM
Your cavalier understanding of this country is not surprising.You came here with a mountain of baggage.Most of your preconceptions of this country were wrong to start with and we add to that your roots too your homeland.Your contempt for America started long before you arrived and is not that adorning.I don’t require your justification to be proud of this country nor do I need your tainted view of world affairs to correctly identify the helpful from the hurtful.This is a wonderful country and an asset to the world at large.
by
David C Beach (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 103 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 9:34:17 AM
'I don’t require your justification to be proud of this country nor do I need your tainted view of world affairs to correctly identify the helpful from the hurtful.This is a wonderful country and an asset to the world at large.'
No, Mr. Beach, apparently you don't. It is a wonderful country but all countries are. You don't want to consider that? That's not new either. Let me say something bluntly to you: who cares what you think. I said that to many people of such kind. As for my baggage- I sincerely don't care what you think about it also, You better look at yours. It would be even more desirable if we all first look at ours.
But here is something interesting. So, you are not proud of those people I listed? You do not consider them a part of wonderful America. And me being proud of them, also of Rob Kall is a sign of tainted view? You would have let the dogs to be used to torture people?
Mr. Beach , if those perceptions above are truly yours, you are really a very miserable individual ( sorry, you started it by speculating about my baggage) and I surely am not proud of you.
by
Mark Sashine (37 articles, 19 quicklinks, 221 diaries, 3074 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 9:59:53 AM
Here is a quote of Bush's at a Rotary Club early this Centruy: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concerntrate on"
America at best is a melting pot. Or the boiling pot Ezekiel saw. If we do not have health care for all, Capitalism is not worth whole heartily defended.
Tom Paine said, "The World is my Country, and my religion is to do good." What I am getting at is that we have not seen much of true Socialism. Yet if Capitalism was worth defending Unions would never have been necassary." The fruits of the last 28 years of the neocons ways are going to expose a whole lot of things which only have helped the elite-neocons.
There is a Mondragon Cooperative called Mondragon. Which is the 8th largest company in all of Spain. When the Unions work out the details of setting it up here in the States (of confusion) then I will be proud of America. For it will have something to show the world which will work for Mankind earning an honest 21st century wage.
Open-minded, forward thinking is something I consider to be a vertue, I question why someone who'd mind is already made up is here reading opinions of folks who practice that trait. The ability to consider two thoughts, rub them together a bit and perhaps form an alternate point of view is something worth working toward, no matter the art is not taught in school these days.
by
Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 228 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 9:45:29 AM
To whome it may concern: You know both major political parties have allowed these crimes to continue. Are you ashamed that you will vote for someone who aligns him or herself with one of these two parties, particularly when other people are running who clearly would not have allowed these atrocities to occur or continue.
My country has been taken over by a group of rich and powerful individuals who have one goal and that is to make as much money as possible. These people have taken over our government with bribes, threats and with lies and propaganda. The rich oil, gas, and coal companies lie about global warming so as to continue support for their industry just like how tobacco companies lied about their products are not harmful.
These people now own all the main-stream media and use that media to convince the american people that we need to fight an unending war against terrorism when in reality it is to invade oil rich countries so as to secure oil resource for the big oil corporations while making lots of money for the military-industrial companies.
These big international corporations create riches for their owners and top executives and they do that by moving jobs our of American to countries where they can employ children at essentially slave labor wages, with no need to provide health or pension benefits. Their propaganda campaign tries to convince us that good jobs will trickle down; but in reality the rich get ever richer while the poor and middle-class struggle to make a living (if one still has a job).
America was once believed to be a government by and for the people. America was once believed to have a free press that would keep leaders honest. America was once believed to have a legal system that would impartial in upholding the law and above all make sure that the guiding principals of the Constitution were upheld. In my view all these foundation principles have been discarded to a degree that my Country's very soul has been destroyed.
I am angry at those heads of industry who seek only profit. I am angry at those politicians who have let those big corporation's lobbiests override the well being of American and its people. I am angry at those main-stream media who give voice only to the rich and powerful even when that voice is deceiving the American people. I am angry at those in the Department of Justice who distort the law for political reasons for they should know that is wrong. American people - I hope we can regain control of our country.
by
Philip Pease (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 54 comments)
on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 12:09:46 PM
