- If there was ever an example of a complicit media, we need to look
no further than the ongoing, yet dreadfully silent subject of the
torture scandal.
-
- George W. Bush has said that he is a war President, that makes
decisions with war on his mind, and I believe him. He also would
have us believe in the same breath that he is a victim, a victim of
horrible intelligence, from nearly everyone who surrounds him. He
asks us to look past this and re-elect him. I cannot look past Abu
Ghraib.
-
- You remember Abu Ghraib, don’t you? Back in the spring we first
saw the pictures. Prisoners being led around on leashes. Prisoners
standing on chairs with jumper cables attached to their genitals, in
mock electrocution. Guards smiling for the cameras, enjoying every
minute of it. We were all outraged, shocked and demanded answers…and
then we all kinda forgot about it.
-
- The administration tried to sell us on the “few rotten apples”
theory. Soon we were hearing about the fact that Bush had actually
asked for a legal justification for avoiding the Geneva Conventions.
This means that our President planned of course, the very torture he
would have us believe was the actions of a few rotten apples. During
the initial days of this controversy, we had the comparison of these
acts to a “fraternity hazing” by noted right wing radio
personality Rush Limbaugh. Considering how much drugs Mr. Limbaugh
has done, I guess we can excuse such stupidity. However, at that
same time we had some prominent republicans downplaying the torture.
Tom Delay suggested folks were overreacting. Senator James Inhofe,
was more “outraged about the outrage”, dismissing the barbaric
tactics.
-
- I want to make sure we do not lose sight of this scandal. This is
a lot more than we have seen. This is more than Lynndie England.
This is more than piling up naked prisoners and smiling for the
cameras. Reports now are that US troops and translators sodomized
and raped Iraqi prisoners. Not just adults either, reports are that
teenage boys were also sodomized. Prisoners were urinated on.
Handcuffed prisoners were tossed from moving cars. Prisoners were
made to eat food that was infested with bugs. Some prisoners died as
a result of the torture. One such death was the result of a man
being forced to jump off a bridge into the Tigris River.
-
- I wish the story ends there, as bad as this is, but it does not.
This is because the allegations now, are that children were
involved. Between January and May of this year, the Red Cross says
that 107 children were registered as detainees. One story is that an
interrogation of a 15-year-old girl had to be broken up, even though
at that point she was half undressed. Another one says that a
16-year-old boy was doused with cold water, driven through the cold,
smeared with mud and presented to his father, who immediately broke
down. Reporter Seymour Hersh, who broke the initial scandal, has
seen the sodomy of these young children on videotape and he recalls
vividly, the shrieking of these boys as they were being violated.
-
- This story is out there and is being reported in every country
except ours. It takes a periodical like Rolling Stone to have the
guts to print it in the US. Can you imagine the clamor there would
be if this had happened under Clinton? There would be congressional
hearings, daily press conferences, and of course, impeachment
proceedings. It is the middle of an election year, three months
before the election and what do we hear, silence. Where is our
media? Why is this not the lead story on every channel until we get
some answers to the allegations that we TORTURED, RAPED AND
SODOMIZED CHILDREN! Where is the outrage! Where are the talking
heads! Isn’t this an important enough story to get to the bottom
of before we go to the polls? Is this what we have come to in
America? That the rape of children is not newsworthy if it may shine
negatively upon our President. Do we care anymore about who we are
as a people and what we are supposed to stand for? It is bad enough
that some would believe that democracy is a concept that must be
forced upon people, reducing it to figurative and political rape. Do
we really need to add physical rape on top of it, look the other
way, and ignore the shrieks of these children?
-
- I know this is not a pleasant story. I know it is not something we
wish that had happened, but it has. It has all been verified, but
forgotten. Please keep in mind that 70-90% of these people were
eventually released because they actually had done nothing wrong.
Keep in mind that it is a violation of international law, despite
what Bush’s lawyers might say. Keep in mind that we adhere to
those laws so that when our soldiers are captured, they are not
tortured. Keep in mind that despite such medieval practices, the
best intelligence we can gather these days, remains four years old.
Twenty years ago, the press would have been
relentless in their pursuit of the truth. They would not have stopped
until the real rotten apples had been rooted out. The truth of the
matter is that this tragedy is the result of a few rotten apples. The
torture, rape, sodomy, sodomy with a broomstick, sodomy with a
phosphoric light, child abuse, squalor, and insect infested food is all
the result of a few bad apples. They just happen to be Bush, Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell, Rice, Bremer, Ashcroft, and Feith. They are
the ones leading us around on a leash. We need to stop smiling for the
cameras and demand some answers.
Anthony Wade
is co-administrator of
a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of
President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a
36-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary
articles seen on multiple websites.
A Christian progressive, and professional counselor, Mr. Wade
believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable
for lies and excess.
Anthony Wade’s
Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm
Email Anthony: takebacktheus@gmail.com
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