Despite a root Constitutional stricture against it no matter the circumstances, torture is now routine on these suspects. Many have died. We do not even know where they are or their names. How can we imagine what is being done? Again, they have not been proven to be terrorists. Charges have been brought against a mere ten of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, yet not proven. Hundreds are still captives and have been tortured psychologically and physically for more than six years now. Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden upon even the worst convicted criminal by the Constitution. These men have not even been charged with a crime. This is the depth of our shame. If we are a nation of honor, we should have long ago spoken against this atrocity.
If these supects are terrorists, then charge them as such and prove it. If not, how can we in good conscience hold them? Free and democratic nations do not keep innocents imprisoned, nor do they torture them. And the people should not ignore it when the government misbehaves. I am ashamed for my country. If we are who we say we are, then we cannot blithely sit by, enjoying what freedoms we retain, while others totally lose theirs. If we are who we say we are, we must fight for the freedom of all.
White House counsel John Yoo has said that the President has the power to declare war on anyone, anywhere, anytime. Yoo issued a memo covering the administration’s ability to legally use torture by re-defining it. Here, torture means to have as one’s principal motive the infliction of significant physical or mental pain. If the interrogator wants information as their primary intent, they can cause as much pain as they wish, and it is not torture. Yoo also makes the bizarre claim that the suspects are not protected by the Geneva Convention. He has been denounced by the National Lawyer’s Guild and they wish to prosecute him as a war criminal. No wonder, since he said on radio the Commander in Chief could legally order that someone ‘crush the testicles of a child.’ It would be permissible for the parents to be forced to watch. Indeed, similar atrocities have happened.
One example is the case of Iraqi boys sodomized with glow sticks while their mothers shrieked for death in order not to see it. Another is Dilawar, an Afghani taxi driver, known to be innocent by his American torturers. His arms were chained to the ceiling for most of a four day period and his perineal nerve struck (among other abuses) over 100 times in 24 hours, amusing the captors with his scream of ‘Allah.’ He died. One of the soldiers is serving two months. There are no other convictions. A third (the list is long) is Maher Arar, a Canadian-Syrian dual citizen questioned by the US. Denied a lawyer (not a US citizen), he was sent to Syria where he was repeatedly beaten and imprisoned in a three by six foot (coffin sized) cell with rats for ten months. They Syrian government found nothing and returned him. This is the war on terror.
UN human rights chief Dr. John Pace said that as many as a thousand Iraqis a month are being tortured to death and that 80 to 90 percent of U.S. detainees are innocent. The worst of the torturing is done by Shia militias, not US forces, but by all accounts Iraq is a far worse place to live under US control than under Sadam Hussein. Roving death squads terrorize people and trip-wire bombs turn alley-ways into death traps for children. The US presence has drastically increased sectarian violence.
Another disturbing factor is the US use of private military contractors, forbidden, like torture, under the Geneva Convention. The US boasts sixty corporate militias and there are many more worldwide. Up to 100,000 privatized troops, the best special ops forces, operate in Iraq. Blackwater operates in the US, as well as Iraq. They appeared in New Orleans after Katrina and have been called ‘Bush’s Praetorian guard’ and his ‘private army.’ They have been banished by the Iraqi government, but their contract was renewed by the US without concern.
Blackwater, after losing four soldiers to insurgents, destroyed Fallujah with the Marine Corp. Illegal use of white phosphorous, a chemical warfare WMD, is widely cited in Fallujah. Many unarmed people, including women, children and infants, were killed without restraint and by deliberate intent. Hundreds were shot in bed. Many bodies were partially eaten by dogs. You can see the photos online. These mercenaries are liable neither to civilian not military law. (For a tragic account of an attempted whistleblower on USIS, another private military contractor, google Colonel Theodore Westhusing. Our heroes are first betrayed.)
In my opinion, this administration is systematically sowing chaos and abusing the populace with the deliberate intent of creating terrorists to feed the war on terror. They create a self-fulfilling prophecy in a dynamic feedback loop. If our government wants democracy, why has it so consistently over-turned it through CIA covert operations in other countries? We have put many dictators in power, including Saddam Hussein.
The US propaganda in Iraq is off the scale of dictatorial powers. If a reporter files a negative report against the United States, they can be imprisoned for thirty years. They have been executed for it, by our own forces. [2] It is a strange democracy we offer to this country. At home, our President was caught spending $1.6 billion to pay off reporters to write friendly stories and not investigate others. He has publicly stated on more than one occasion that he is above the law.
Even Republican senators have complained that this government is shrouded in secrecy and pushes through laws to shield them from scrutiny while sharply curtailing freedom of information laws. What are they doing behind this veil?
Horribly, the administration forced the EPA to change its report on air quality in New York near ground zero from toxic to non-dangerous. Some have already paid the price for breathing in air filled with powdered asbestos and other dangerous substances. A few heroic individuals, including a retired police officer, who volunteered for hundreds of hours of clean-up, died of black lung, a very rare malady these days. The best among us have been discarded by deception. The dust from the towers blanketed the entire city. The toll on health of New Yorkers could easily climb into the hundreds of thousands by this treasonous perjury. No one has been held accountable.
Halliburton is not gone. In fact, they have a corporate militia. And despite their grotesque displays of government favoritism and graft, they have been awarded a $385 million contract for the building of new prisons. Each of these prisons can house a staggering 5000 inmates. These have the express use of “an excess of immigrants or in the event of a national emergency.” A sudden influx of a hundred thousand dangerous immigrants seems somewhat unlikely. So why would the government need to imprison a hundred thousand people because of a national emergency? After an emergency, the government is tasked with helping people, not imprisoning them. What logic can be found that is congruent with our idea of America?
The Posse Comitatus has recently been overturned. Now the United States military may legally operate in its own borders against her own citizenry. The President can seize control of state national guard troops at will. In a democratic state, what possible need is there for this?
Are they above the law? Karl Rove has taken to ignoring a fleet of Congressional subpoenas issued to him concerning FISA, the illegal tapping of American’s telephones. Provisions of the 2006 Military Commissions Act provide retroactive immunity to the administration for war crimes! Perhaps this is a response to a classified Red Cross report on torture (locked in tiny boxes and waterboarded) of Guantamo detainees by the CIA. Even government investigation proves that at least 55% of these people are completely innocent. Only 8% have ties to al-Qaeda. The Red Cross suggests the administration is indictable for war crimes. These are our leaders. In the words of one senior Republican Congressman (tortured himself in North Korea), ‘America is better than this.’
Please do your own research. Verify these things for yourself. It is not difficult to do so, I assure you. Everything presented as fact is true. Perhaps I am insane and unable to interpret this material correctly, but is there nothing frightening here at all?
The strangeness continues. The so-called terror watch-list has grown to a million names. That is only an estimate because the mere number of names is, inexplicably, classified information. An American official who has questioned the policies of this terror watch list found himself on it. His record as a citizen is impeccable and he clearly has no ties to any terrorist organization. He cannot get his name removed. Nelson Mandela was on the list until the President, under petition, signed an order to have him removed. If you find yourself on this list, air travel will become increasingly difficult. Soon it may be impossible.
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