He's like a king who never knew repose
But lives in constant dread to be o'erthrown,
Buying a half-obedience from his foes
And half-a-king to them who would have none.
And so his robe is stained, his front dismayed,
His court a mock, himself but half a king;
And so his magnanimity's arrayed,
So foully gowned, a self-impeaching thing -- Holley
All the Bush regime and the Pentagon wants is permission to kill these Gitmo detainees, legal-like.
They caught them on the 'battlefield' and they want to finish the job. Hell, when they caught these men (and boys) our soldiers had tanks, airstrikes, shock and awe . . . to them, all of this ducking around the Courts is an insult to all of the force and manpower they put behind capturing these prisoners.
Their greatest fear is that these prisoners will get their shot at what we take for granted here in America: a free and fair trial, due process, access to evidence against them with the right to challenge with witnesses, protection against use of coerced confessions . . . and that there won't be enough evidence to hold these prisoners, even though the military would fall over themselves to vouch for their guilt.
That's why the Bush regime wants to set up a tribunal with limited access to whatever evidence they classify, no redress against coerced 'evidence', and limited access to counsel (if any). Republicans like Sens. John McCain and Arlen Specter, want legislation that would still put the men on trial, but would guarantee the type of due process that the Court implied Bush's tribunal approach lacked. Such a proposal could set the stage for a compromise with Democrats who probably don't want to get on the side of the prisoners this close to the midterm elections.
Anne-Marie Lizi, president of the Belgian Senate, who headed a European inspection team to Gitmo, reports that out of around 460 held at the Cuban-based facility, only 30 to 40 "real" cases actually exist there, and recommends the US detention centre be closed by 2007.
Almost 100 detainees have been determined eligible to be transferred back to their home countries, 16 were found 'eligible for release'. Politics has a hold on both the accused and those found innocent. It's the same type of politics that keeps us bogged down in Iraq; the public to be pacified by a politically-motivated rumor out of the commanding officer's quarters promising a reduction in force by Christmas of a mere fraction of the numbers there; then contradicted by defense chief Rumsfeld and Bush, both hiding behind 'conditions on the ground'.
It's the same politics which allows Bush the impunity to ignore Congress and their limiting laws as he pursues his political 'war on terror'. Yesterday Bush was in Missouri - a state with a majority against the occupation and in favor of a deadline for withdrawal - campaigning for a continued occupation of Iraq on behalf of a beleaguered republican.
Bush moved his war campaign to Ohio today to wrap another desperate republican in his bloody flag, promising more mindless militarism in his long war borne on the backs of the soldiers he sacrifices without remorse for his political ambition and greed.
No real surprise today as the Pentagon claimed its leaders had clean hands in the prisoner abuses that rocked the world in 2005. Vice Adm. Albert T. Church (who conducted the review) concluded that 'no uniformed or civilian leaders directed or encouraged the prisoner abuses committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.'
''The fundamental finding of the report was that there was no policy that condoned or authorized abuse of detainees,'' said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman. It wasn't enough for the Pentagon that the majority of these prisoners - many initially captured by the Iraqis and turned over to the U.S. - have reportedly been held without charges or counsel for a year or more.
It's not enough for the gutless orchestrators of the abusive Bush wars and the architects of the renditions to their American Gulags to sit in their air-conditioned offices, many never serving in the military, much less fight and risk their lives in war, They were satisfied using the young soldiers they committed to Iraq as enforcers for their imperious protection racket. Now these 'leaders' are more than content to hang these soldiers out alone to atone for the torture and abuse that was certainly approved, if not ordered, from the very Pentagon offices that refused to recognize the Geneva conventions outlawing the abusive practices.
The Pentagon, earlier in the month made a deliberate omission from the Army training manual of a Geneva Convention ban on "humiliating and degrading treatment." In fact, Rumsfeld's Nov. 27, 2002, memo approved several methods which would violate Geneva Convention rules. Hard to imagine that they had a moment of regret about the tortures and abuses, only about their revelation.
Bush, met with military personnel returned from Iraq and Afghanistan during his war campaign through Missouri. He commented afterward:
"I told these men and women that their service is necessary for the security of the United States of America, and that they're serving in historic times. And one day their children will be able to look back and say, my dad, or my mom went to Iraq and Afghanistan and helped a young country become a democracy, and therefore the world is more peaceful for it." Bush said.
"One day children will look back and say, my dad, my mom, went to Iraq and Afghanistan."
But lives in constant dread to be o'erthrown,
Buying a half-obedience from his foes
And half-a-king to them who would have none.
And so his robe is stained, his front dismayed,
His court a mock, himself but half a king;
And so his magnanimity's arrayed,
So foully gowned, a self-impeaching thing -- Holley
All the Bush regime and the Pentagon wants is permission to kill these Gitmo detainees, legal-like.
They caught them on the 'battlefield' and they want to finish the job. Hell, when they caught these men (and boys) our soldiers had tanks, airstrikes, shock and awe . . . to them, all of this ducking around the Courts is an insult to all of the force and manpower they put behind capturing these prisoners.
Their greatest fear is that these prisoners will get their shot at what we take for granted here in America: a free and fair trial, due process, access to evidence against them with the right to challenge with witnesses, protection against use of coerced confessions . . . and that there won't be enough evidence to hold these prisoners, even though the military would fall over themselves to vouch for their guilt.
Anne-Marie Lizi, president of the Belgian Senate, who headed a European inspection team to Gitmo, reports that out of around 460 held at the Cuban-based facility, only 30 to 40 "real" cases actually exist there, and recommends the US detention centre be closed by 2007.
Almost 100 detainees have been determined eligible to be transferred back to their home countries, 16 were found 'eligible for release'. Politics has a hold on both the accused and those found innocent. It's the same type of politics that keeps us bogged down in Iraq; the public to be pacified by a politically-motivated rumor out of the commanding officer's quarters promising a reduction in force by Christmas of a mere fraction of the numbers there; then contradicted by defense chief Rumsfeld and Bush, both hiding behind 'conditions on the ground'.
It's the same politics which allows Bush the impunity to ignore Congress and their limiting laws as he pursues his political 'war on terror'. Yesterday Bush was in Missouri - a state with a majority against the occupation and in favor of a deadline for withdrawal - campaigning for a continued occupation of Iraq on behalf of a beleaguered republican.
Bush moved his war campaign to Ohio today to wrap another desperate republican in his bloody flag, promising more mindless militarism in his long war borne on the backs of the soldiers he sacrifices without remorse for his political ambition and greed.
No real surprise today as the Pentagon claimed its leaders had clean hands in the prisoner abuses that rocked the world in 2005. Vice Adm. Albert T. Church (who conducted the review) concluded that 'no uniformed or civilian leaders directed or encouraged the prisoner abuses committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.'
''The fundamental finding of the report was that there was no policy that condoned or authorized abuse of detainees,'' said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman. It wasn't enough for the Pentagon that the majority of these prisoners - many initially captured by the Iraqis and turned over to the U.S. - have reportedly been held without charges or counsel for a year or more.
It's not enough for the gutless orchestrators of the abusive Bush wars and the architects of the renditions to their American Gulags to sit in their air-conditioned offices, many never serving in the military, much less fight and risk their lives in war, They were satisfied using the young soldiers they committed to Iraq as enforcers for their imperious protection racket. Now these 'leaders' are more than content to hang these soldiers out alone to atone for the torture and abuse that was certainly approved, if not ordered, from the very Pentagon offices that refused to recognize the Geneva conventions outlawing the abusive practices.
The Pentagon, earlier in the month made a deliberate omission from the Army training manual of a Geneva Convention ban on "humiliating and degrading treatment." In fact, Rumsfeld's Nov. 27, 2002, memo approved several methods which would violate Geneva Convention rules. Hard to imagine that they had a moment of regret about the tortures and abuses, only about their revelation.
Bush, met with military personnel returned from Iraq and Afghanistan during his war campaign through Missouri. He commented afterward:
"I told these men and women that their service is necessary for the security of the United States of America, and that they're serving in historic times. And one day their children will be able to look back and say, my dad, or my mom went to Iraq and Afghanistan and helped a young country become a democracy, and therefore the world is more peaceful for it." Bush said.
"One day children will look back and say, my dad, my mom, went to Iraq and Afghanistan."
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