Author: cyberotter

Yesterday I posted a comment I received from my other site Donkephant, in which a man by the name of dEG attempted to explain why “if your not with us your against us” is a completely rational line of thinking. I attempted to deconstruct the flawed logic of that statement in my previous post “If you are not with us, you are AGAINST us!” if you didn’t get a chance to read it, you might want to for reference. Last night I forwarded the link to that post and received another rebuttal from him. This time I find out that he is a soldier in the Army.
I would like to share with you an inside look into what I think is a classic example of what is wrong with this war. Please note that this individual take umbrage to my lack of appreciation for the military and the men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice. For the record, I have worked for a non-for-profit organization exclusively for veterans for the last 10 years. Every single day I help those men and women that serve our great country. My Father served in the Air Force for 6 years in England. My Grandfather flew for the RCAF and was awarded the Victorian Cross by Queen Elizabeth herself. I have the utmost respect and humility for the men and women that serve in our military. Now on to dEG’s reply.

you know, i totally 100% understand your line of thinking. i completely see your argument, and i understand you feel it is quite valid. however, i totally 100% DISagree, and am completely lost at the same time…

how in the world can you defend these people? there is a whole group of people in this world who believe that they will have a one way ticket to heaven if they make theirselves martyrs, killing how ever many as they can while killing theirself also. and your arguments support their actions. not only have you chose to support their actions, you seem to have justified them…along with justifying the 9/11 attacks.

If you read my article in no way shape or form have I justified the attack on 9/11. I notice he uses the phrase “group of people” and I couldn’t agree more. It is a group of people not a country of people. Yet a country suffers today under the brutal occupation of our military. I do not support the insurgency or any of it’s actions. I also think it is important that we understand two wrongs make a damn fine mess. A quote from my article yesterday, “The point is this, if someone comes in your front yard and kills your pet, you do not go back to their house and murder the entire family. We have a right to “defend” our country. In this day and age “defend” means killing the enemy at any cost on any soil with as many civilian deaths as necessary.” I do not believe what is being carried out in Iraq today is a measured response to anything. Why are we there again?

you know what makes me sad? frustrated? and pure pissed off? the fact that i am serving you, protecting you, both now, and for what could possibly happen in the future if these people are not stopped. that’s what is sad. it’s sad that you, an obviously freedom loving, educated individual, whom has the freedom to make such choices, isn’t even grateful for the sacrifices we soldiers make.

these people do hate us. they hate us for what we stand for. have you ever traveled to saudi arabia? egypt? morocco? iran, iraq, etc.??? you should try it. maybe then you’ll see why i stand for what i stand for.

This appears on the surface to be an attempt at demonizing a regional culture by using the words, “these people.” I’m pretty sure if I visited the countries listed above my first instinct would not be to shoot and torture it’s inhabitants. This individual seems to believe that terrorists are not individuals but more of a dark veil of hatred that infects and consumes entire countries. Conveniently the argument of “group of people” has now expanded to entire countries.

for example, in egypt, if you’re christian, you must be marked with a tattoo at an early age. to be seperated and treated worse. sure, they have freedom of religion, but is it really? in almost every muslim country, women are required to cover almost every part of their body. that’s sad. very sad. not only that, they’re free of course, to not cover all in some of those countries, but if they don’t cover all, they’re harassed. the list goes on, women shouldn’t drive, vote, hold certain jobs, blah blah blah. they can’t drink alcoholic beverages, eat certain foods, watch certain things, read certain things, and on and on and on. fact of the matter is, if you go to these countries, you can be jailed or worse if you bring remnants of your free country into theirs.

they are afraid of the u.s. citizens, or british citizens, or any other free citizen, which they call infidels. they are afraid they will bring ideas of democracy, and complete and total freedom into their land. they’re afraid they will lose control. but at the same time, they infiltrate every large city around the world and are working on smaller ones now. they want to spread their message of hate and controlled living across the board. i for one, have volunteered to put a stop to that.

i am protecting your very right to blog about this matter.

i respectfully disagree. i hope you will sit back and think of the sacrifice i am making for you while i venture to iraq soon, leaving behind my wife, family, and friends, just to protect you and your right to live free. upon my return, i will certainly think about the rights i protected while sacrificing a large chunk of time from my life.

I do have a problem with any repression of any person in any country. I do not however have any problem with differences in cultures. At this point I would hope most of the world is afraid of the US and Britain. We have spent trillions of dollars and untold millions of lives kicking ass for 200 years. If they aren’t afraid of us now, they simply are not paying attention. “Afraid of democracy” I wonder why that would be?

-30,000 people killed by guns within the United States every year

-Corruption runs rampant throughout our government

-Alcohol abuse

-Drugs

Are just a few examples of why this might be. Now he has the “group of people” that turned into countries that are now “infiltrating” every city in the world. Who sounds afraid of whom?

Personally I don’t see how he is protecting my right to blog about this matter. If he were doing that then he would be lobbying for Net Neutrality. I don’t see how killing Iraqi’s is going to save my Internet from the congressmen.

While my friend dEG professes to respectfully disagree, I see very little respect and much more fear and anger.

As for his tour in Iraq that is approaching I have only this to say.

“dEG be swift, be decisive, be honorable, be true. When the shit hits the fan keep your head low and protect your brothers in arms. I do not envy the task you are about to face. I have nothing but respect for your answer to the call of duty. Please take my most sincerest thanks with you as you go. And maybe, just maybe I am fighting for your right to live a full happy life with your family and not to die in an unjust war.”

As many of you may or may not know I run another blog called Donkephant. Yesterday I recieved a comment that I think deserves some attention. Have you ever been talking with a Conservative / Republican friend and heard this line of reasoning?

“tHE_dEG said…

if you are not with us, you are AGAINST us! why do you care if a terrorist is tortured? why should a terrorist retain rights they have so blatantly attempted to steal from us, and have succeeded at stealing from too many of our own? why should we show remorse to people who would blow themselves up to injure our own or other innocent victims? you all need to take a step back and think about what you’re saying. if you are not with us, you are AGAINST us!

I know I have and I would like to make a few points. First off why should I assume that everyone being tortured in American detention facilities and black sites abroad are terrorists? Terrorists are combatants that are guilty of:

Terrorism-

“The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”

Now anyone can tell you that the sky is red, but that doesn’t necessarily make it so. To pronounce someone a criminal we have a judicial system. These individuals are being held without representation, due process and the right to be tried by a jury. Why? Plain and simple, we don’t have the manpower to allow the thousands of detainees’ access to this. So we allow a shortcut here and there and accept on blind faith that the military leadership can handle being judge and jury. We have all seen the photos and the stories making this acceptance harder and harder.

To the point of terrorists having rights or better yet stealing rights from American citizens, it is not the goal of terrorists to steal or take anything. They do not hate us for our freedoms. The goal is to affect political policy. Ask yourself what was the purpose of The attacks of 9/11?

Was the purpose to intimidate or coerce our government into doing something? What? What was the reason for factions to infiltrate our country and destroy buildings and families lives? Was it their position if 2500+ infidels were killed that our government would pull out of a multi-billion dollar a year region? What were they so pissed about? Before 9/11 what were we doing to them?

Mr. President makes the assertion “they hate our freedom…” or “they are evil do’ers….” What particular parts of our freedom to they hate so much? Were they just born evil and hate America for no reason other than to hate? We trained the Taliban and Bin-Laden to control the Afghani territory. We gave Saddam his weapons to secure Iraq from aggressors. We put them in charge. They couldn’t have been all that bad could they? Where they sitting around in their huts, caves and palaces detesting the fact we have freedom of speech? Freedom from persecution? Right to a fair trial? (Pre-Patriot Act) Why would someone commit suicide in the name of hating our freedoms or our ideologies? Are we painting these terrorists as morons?

The events of 9-11 were all they could muster? We trained these people to overthrow a country and repel the army of the Soviet Union, hijacking 4 planes is the best they could do? I think not. If you really want to intimidate an entire country drop a nuclear weapon on top of it, affect it’s water supply, destroy its vital resources or disrupt it’s public works. You know…..all the things we trained them to do in the first place.

If anything I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty, that we have (as a Nation) committed terrorism on a scale that makes 9-11 look like an exercise. In the past many people believe the French had a right to kill Germans, as they were invading their country. Why did the Germans go into France? Was the French government not cooperating with the German ideology of the “New World Order?” They would not submit to the Germans demands?

Why did we go into Iraq? Was the Iraqi government not cooperating with the US? They would not submit to our demands?

I would make the correlation then, that the Iraqi people have a right to kill us as well. When we bombed Dresden it was of no military gain it was a cultural center. Yet we killed tens of thousands. The point was demoralizing the German government and it’s supporters. When we nuked Japan the point was not to disable their Navy or military capability. It was their foolish goal by attacking Pear Harbor for sure. No our point was to intimidate the entire world. To end the war by showing such a lack of concern for human life we could destroy an entire city in 15 seconds. How many casualties were sustained in Pearl Harbor? 1200+? We killed millions in Japan.

The point is this, if someone comes in your front yard and kills your pet, you do not go back to their house and murder the entire family. We have a right to “defend” our country. In this day and age “defend” means killing the enemy at any cost on any soil with as many civilian deaths as necessary.

Do terrorist attacks like these really make sense? Haven’t we been the ones to write the book on intimidation and the influencing of foreign governments, policy and ideology? These events are truly sad and my heart aches for those who have lost loved ones be they Iraqi, Afghani, British, UN forces or Americans. (all others not listed) Are we really involved in a “War on Terror” or are we the one creating the terror in the name of Democracy hoping to change the ideology and politics of the region. Does torturing Iraqi citizens not make us the very evil we purport to hate.

“Terrorism-The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”

Who is to say that being “against us” is necessarily a bad thing?

Stupidity – “To do the same thing over and over and expect different results”

I never understand it when people that supported the war get all up in arms about war atrocities. It’s as if these moraly gifted individuals do not understand the concept of causality, except when it comes to demonstrating to the world, “if you kill one of ours, then we will kill 1000 of yours.” I understand that tensions were high on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of 9-11, but even I “average American guy” understand that war is a horribly violent vehicle for moral misjudgments. As you will see in the following statements most understand the dangers of war, but why is everyone so surprised when Marines serving 3 and 4 tours consecutively loose it and start acting as if they have little to no regard for moral civility? If you voted for the military action in Iraq Senators then you must understand this outcome is not unexpected.
Senior U.S. Republican Senator John Warner vowed to hold hearings on atrocity allegations against Marines in the killings of up to two dozen Iraqi civilians last November. A case some U.S. media have compared to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

“I can assure the American public … as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I’ll do exactly what we did with Abu Ghraib.”

Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette said that what she finds horrible is “the daily massacre of innocent people in Iraq, the execution of prisoners…”

Jon Kyl of Arizona – “Bush had been a consistent and committed leader of the Iraq war.” Of its critics, he said, “hand-wringing does not win wars. War is tough and there are casualties and just before victory sometimes it gets most violent.”

Senator Robert Byrd – “To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences,” Byrd began. “On this February day, as the nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war. Yet, this chamber is, for the most part, silent-ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.”

read on…

Torture Awareness Month – Day 8

(Join Us Here)

Also please take time to visit The Blogger Roundtable. Her article “Many Faces of War” and others deserve your attention.

This is a re-post of an older story, but one that deserves repeating this month.

Thahee Sabbar and Sherzad Khalid are two of eight men who, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union and the group Human Rights First, are suing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The men claim they were tortured for months, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and international law.

Torture has been the center of controversy lately. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — himself a victim of torture during the Vietnam War — has sparked a heated debate after his proposed amendment to ban torture was reportedly the subject of intense lobbying by Vice President Dick Cheney, who sought an exemption for CIA officers.

When asked about it, President Bush said, “Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people … Any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture.”

Rest of story is posted here

Donkephant

Torture Awareness Month – Day 7

On August 1st 2002 a prophet wrote The Book of Babee actually it was a memo, but that doesn’t fit with my biblical reference. In this book he details the very bowls and depths to which an interrogator may abuse his detainee under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment ( Torture Convention) “as implemented” by 18 USC §§ 2340-2340A (the Torture statute). Many believe this book to be the defining point of mans descent into clutches of our animalistic heritage. That very thing we try so hard to repress as a civilized Nation. But as you will see there is nothing civilized about this book. Quite simply put, it is the modern day story of legal murder.
This prophet comes to us from a religious order called the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) or commonly referred to as “the Attorney General’s Lawyer”. If being a lawyer is truly evil, then this man is the right hand of the Dark Lord himself. The head of the OLC was Jay Bybee, (The Prophet) now a sitting judge on the 9th Circuit. His signature (in blood) appears on page 46 of this memo / scripture.

His story of legal torture is undeniable truth that anything can be righteous from the right point of view. The scroll concludes that the restrictions under the law are limited. Only acts inflicting and “specifically intended to inflict severe pain or suffering”, whether mental or physical, are prohibited. Allowed are severe mental pain -not- intended to have lasting effects (If they do then obviously this person faith was not strong enough), and physical pain less than that which accompanies “serious physical injury such as death or organ failure” (p. 46). This of course means that -some- cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts are allowed, only those that are “extreme acts” (committed on purpose) are frowned upon.

Much of what is contained in this holy writing is derived from a much more sinister book called the Draft Walker Working Group memo. In the views of the prophet, there’s basically nothing Congress can do to constrain the President’s exercise of Article 2 war power. The Geneva Conventions are, by the unavoidable implications of this memo, just another goddamn piece of paper the President has the right to ignore. Similarly this implies any other international agreement is non-binding if it impedes the Presidents holy crusade against “The War on Terror.”

Anyone else have the sense that this won’t be received well in the International Community?

“And, although the memo nowhere treats this issue, presumably, also, the same applies in reverse, and our adversaries should feel unconstrained by any treaties against poison gas, torture, land mines, or anything else? Or is ignoring treaties a unique prerogative of the USA?”

From this point forward I will let the scholarly unravel the finer points of this document. It’s a long read, but worth every minute. I hope you enjoy the professor’s personal points of view that are peppered within this dissection.

Synopsis and commentary:

Pages 2-13 are the same sort of unconvincing criminal law analysis that others have critiqued in the Walker Working Group memo

Admitting that the Torture Statute is designed to implement the Torture Convention, and that therefore the interpretation of the treaty should inform one’s interpretation of the statute, page 14 of the Bybee memo starts in on the Torture Convention. It finds in the Convention a distinction between the worst acts of torture and lesser acts of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. (P. 15) That’s fair enough.

Then things get weird. When the Senate ratified the Torture Convention in 1994 it stated “[t]hat the United States considers itself bound by the obligation under Article 16 to prevent `cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,’ only insofar as the term `cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ means the cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.” 136 Cong. Rec. 17491 (Oct. 27, 1990).

It’s obvious (I hope) that the various horrors the memo would allow, such as hurting prisoners a great deal (but not quite to the point of `torture’), drugging them, scaring them, and so on, indeed very many things we would call “cruel, inhuman or degrading” would be the sort of thing that we would domestically prohibit as “cruel and unusual” punishment. But if that’s right, then the memo is deeply, horribly, wrong.

So, here’s how they try to reason out of that hole: It’s not the Senate’s view that really counts. No, it’s the King’s President’s view of the treaty’s meaning that has the “greatest weight” (p. 16). To get to this conclusion they cite a bunch of court decisions that say the executive’s view is entitled to “great weight” (which it is)…but the difference between “great” and “greatest” is, well, pretty great.

Having decided that it’s the executive branch’s views that matter, the memo then parses the Reagan administration’s submissions to the Senate relating to the proposed ratification of the the Convention. One problem with relying on what the Reagan administration said is that the Senate didn’t ratify the Convention until the first Bush administration. Arguably it did so in reliance on the Bush administration’s submissions which, as the memo delicately puts it used “less vigorous rhetoric” (p. 18). In fact, the Bush administration used language much like that in the Torture Statute; but the memo chooses to rely on the Reagan language instead (p. 19) to find that only the most extreme conduct would be prohibited.

The rest of the article can be found HERE

(Hat Tip Michael – From Discourse.Net)

Some of you may or may not be familiar with a group of women called “Code Pink.”

CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects the Bush administration’s fear-based politics that justify violence, and instead calls for policies based on compassion, kindness and a commitment to international law.

These women do not simply arm-chair quaterback the protest, they are atually on the ground in Iraq. If we simply do not trust our MSM, then I suggest you give this story a read. The story is one of reality and dissapointment told by an individual that lives and experiences the things she writes about.
Notes from the Middle East

As most of you already know, I was part of a delegation, puttogether with extraordinary care by Medea Benjamin and Chris Michael of Global Exchange in San Francisco. We traveled to Amman, Jordan,with medical supplies, blankets, heaters and water purifiers for the refugees in the camps outside Falluja. Global Exchange received donations of medications from a large pharmaceutical company as well as small donations of supplies and cash valued at $600,000.

Once again, my vocabulary is not adequate to describe the experience of meeting Iraqis, for whom every day is September 11th. These good people, who wept as they told their stories, risked their lives tocome to Amman to meet with us. We were Americans, some of whom had lost sons in Iraq, Military Families Against the War. I represented September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Some members of the delegation were Americans who have not lost a loved one, but have concluded that the war is wrong, that Iraq had no weapons of massdestruction (except those for which Rumsfeld has the receipts) and no complicity in 9/11. We met with Arabs whose, long history of oppression has made them cynical of Americans, but who greeted us with warmth and gratitude for caring enough to come with medical supplies and humanitarian aid. I told them that Timmy had died on 9/11 trying to rescue civilians trapped in the twin towers and that now innocent civilians are being killed in his name and we were all trying to stop it.

On New Year’s eve, we attempted to hold a candlelight vigil in front of the U.N. building in Amman, but the police were waiting for us and tried to grab our candles and peace signs. After a bit of a tussle, while the media were filming, we managed to get our signs back. The cameras were chased away and the police apologized and expressed sympathy for our cause, but explained that they had to do their job, so we agreed to leave.

On New Year’s day, we tried to get to the Iraqi border, but were turned back by the military police, who proceeded to follow us. We stopped in the desert and held a brief ceremony for peace with alJazeera filming us and interviewing the members of the delegation. We spoke with some shepherds who politely agreed to be interviewed, but believed that Americans are responsible for the chaos in the region. They know all about what is going on because they watch alJazeera on TV. We then stopped at a refugee camp near the border and spoke, through an interpreter, to some of the children. One very articulate 12 year old told us that many NGO workers came to visit them, but nothing ever changed. She alleged there was a shortage of milk and other necessities. Evidently, there was no shortage of cigarettes, we saw the men all smoking. I was introduced to the firefighters just outside the camp and was invited into their tent for tea. Afterwards they handed me a jacket and helmet and we posed for pictures in front of the fire truck.

At dinner that evening, one of the Iraqi doctors asked me if Americans know how privileged we are. And while I answered yes, I wondered if this is true. Or maybe Americans know they are privileged and believe we deserve to be by virtue of the accident of birth that made us so. For it is obvious we consider ourselves”better” than the people in other parts of the world so much less fortunate, whose lives don’t seem to matter very much. Dr. Jeff Ritterman, a member of our delegation, responded that privilege incurs responsibility, and that is key. For in the sense of privilege we all enjoy, we cannot let this sense of responsibility go unheeded – the responsibility to keep ourselves informed and to participate in the development of government policies, if we want the government to truly represent us. We forget what constitutes a democracy. We also have a responsibility to those who are not so privileged, not only victims of natural disasters, but man made tsunamis as well. Our Iraqi interpreter has told us that over 200,000 Iraqis have been killed in this war, 100,000 since the end of the invasion.

Stories were exchanged. Questions were asked that most often could not be answered. Why? Why is America doing this? What have we ever done to you? Nothing! There is less food now than under the food for oil program. Obesity among children that was once a problem in Iraq has given way to malnutrition. Twenty billion dollars from the oil for food program is unaccounted for. Iraq was once one of the most advanced Middle Eastern countries in terms of its educational system. It has now been bombed into the dark ages. Why?

Allegations were made that would not stand up in a court of law. They would be labeled hearsay, for although the storytellers were eyewitnesses to these events, we are not mandated reporters. These stories, they so movingly related, are difficult to accept. Yet we heard similar allegations repeated by different groups that arrived over the course of the week we were in Amman. Stories of atrocities committed by American troops that make Abu Graib seem like childish pranks instead of the horrible acts of violence they really were.They told us that since Abu Graib, the torture of prisoners has gotten worse, but there are other prisons in Iraq, outside of Baghdad, prisons that are underground and are not monitored by outside agencies. There, whole families are detained, the males beaten and the women raped in full view of the other prisoners.

They told us about routine instances of tanks rolling over and crushing cars on the road, cars filled with people. In one instance, a car contained a seven year old girl, whose father had just run into the market. She was screaming and banging on the window as the tank crushed the car around her. Many of the Iraqis testified to having witnessed this type of occurrence more than once. Others told of troops smashing down doors in the middle of the night and shooting the males in the household, often in front of their mothers and wives. And then there were the incidents of rape, the rape of teenage girls before the eyes of their parents and siblings. Upon learning they have made an error, the officers come back with two thousand dollars compensation and an apology for killing the heads of households by mistake.

To the surprise of most Americans, civilians in Iraq (the last figure I read before leaving Amman was 200,000) now support the insurgency. Witnessing these crimes has fueled this support, for these atrocities do not occur in the dark dungeons of the Iraqi prisons alone, but on the street in broad daylight or in homes surrounded by family members and neighbors. In hospitals, young males between the ages of 15 and 45 are dragged out of the emergency room or even the operating room and shot in the streets, regardless of how their injuries may have been incurred. In Baghdad hospital, only two of the sixteen elevators work, making emergency transfer from the ER to the operating theaters dangerously slow. After an attack, ambulances are not allowed to leave the hospital grounds to attend the wounded. This is the face of America that the average Iraqi sees, Americans who shoot pregnant women and children. This is where all the hate comes from.

We have all received e-mails from American troops in Iraq who are trying to show a different face of America. These young soldiers distribute school supplies to children and other items that are in short supply. Many of them take even greater than usual risks to help the NGO workers distribute humanitarian aid. The Iraqis with whom we met said they could not do their work without these American soldiers, who take them into areas that are forbidden, because they want to help the innocent civilians who are the victims of the bombings. These are the soldiers we would hope represent the moral character of our men and women in uniform. These are the troops we support, who can make moral judgments in the midst of chaos. In the beginning of the occupation, Iraqis saw these Americans as liberators, but as goods and services became non-existent, attitudes began to change. With the increased level of violence, the attitude has become one of intense hatred, despite the efforts of these extraordinary soldiers.

In Falluja alone, six thousand civilians were killed in one week. We saw pictures of bodies, burned beyond recognition, whose limbs have been eaten by dogs because anyone trying to retrieve them is shot. We saw pictures of bodies discolored by chemical weapons of unknown origin. Bodies show signs of napalm and are radio active. Unfortunately, most pictures taken by Iraqi journalists have been confiscated by the military, who routinely imprison journalists not imbedded with the troops. Their homes are searched, their cameras and film are destroyed. Those photos we saw were smuggled out and can be seen on various websites. They are very graphic and not for the feint of heart. The food and water in Falluja is contaminated because the weapons used are not conventional. Returning residents have been warned not to eat or drink anything that was left behind. But there is nothing else and the doctors are expecting cancer rates to rise significantly.

Western journalists usually stay in their hotels and get information about what is happening from Iraqis who manage to slip in and out of the compound daily. They must constantly change cars and routes, leaving at different times of day. Gasoline now costs one dollar a liter and they must wait on line for up to 48 hours to get it. This includes gasoline for the generators. Electricity is on usually between two to eight hours a day. The mainstream media is NOT reporting this.

One of the Iraqis told us about a Human Rights meeting that was held over a year ago where his brother gave a speech. American troops broke up the meeting and randomly shot nine people. Two were pushed up against a wall and shot. The leader of the meeting was beaten before all the participants at the meeting and imprisoned. They broke his nose and his hands. This man’s brother is still in prison, has not been charged with a crime and the family was told that his legs are now paralyzed.

We heard these stories until we were on atrocity overload. At dinner one evening, I asked the Iraqi doctors what they do to decompress, how they relax, what they do for fun. I asked if they went out to the movies, were there theaters or concert halls. They told me there is no such thing in Iraq, and because of the curfew, they cannot go out at night to visit friends. But on evenings when there is electricity, they watch television. And what, I asked, do they watch? Seinfeld! They love Seinfeld. I was amazed that they would understand the humor and asked, “What does it mean – Get outta here?”. After giving it some thought, one of the doctors replied,”It means – that is so unbelievable, it cannot be true”.

So there we were, Americans and Iraqis, our countries at war, sharing a common humanity and a common sense of humor. In Iraqi homes in the late night hours, they sit in front of their TV sets watching Seinfeld. While in all probability, American troops sit in their recreation tents watching Seinfeld. And when the sun rises, they start killing each other.

GET OUTTA HERE!

by Adele Welty

Today is the beginning of “Torture Awareness Month” and I would like to open this grassroots movement with some thoughts of my own, as well as, some gentle reminders from the past.

We as a Nation signed and witnessed into law the Geneva Conventions. We understand that human rights violations are serious and demand attention. We hold countries accountable for flagrant violations.
Some of these offenders include;

China
Korea
Israel
South Africa
Burma
Syria
Uzbekistan
Libya
Iran
And of course Iraq and the evil Saddam Hussein. You remember him don’t you, the evil dictator who killed his own people with poisonous gas. The tyrant who committed such flagrant human rights violations we had no choice, but to remove him from power. At least that was the excuse we used after we couldn’t find WMD.

Why have we made these countries suffer economically? Simple, they have not followed guidelines set forth by the world community. These guidelines are specific and vast. Today I will be focusing on a “Core International Human Rights Instruments” as laid out be the United Nations. The “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” instrument reveals the US has not been very accurate in it’s portrayal of following the rules of the world community. The UN passed in 1984 the international law, which contains a few articles I would like to review.

Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

I wonder how closely we have been following this article?

From the New Yorker

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

From MSNBC

The highest ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib during a court martial Thursday in Baghdad.Staff Sgt. Ivan “Chip” Frederick, 38, an Army reservist from Buckingham, Va., was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge. The sentencing came a day after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight counts of abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees.

NEW YORKER

Internal U.S. military documents show an interrogation unit reported mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in November 2003, two months before military officials have said they learned of prisoner abuses, The New York Times reported on Monday.

So we see some misinterpretations of the first article already. I wonder what gave them the idea that all of this was appropriate treatment of prisoners?

GONZALES APPROVED MEMO AUTHORIZING TORTURE: An August 2002 Justice Department memo “was vetted by a larger number of officials, including…the White House counsel’s office and Vice President Cheney’s office.” According to Newsweek, the memo “was drafted after White House meetings convened by George W. Bush’s chief counsel, Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense Department general counsel William Haynes and [Cheney counsel] David Addington.” The memo included the opinion that laws prohibiting torture do “not apply to the President’s detention and interrogation of enemy combatants.” Further, the memo puts forth the opinion that the pain caused by an interrogation must include “injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions–in order to constitute torture.”

Funny I don’t see that definition in the article mentioned above. What president is he working from?

GONZALES BELIEVES MANY GENEVA CONVENTIONS PROVISIONS ARE OBSOLETE: A 1/25/02 memo written by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales said “the war against terrorism is a new kind of war” and “this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.” The memo pushes to make al Qaeda and Taliban detainees exempt from the Geneva Conventions’ provisions on the proper, legal treatment of prisoners. The administration has been adamant that prisoners at Guantanamo are not protected by the Geneva Conventions.

So he feels that UN law and the Geneva Conventions are obsolete. I guess this would follow the line of thinking in Washington at the time. You remember, “we live in a post 9-11 world now…” which translates into the re-interpretation of everything under the sun, or at least the re-interpretation of laws we don’t have the ability to up and change ourselves. So we move along to;

Article 2

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Have the officers in the military read any of this? So no torture in any territory under our jurisdiction is pretty clear. I’m assuming “our” refers to the DOD since they run the detention centers. I remember Gen. Hayden saying something about this during his ceremonial confirmation hearing for Director of the CIA.

“We followed the law as it is laid out in the Army field manual, the Geneva Convention and legislation that pertains to DOD detainees and it’s facilities.” (loose quote)

Ok so there you have it. Anyone else want to jump on the “we haven’t done anything wrong” bandwagon? Maybe something from Secretary Rumsfeld after the detainee abuses were uncovered in Abu Grhaib?

Q Mr. Secretary, this administration has said repeatedly that in removing Saddam Hussein, the United States has gotten rid of a man who has murdered and raped and pillaged and tortured people in his country. And now these photographs and stories show that in fact the U.S. military has done that to prisoners in Iraq. And you say that this has — I believe you said it’s damaged U.S. attempts to establish trust in the country. I guess I’d ask you more broadly, is this a major setback for U.S. efforts in Iraq?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, I’m not one for instant history, Charlie. The fact is this is an exception. The pattern and practice of the Saddam Hussein regime was to do exactly what you said, to murder and torture. And the killing fields are filled with mass graves. And equating the two I think is a fundamental misunderstanding of what took place.

Ok so this was a “one time” ooops I guess we need to fix some things on the ground.
WRONG

If we widen the scope of the playing field a bit, we could probably get around this nasty business about UN law. And I’m sure we wouldn’t find any more examples of prisoner abuses because it’s not exactly like they have US civil rights.

Article 3
1. No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

Oooops again. So we can’t move a person into another country for the (well let’s be honest) sole purpose of torture? To be fair the military could be honoring frequent flier miles now or giving fabulous weekend packages to remote undisclosed locations, but for the sake of argument let’s stick with the nefarious motivations for flying people around the globe.

The Washington Post

The existence and locations of the facilities — referred to as “black sites” in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents — are known to only a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country.

The BBC

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, the EU Justice Commissioner said he would call for tough penalties against any involved state. “I would be obliged to propose to the Council [of EU Ministers] serious consequences, including the suspension of voting rights in the council,” he said. “Right now, there is no [US] response.”

The World News and EU Investigations in Extreme Rendition Centers

Over the last few months, a number of former officials of the American intelligence services, some of whom had held responsible positions, have given interviews and provided many details of the resources used against actual and suspected terrorists. These statements, which have in fact been corroborated by indiscretions from officials still serving, clearly confirm that the current US Administration seems to start from the principle that the principles of the rule of law and human rights are incompatible with efficient action against terrorism. Even the laws of war, especially the Geneva Conventions, are not accepted or applied. The relocation of prison camps to Guantanamo and elsewhere indicates that even American legal standards are seen as obstacles by the US Administration. “Extraordinary rendition” and secret detention facilitate the use of degrading treatment and torture. It is even the stated objective of such practices, as the following quotations would appear to confirm.

So it would appear that we got article 3 wrong as well. Can it be that we are torturing detainees?

“There’s an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law. We do not torture,” – President Bush

What does the president think of Ian Fishback’s testimony that abuse and torture was routine and that no one in the military hierarchy would say they were not permitted during eighteen months of his trying to get an answer? What does the president make of the following quote from another servicemember of his time in Iraq: “I think our policies required abuse. There were freaking horrible things people were doing. I saw [detainees] who had feet smashed with hammers. One detainee told me he had been forced by Marines to sit on an exhaust pipe, and he had a softball-sized blister to prove it. The stuff I did was mainly torture lite: sleep deprivation, isolation, stress positions, hypothermia. We used dogs.” Since the president signed the finding of September 17, setting up a series of secret CIA detention camps where “waterboarding” is permitted, does he believe and will he state categorically that no torture has ever occurred at those camps?
By Sullivan

A blogger alliance formed to promote Torture Awareness Month, June 2006.

Torture Awareness Month is an effort to respond to the growing evidence that the United States government is engaging systematically in the use of torture and inhuman treatment as part of the Global War on Terror.

Sponsoring organisations include Amnesty International (USA) and Human Rights Watch. Please take the time to join us in this movement.

Signup Form

Scott Ritter has been a man of courage for some time. He spoke out against the war in Iraq from the beginning. His insights into the nature of the “threat”posed by Saddam – which were, in a nutshell, none – to the United States provided a degree of clarity for those of us who actually bothered to care enough to think about this matter before the war started.

His book, Iraq Confidential, provides in excruciating detail the story of how Iraq had disarmed after the first Gulf War. It confirms many of my worst doubts before the war – that the Bush administration clearly planned all of this well before 9-11, and looked for any excuse to start a war with Saddam. The Bush administration lied about this war being a “last resort”. When he said, “We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq,” that was a lie. That single fact is a big deal. Our soldiers and countless Iraqis have died over a lie. Many lies.

Now Ritter makes the case again here. Once again, Bush, who feigns ‘coming clean’, continues to lie. He blamed everyone else for “misinterpreting” his words.

Bush will apparently lie about just about anything. He is surrounded by an unfortunate group of kindred spirits. We must see this clearly for what it is. When will the weight of our moral failure in this truly evil decision to go to war finally sink into the American psyche? When will we begin to actually watch where our feet are taking us? Or will the childish innocence that was punctured on 9-11 allow us to continue to walk blindly through this world, acting as if we can do anything we want without consequence?

We need strong people like Ritter and a growing throng of others to speak out. We must speak out now unless we want to be dragged into yet another folly that this ship of fools still has time to foist upon us.

-Please don’t forget to checkout our second installment on the philosophy of politics over at No Hat Tip

posted by Tom Paine II

The statement of “nothing ever stays the same” is particularly true in this case. I have lived in Indianapolis most of my adult life. I have been to the 500 race 15 times. It is truly an experience that everyone should have at least once in his or her life. This is a personal account of what I remember as some of the greatest times in my life. I hope you enjoy the story.
When I first went to the 500 I was 14 years old. The year was 1982 and up to that point in time the largest crowd I had ever been in was at Kings Island. I remember my father hurrying everyone to get ready. We needed to be on our way before 5:30 AM ! ! I couldn’t believe we had to get ready so EARLY in the morning. What could possibly happen at this hour of the morning? We all piled into the family vehicle and started our 45-minute journey to the track, or least I remembered the track not being all that far away. About 20 minutes into the trip it happened, we came to a complete stop and father turned off the car. After having some breakfast on the hood of the car and having to go to the bathroom for 2 hours we got close enough to the track that I could see the steely structure shining like a beacon of entertainment just over the horizon. I quickly located the luxurious green restrooms that were stacked besides one another like horse racing gates and held my breath as I relieved myself of 4 glasses of OJ. I remember thinking to myself that an outbreak of spring flu must be going around based on all of the vomit I had to avoid.

As I opened the door to return to hustle and bustle poof it was 4 years later, it was the night before the race and I was now 18. I had heard stories over the years of how the drunken debauchery and depravity was rampant the night before and boy were they right. We had lined up to get into the track about 10:00 PM and we were still 4 blocks away from the entrance. On my way back to the car I noticed several people had setup a living room on the side of the road. It was complete with a couch, TV, Lazy-boy, refrigerator and lamp. They even had an entertainment area with a pool table. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. People were offering me beer and booze at every car on the way back. I remember it taking me about an hour to walk 1000 feet back to my friends. There were the usual bar-fights breaking out from time to time, but for the most part most people were some of the friendliest I had ever met. Tailgating, car doors and trunks were open, dancing, laughing; drinking it was a teenage utopia. After several hours of less than legal consumptions we found a comfy spot on the hood of the car and passed out for a few hours. This year we were going to park in the infamous “Snake Pit” in turn 4. I needed a few cups of the hair of the dog to relieve the horrible headache I woke up with, but we made it to our spot in only a few short hours. We parked the car in least muddy spot we could find and preceded to get the party zone in order. Next to us was a huge RV and several cute girls were dancing on top of the vehicle. I was standing there watching the erotic gyrations hoping to be invited over later when out of nowhere I heard “hey show us your tits.” All at once they lifted up their shirts revealing a parade of young breasts that I would not soon forget.

After I regained my senses it was now 4 years later again and I was eating brunch at an expensive hotel on the north side of town. No longer were we required to sit and wait with the rest of the peonage, now we had a police escort into the track and suite passes for turn 2. We loaded up the van and followed the police on motorcycles into our private parking lot. On the way to the track the captain of the motorcycle squad would stand on his seat with his arms stretched out riding bike like a skateboard. I guess he wanted to make sure that we were entertained was we made our way to the speedway area. After entering the restricted lot were approached by security guards asking for our credentials. I flashed mine as if I were some famous movie star and proceeded to make myself a bloody-mary. After a few short hours it was time to head to the suite and gorge ourselves on the tasty delights. Laughing pushing falling around we made our way to the gate. As I was walking backwards I remember feeling a sharp pain in my leg, followed by a pressure that pushed me to the ground. I thought to myself, “crap I think I just got hit by a golf cart.” I looked up to verbally assault this asshole for hitting me when I noticed, “hey your Paul Newman.” “You ok kid,” he asked. “Ummmm sure Mr. Newman I think I will live.” “Good next time maybe you should watch where you are going.” I thought that’s a typical old man thing to say, but good advice all the same. After a quick visit to the suite we took our 7 coolers and made our way to our turn 2 seats. Some of you may ask, but why not stay in the suite? Well to be honest to get the full experience of going to the 500 you need to be in the stands.

As we walked to our seats people were shuffling along in their favorite racers clothing, recounting the last years exciting action. We approach the gate, show our tickets and walk up the stairs. Now this next part is difficult to explain so I will use a movie analogy. The only thing I have seen that even compares to the feeling is from the movie Gladiator. They walk out of a dark tunnel and stand in awe looking at the huge arena filled with thousands of people cheering for the festivity that is about to begin. We make it to our seats and greet all of our friends. You see tickets for the race are difficult to come by and most people purchase season seating. After a few drinks, a few parade laps and few more stories of the year gone by it’s finally time to get racing. The fanfare and pageantry is almost overwhelming. You are a buzz and then the most famous words in racing come billowing out of the speakers. “Gentleman and Ladies (recent addition for Danica and Sarah) Start Your Engines.” The crowd erupts with noise as the cars take a few parade laps and then, all of a sudden, they come screaming around the first turn. It takes only 6 seconds for 33 cars to get through turns 1 and 2 and it is the one of the thing that I always will remember seeing for the rest of my life.

Regardless if you like racing or not, going to the Indianapolis 500 is more than just a race. It’s the greatest spectacle in racing.

Authored by Tom Paine II from No Hat Tip

My friend Cyberotter outlined, in his article, “Divide and Rule” the Polarization of America, outlined a series of ideas that we see at work dividing this country in the extremely polarized manner that has become politics as we know it. It is important, we think, to understand these ideas; it is also important to understand who benefits from this divisive spirit. To answer that question, I will now examine the nature of one of the largest structures in our country, that is, in fact, a global structure, a worldwide phenomena, that in a very short time, historically, has changed the face of both this country and the world.

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No Hat Tip