printThe excerpt is from this week’s column,“To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage (That’s Not The Question),” now on Taki’s Magazine:
“…torturing the torture issue has thrown the country off-scent, to the great advantage of the puppet masters.
The torture kerfuffle is secondary to – and subsumed within – the broader category of an unjust war, waged by George Bush with Democratic assent. Talk about a bipartisan effort; a pox on both Houses!
You can make the case for harsh interrogation techniques in desperate, dire circumstances. But how on Earth do you justify lugging an army across the ocean to occupy a third-world country that is no danger to you and has not threatened you? You don’t, and you can’t.
Forgotten in the faff over “enhanced interrogation” tactics is the invasion of Iraq. Of this war crime, most Democrats are as guilty as Republicans. The torture fracas is like manna from heaven for both parties and their media lapdogs, who cannot be coaxed out of a coma.
Whether to bug Zubaydah’s cage or not: This is a limited, small, relatively safe distraction that allows complicit journalists, jurists, politicians and pointy heads to skirt the real issue – the need to prosecute Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Kerry for invading Iraq.”
Read the complete column, “To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage (That’s Not The Question).”
Update I (April 24): Some of you have asked about Abu Ghraib. The thesis of the column applies equally to the “GI JOE MEETS GI HO” episode. Get them all on the prosecution of an unjust and illegal war. Incidentally, it goes with out saying that a pox ought to be visited on both Houses—Congress and the Senate.
Update II (April 25): A note to the neoconservatives who frequent this site, and post their ill-formulated fulminations vis-a-vis the war on Iraq: That war is not going to be adjudicated again here, not ever. I chronicled the invasion of Iraq at great length, applying fact and every ounce of reason in my possession to repudiate and denounce that war crime. The case is closed! Neoconservative ideologues stand in the dock for aiding and abetting a war crime. The lazy neoconservative can read my archive on the topic. While I can imagine these ideologues urgently need to make peace with their maker, or consciences, for their role in a crime of such moral and material magnitude, they will not do so on my private property!
You forget Abu Ghraib. My memory of events is that some 14,000 inmates were released as soon as the s**t hit the fan. Wolfowitz et al were quick to dissociate themselves from their bad apple underlings..now we know they were entirely complicit.
What charges should Clinton and Kerry face?
I give you the real architect of these war crimes. Poppy Bush. Make the S-B produce the satellite photos showing 1,500 Iraqi tanks and 200,000 Iraqi troops amassed on the Saudi border in ’91, or charge him with treason. Remember, Bush got US troops into Saudi Arabia with this lie, and bin Laden declared jihad on us.
I do not know how the law defines torture, but it seems to be subjective, not an absolute definition. Somewhere a line must be drawn between subjective opinions, but who is to decide where the line should be drawn? Presumably the form of Government will decide. Perhaps all the members of Congress should be water-boarded, so that they can have a true understanding of the experience, before they decide whether it is torture, or not. After all, it is Congress and the Executive branch of Government that has failed to tell the truth to the American people about so many Government illegal and criminal actions.
Strong evidence of an immanent terrible crime conspiracy that threatens to kill a very large number of innocent people, may justify torture of the conspirators in extreme cases only. This is admittedly a slippery slope of judgment. This extreme case does not seem to be true of the Al-Qaida militants being supposedly linked to the 9-11 conspiracy.
It would be nice to see prosecution of the leadership of the last presidency, and the congressmen and women who are also complicit in allowing Bush and his CFR cronies to get away with the “empire” building, shirking their constitutional duties to reign in emperor Bush II.
Now we have “messiah” Obama and an even more complicit congress backing the new “emperor”. The only change we are getting is a country that is going the way of all empires, it is collapsing from within. Sound economic policies be damned. Full speed ahead to the glorious paradise of socialism!
Label me one of those kooks that are anti-government, pro-constitution.
I watched an episode of the US version of “The Weakest Link” With the British lady, and a well known actor, more known for his ‘environmental lifestyle’ I think. He was wearing cloth shoes because of saving animal skins. The hostess asked him what he thought of animal’s lives verses his own in case he should be sick. He replied, “If I’m in the hospital, I don’t care if they use animals in the hospital furnace to keep me warm while I’m getting well. I come first.”
The US Constitution is for its citizens. Some guy wants to destroy the World Trade Center and 3600 citizens just because US Servicewomen wear short sleeve shirts. [Not quite] And a Dmocrat whines because the prisoner has to listen to loud Rock and Roll music. It didn’t bother the Dems a bit when Janet Reno was blasting the stockade at Waco with loud Rock and Roll music every night for six months, and a few other choice recipes too. But I digress, the Branch Dividians were US Citizens, weren’t they?
Just a thought..what if there’s a ticking time bomb, a detainee who knows where the bomb is, and a guy willing to torture the info out of him. Guy waterboards detainee, who promptly dies. Thoughts?
Several reasons why more anger on the torture than the war itself: (a) we Americans view ourselves as a “moral country” although really individuals and not governments have morality; (b) war may be conditionally justifiable to some “just war” versus torture which is always wrong…, (c) partisan advantage to Democrats at the expense of Bush (d) mistaken belief that while the torture was ineffective and created more terrorists, the war in Iraq has been a success (nonsense but a widely held misconception promoted by the media), (e) good juicy media story (f) always easier to blame “a few rotten apples” (even if high up ones) than an entire foreign policy.
Yes Mrs. Mercer, the American state will always work against the people—even patriotic veterans like me, who’ve sacrificed:
As a Army Veteran during the Vietnam conflict, afflicted with COPD in it’s latest stages, I can’t get proper medical care from either the VA or the U.S. government. They recently canceled my Medicaid. In the meantime, the medication I need to stay alive, costs approximately $300.00 per month. Unless I get some help A.S.A.P., I will have no other choice but to go to a third world country and hope they will do better than my own.
COPD is a respiratory illness. It affects the lungs progressively, to the point, where you need an oxygen tank and tubes up your nose just to stay alive. I have been to a few “workshops” at Broward General Hospital, where they teach you some “breathing techniques”, in case of an emergency. There is no cure for it and the way “you go” is definitely not very pleasant.
I have sent letters to The White House, The Governor of Florida, Senator Bill Nelson, The head of DCF George H. Sheldon. They all passed the “buck” to someone else and simply refused to do anything about it. Now I am dealing with State Senator Don Gilbert. Let’s hope he can help.I have been a taxpayer for almost 50 years. Served our Country in different capacities. Never been convicted of a crime and is this the only way for our government to say “thank you”?
We have “illegals” getting all these benefits, who have never contribute a penny into our system and they get it all. It’s truly heartbreaking.
Yes Mrs. Mercer, so much for the “Golden Years”, don’t you think?
What a sad country have we become.
Thanks again for listening. You are a wonderful lady.
Have a nice weekend.
Richard