The President is still hours away from announcing the “long-awaited” decision on Afghanistan. Dick Cheney is up early already calling the policy weak. Thank God we have a president who actually things through a situation and asks questions. W and Dick simply reached to their hips for a six-shooter - thinking be damned.
Think about it. This is the Dick who led the premature pull-out from Afghanistan to go into Iraq where all those weapons of mass destruction were amassed. We know now that there were no weapons. Dick knew long before sending our sons and daughters into a totally unnecessary war there were no weapons. This is the Dick who was absolutely terrified of the possibility that HE would have to serve in Viet Nam. Using powers and funds unavailable to most of us - he obtained five deferments from military service. In his own words: “I have higher priorities”.
So here we are in 2009 dealing with the mess made by the Dick and his so-called boss.
The situation we now find ourselves in - is a direct result of the complete destruction of American foreign policy - and our military by the Dick. Yet he opens his day with a denouncement of President Obama. Weak. That word coming from the distorted mouth of the Dick would be quite funny, were it not so tragic.
The Obama administration was cast into an impossible situation. Put one hundred options on the table and any one chosen will be attacked. The left will be offended by a continuation and escalation of the war in Afghanistan. The right will be offended that at least 60,000 of OUR sons and daughters are not being sent tomorrow.
I still want to know why the Dick is being allowed to walk away from his war crimes. I want to know exactly what the Dick got out of this. He certainly didn’t offer up any family members to fight.
Here is what Dick can do to at least give some credibility to his horrible tenure as VP. Being an ex VP, he would have no problem embedding - perhaps as a journalist - with a front line unit in Afghanistan. Stay the course. Run into a field of fire to rescue a fallen soldier. Well, one thing is certain. The Dick won’t be going. Weak? Coward? Criminal?
Why does Dick open only one side of his mouth? (Now if he has a medical condition I apologize in advance for talking about it). But it’s true. He never looks anyone in the eye and always uses one side of his mouth to speak.
Finally - I want every adult in America to pay some sort of price for having American in any war. The percentage of folks in the military of the entire eligible population is too low to calculate. Most - certainly not all - of the remainder go about life as normal. The Dick is a billionaire. Much of that was ill-gotten gains from non-competitive construction bids in Iraq. Was that his reason for putting us in there? Those who never served in the military and are gung-ho to “go get em” - should have to do some public service or if they elected - pay a war tax. I think an extra 15% would be fair. Don’t cry WAR, WAR, then refuse to take part in any way.
Dick Cheney - I beg you to keep your mouth shut. You are a bonafide coward as proven when you could have served. You made a horrible (weak) mistake in pulling-out of Afghanistan. You lied to your fellow citizens. Your right to speak is revoked.
Accept the challenge Dick. Go to the war zone and serve for a few years. OK, OK - stop crying. We can’t make you go.
Robert Boseley
rboseley@tampabay.rr.com
rboseley1@me.com
http://www.robertboseley.com
The drums of the Middle East keep on pounding away, far off in the distance, but routed direct through television to the living room of our homes. Year by year, month by month...right down to moment by moment, the twisting turns and sinuous paths of those vibrations are changed to meet the behavioral control needs of a very few. We, those of us who think of ourselves as intelligent interpreters of this jumbled mess of communication, are nearly as stumped as the rest of the population, as to who those few are. We are not sure, either, of what real direction they are caging us to follow. Is the combined power of the media really simply the beast of finance? Does it only respond to what makes it money? Or are there other motivations as to the messages channeled so personally into the heart of our very lives? And where, among all these messages, across all the mediums, is there any truth at all? We watch the network news, looking for clues (or maybe just laying there...senseless after a very hard day's work for too little pay), then move to the cable channels for more. Some of us listen to the radio, attempting to 'true up' any of what we have received from the other sources. Near the end, there are the newspapers. All those sources of supposed news contain 'vetted' stories, which means that someone has looked them over and checked them out to make sure they have some semblance of truth in them. Finally, there is the internet. From blogs to YouTube, and then down into the Facebook and Twitter stuff. And what are we to make of it all?
Iran has had an election. Some kind of election. We are never sure of any of that anymore. We have such deep suspicions about our own elections to the point that now, when we see or hear the word 'election,' we take the information in with a skeptical, barely contained, sneer of disdain. The message streaming from almost every source tells us that the current leader of Iran has stolen his re-election bid. The loser really won. We are given no figures because we have nobody, at all, in Iran (from any part of the mass media). The few that were there merely filmed what they could from hotel windows before they fled to the airport and got the hell out of there. Since Iran is connected to the internet, we have gotten YouTube footage and Twitter reports. But what can we make of them? Anybody can say or do anything on the internet, using video as well, if they are schooled in the technology of its use.
But lets look at the overall message we are getting from almost all sources. Iran's leader is bad. He stole the election. People are protesting. The runner-up should be crowned leader. Iran's leader should step down. All peoples everywhere have the right to peaceful assembly and protest.
Now re-read that paragraph. What is the message we are supposed to be getting? Maybe we should get more elemental than that. Okay, let's ask a more elemental question. Why should we care one whit? The current leader of Iran is just as big a hater of America as the runner-up! Yeah, the other guy was running around with that same screwy Iman who spear-headed the whole hostage crisis which catapulted Reagan into office. And the peaceful protest garbage! What is that? We don't have the right to protest here in the U.S.! Have you not noticed? Our cops and Secret Service have carte blanche to arrest and incarcerate anyone who assembles to protest, if that protest is anywhere near any of our big leaders. At the presidential conventions last year the protestors at both events were relegated to cages specially built to hold them, miles from the actual events! And this is in America! There is no right to peaceful protest of big leaders anywhere in the world. So what the hell is going on? This nonsensical 'reporting' is just like the idiocy that gets printed about torture. We decry all forms of torture...except the torture we commit as a nation. Yes, your nation and in your name.
We hate the Arabs. As a culture we hate them. We don't really want to, but we do. We hate Iran, Iraq, Libya and even Afghanistan. We are scared crapless of islam and everyone over there who follows its teachings. If they come here, to our country, we accept them...conditionally. But not over there. We have given Israel (now there is a bunch of cool-headed clever dudes living in a desert oasis!) nuclear weapons and every bit of high tech weaponry we can make. That is how scared we are. And so our news reflects this fact. There were supposed to be tons of YouTube tapes and Twitter comments about the riots in Iran. Those did not materialize after they were predicted. What do you suppose our vaunted mass media had to say about that? They said that Iran had gotten really good at internet suppression! All those Youtubes and Tweets were there, but suppressed by the brilliant internet hackers from under the sand in Iran. Oh please.
What humor, if you sit back and look at it. There were no YouTube tapes or Tweets because there were no real riots of any kind. I think you can pretty much take that to the bank (well, a bank in the Channel Islands, if you have connections and are smart). Oh sure, there was some demonstrating and crowd interaction. But that was it. And we are not even sure what any of that was about because our own media high-tailed it the hell out of there.
We believe the the Persian's hate us. And we keep asking the question about why they do. The question is meaningless because the premise is bogus. They do not hate us. They are frightened to death of us! How would you feel if a monster country, possessing more nuclear weapons than any combination of countries in the world, hated you? A monster country that has proven it will indeed use nuclear weapons if it fears and hates you enough? We need, as a culture, to begin asking the right questions. Why do we hate them? What exactly is it about them that we are so abominated by? Why do we fear these small groups of strange believing peoples living in awful desert conditions so very much? If we can't even ask ourselves those things then what are we to do? Wait for just the right opportunity to blow them all into oblivion? Is that any kind of answer at all?
Osama Bin Laden. There are all kinds of small groups around the world who want power. Individuals crave it. We are hard-wired by sociobiology to crave it. The leaders get to impregnate more females (if they are male) or secure a quality future for their spawn (if they are female). Just look at Michael Jackson as an example. He was one miserable human being. I don't think that that can be denied. His personal life did not exist. But he craved public attention right up to the end. Osama does too. Cheney does too. These people never go away, unless it is to 'write' another book and then return. Or make another video. We must understand, as a culture, that this will always be the case. There will always be an opposition party. There will always be militia groups and terrorist outfits. It is hard-wired into our genetics. Evolution will only allow that to change if 'survival of the fittest' no longer includes getting rid of those presumed to be weaker. I, personally hoped, when I was younger, that technology would eventually allow us to vault up from the murder pit of amoral evolutionary expedition. As I age, I wonder, and the wondering is not a good thing.
We are so hurtfully directed to success. We are driven by fears so deep and dark that we cannot ever discuss them. If they are revealed by others we deny them and put down those others or label them losers or the weak. Only success matters. It permeates our financial sector, our trading mercantile sectors, our sports and even our television shows. It is all, and only, about winning. And it means that most people have to be losers. Do the math. "There can only be one Highlander," is a favorite expression of mine.
We must all be of Persian Persuasion in order to stop hating them. We must know them to care for them and about them. It is applied anthropology. Anthro, closely followed by history, is one of those disciplines, however, which interests many but is practiced by only a few, and almost none of the few are leaders of any sort. If we had paid attention to the anthropology of Iraq we would not be there. If we had paid attention, right after WWII to anthropology, Iraq would never have existed as a country for us to attack. Anthropology is about understanding other cultures. Amazingly, once you understand other cultures, guess what? You come to like them. So, in reality, our problems with the Middle East are all about schooling. We don't teach the right things in our educations system here, and then the media fails miserably to educate when we are done with that formal system.
This internet 'cloud' phenomenon, as some are terming it today, may be our only hope. Only here can words be written and read everywhere. They are not read everywhere for most of us who write here, however. There is just no easy or simple way to get people's attention to be read. That attention is being consumed by the famous. The Krugmans, Krauthammers, Coulters and Limbaughs gather the people in, but in becoming famous, they surrender telling the truth about what they are communicating. They communicate to stay famous and become more famous. Until they too are ready for their last shot of Demerol. But then, maybe, it only takes a few thinking human beings to influence the course of events. I pray that is so.
http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com
http://www.themastodons.com
http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com
Michael Jackson and America's Superstardom
I greatly admired Michael Jackson. I admire anyone who's the very best at what they do, and Michael Jackson was definitely that. I remember when I first heard him. He was doing a tune called "Who's Lovin' You?" He was a mere child at the time, but his talent was so fully developed, and he sang with so much emotional maturity, I mistook the high pitch of his voice to be that of a very soulful adult female. Then later when he did "Billie Jean" at the Motown reunion, he seemed to literally defy gravity as he Moonwalked across the stage. So yes, this young man was, without a doubt, one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived.
But Michael's life - that shooting star that dazzled humanity with its awesome display, only to burn out much too soon - threatens to serve as a perfect metaphor for America itself. The story of the United States parallels that of Michael Jackson. It is also the story of a precocious child star that dazzled humanity with its awesome display. The United States is undoubtedly a superstar among nations, but we must not let hubris allow us to forget that among those very same nations, we are nothing more than a precocious child.
While the United States is 233 years old, that's relatively nothing when it comes to the history of nations. Iran, one of the oldest nations on Earth, is over 8000 years old. That means that when Jesus Christ walked the Earth, Iran was more than 6000 years older than the United States is today, even then. We need to keep that in mind as we formulate the language of our foreign policy, because believe me, it is a fact that has not been lost on the Iranian people.
There are mocking calls of 'Obushma' and the like, as more and more Obama decisions become less and less distinguishable from his predecessor.
http://www.truthout.org/062709A?n
Regarding the friendly disagreement between the Bard and myself, Bush and Cheney already enjoy undeserved folk hero status, and within the far right realms, they will always enjoy such status regardless of outcome.
I appreciate the debate.
For me it's coming down to what we are preserving- or attempting to preserve- I think the bad far outweighs the good here- and I believe that if Obama sidesteps this it will be his downfall.
President Obama will forever be linked to the Bush Torture Coverup and our great victory over the establishment will be torn down.
"It's a trap are you blind?" (Hamish) ~Braveheart
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
The Republican Vision for America - Divide and Conquer
The current situation in Iran is perfectly analogous to what's going on here in the United States. The vast majority of the people want a common-sense approach to domestic and world politics, while the old guard, stuck in the blind animosities of the past, are determined to promote and exploit those animosities for their own end, and at any cost - including the misery and death of their own people. In Iran the old guard is represented by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; in the U.S., Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. In Iran they are called jihadist, while in the U.S. we refer to them as the Republican Party.
http://www.truthout.org/061009A
I understand the arguments and how our troops in additional harm's way and additional stain to our national image at a time when we are just starting to recover face in the world's eyes does us no justice.
At the same time, this has to be addressed-
The American taxpayer paid for and is still paying for Iraq...
The Moral Strangulation of America
In my last article I pointed out that the character of America is being fundamentally changed. In less than two generations we've gone from citizens who were politically engaged and socially aware, to zombies who simply accept what we're being told by our favorite demagogues. We've gone from citizens who held our politicians' feet to the fire, to a group of cattle who allow our politicians to dictate what is, and what isn't, off the table - in spite of our instinctive clamor for the simple adherence to the law. We've allowed politicians to go from representatives with the single mandate of doing our biding, to so-called leaders who dictate to us what's in our best interest. As a direct result, the script has been flipped - we now define what's in the people's best interest by what's in the best interest of the politicians who are supposed to defer us.
George Bush has been free to do whatever he likes now that he is out of office. He was even seen at local stores jokingly asking for jobs and posing for pictures. Well it seems that he has been doing a lot of that lately, propping up at what seem like impromptu visits from the former President of the United States. Unlike other Presidents and candidates, Bush is seemingly the underachiever. Al Gore has gone on to be internationally recognized as the Savior of our Planet. Clinton went on book tours, and speaking arrangements. Both have been successful in their jobs after the White House appointment. Poor Dubya has been making photo ops and hiding out in his very expensive neighborhood constantly guarded by the Secret Service. He was on the cover of D Magazine when he returned home, in an obviously photoshopped image of Bush in Khaki Shorts, Striped Polo, (Correction) and a new tan. He himself has been up to nothing, staying out of the political arena and allowing Cheney to take on the Dems by his lonesome. His wife on the other hand was recently at a graduation ceremony at Southern Methodist University. I expect he will be working on his highly classified memoirs on How not to be a President and part two of that installment, How to ruin a prestigious political family name in just 8 years.Read more: http://politicalpete.com/what-is-george-w-bush-doing-now/#ixzz0H85UxILT&B
http://politicalpete.com/
The far right can't stop their true faces from being seen time after time. They are locked into the same race baiting tactics they've been using forever. The tactic they tried to use during the Presidential campaign was to accuse the other side of racism to disguise their own racist attacks. So the new code word for bringing up race or gender is to accuse the other party or individual or racism or reverse racism or of ethnocentricity; although they probably don't know what "ethnocentricity" means.
However obvious these tactics are they are also dangerous and are being used to provoke the lunatic fringe and crazies everywhere. It is inciting to riot in an obvious fashion and should be dealt with much like "Hate Crimes" or other forms of provocations to do harm to individuals or groups. There are people out there who believe all the lies and distortions, who are violent and looking for an excuse to do harm.
Can you imagine what would have happened if an equivalent kind of vitriol had come from anyone during the Cheyney/Bush Presidency? First the cries of "Traitor," "Un-Patriotic," "Love it or Leave it," "Terrorists," then arrests and unlawful detention.
I really believe something needs to be done about people on the right who go around during a time of war and severe economic stress, spouting anti-American rhetoric. Perhaps an action committee of some kind could bring civil action against them since the Justice Department could be accused of doing it for political reasons.
Organizing for America - Have you seen This Video Yet? More then ever, you need it now to re-kindle the spirit that lived in us all prior to the election.
We need to get this video out in the public eye in a big way to re-kindle the spirit of optimism that existed prior to the election of President Obama.
Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) that is what we need to understand.
Post the inaugural, post the election, post the optimism fading, post the Republican's battle of the wills, it's sad to see our country slowly slipping back to the bad ol' days when the President is simply a news curiosity, just some guy in the White House. Barack Obama is more then that. He is the change we all voted for.
When I get pessimistic that such talk as the above is simply the talk of a dreamer, I hear President Obama speak. For instance, his speech at Notre Dame. It was historic, incredible, inspiring. it reminded me why I was so filled with hope on November 4th, 2008. When I hear him speak, I still get uplifted and remember who is in the White House.
But let us not forget the obvious, he's a human being, he can't correct everything at once, he has information now as President about our country we will never know and he is, I am confident, desperately trying to balance it all. I have not agreed with every move, espeically preventitive detention, but should we need or expect to agree with everything that anyone does? I agree with most and that's good enough for me to be a great supporter of his. I speak out when I don't agree with President Obama or anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't ardently support President Obama. In the past, I agreed with very little our Presidents have done, so this is an extremely refreshing change, especially at a time in our history which is unparalleled in it's complexity and danger to our society, our country and our world.
My only personal regret is that the video I directed and produced to keep the dreams alive, Yes We Can (Change our Destiny) has not been endorsed by Organizing for America and posted on its home page (or endorsed by Oprah or some such celebrity that can bring instant distribution to this cause, this quest to make optimsm and involvement the norm). This video should be endorsed by someone or some organization of such stature. It should be the rallying cry that we all remember to say to ourselves every day, that "YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY." If we realize that simple truth, that we are in control of our destinies, we will work hard for change. We will become involved. Pessimism occurs when we believe we aren't in control, when we believe that hope is lost, when we believe that we can't make a difference. But the election proved how much we can change the world, how much we can accomplish when we act in unity with hope and optimism, when our world collectively believes that YES WE CAN CHANGE OUR DESTINY.
I have tried to move on, to concentrate on other causes, problems and issues in our world and my life, to not continue to push so actively to get this video "out there" more. But every time I lose hope and become pessimistic about our world, I listen to my own words in that video and I realize that Yes I can Change My Destiny and the world's destiny, that I can be part of that, that I'm not just a weak individual without a voice. I'm just as capable of changing our world as anyone. Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresea, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Maria Montessori, Jonas Salk, Orville & Wilbur Wright, Barack Obama, yes, these are great people, but they are people, regular individuals that began with simply a dream, to change our world. When you look back through history, it's not countries or corporations that created transformative change, it was individuals. The power of the individual is stunning.
If anyone out there in the administration of Organizing for America listening please take a moment to watch this video. It's only 5 minutes. I'm a professional filmmaker, I promise you, it will be worth your time. This video was made as my service to America. But with "only" 130,000 + views (which is teeny tiny in the world of YouTube) which occurred mostly around January 20, 2008, this video is not inspiring anyone anymore. It could be inspiring millions right now to stand up and be part of the solution, not the problem, to realize one's own civic opportunity and responsibility, if Organizing for America would simply endorse this video and place it on their home page as a permanent fixture of inspiration.
Do not think I do this for any fame. I don't even want credit for this film. This project was entirely pro-bono and continues to be so. I simply want to help before my time on this Earth is over.
If you want to see more of what I do with film to try to help, please visit my "political activist" site (e.g. where i try to make a difference) My "MBMPRO" YouTube Channel
and the YouTube channel for My Production Company, MBM Productions International
Sincerely,
Steve Sulkin - Director & Activist...simply trying to make a difference
CEO, MBM PRODUCTIONS INT'L
ALL FOOTAGE IN THIS VIDEO WAS EITHER CREATED BY MYSELF AND MY PRODUCTION COMPANY, MBM, OR, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BARACK OBAMA FOOTAGE, WAS LICENSED THROUGH A STOCK HOUSE AND I HAVE FULL RIGHTS TO USE IT IN PERPETUITY.
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREEA Simple Question: Would God Condone Torture?
Maybe I'm missing something but I find it uniquely ironic that some the same people who clamor for prayer in school, claim that same-sex marriage is an abomination under God,who insist that America is a Christian nation, and fight for the Biblical version of creationism over science, are also the very same people who demand the right to be armed to the teeth with some of the most destructive private weapons on Earth, the right to slaughter and bring the most excruciating kinds of death upon God's other creatures for nothing more than their own entertainment, and now, condone the torture of other human beings as a legitimate tool of government. Is it just me, or does anyone else see this as the very height of hypocrisy?
Let me establish some basic fundamental principals in dealing with the application of what we have come to understand is torture. By the way, we know that torture is not really the playing of loud music at all hours, or having the cell, where your victims are stored, too cold or too hot. We know that torture, the kind of torture I am writing about, is the application of physical misery to such an extent that the agony of the pain generated is impossible to endure. Now, understanding that, let's look at application a little closer.
People who have no experience with physical torture also lack an understanding of the psychology of its application. You see, the torturer does not work (or 'play,' depending upon the mindset of the practitioner) in an environment of need. The needs of the torturer are analytical. Empirical data is sought, which the subject of the torture is thought to have in his or her mental possession. There is no emotional need on the part of the torturer. The emotion is experienced on the part of the tortured subject. Torture is probably the most emotional personal experience a person can go through. Total body rape. Penetration, severing, incision....all of it. And, on top of this, the burden of revelation is placed firmly on the subject! The subject, in order to lesson or stop the application, must find some way to convince the torturer that the information is valid. The torturer only moves to prove something through pre-established corroboration or proof. It is quite common, as a matter of policy, once the subject has been properly 'softened' up (by, say; being drowned ten times in a row and revived immediately by nearby doctors), to tell the subject this truth. "You must find some way to get me to believe you, in order for these procedures to be stopped." Think about the enormity of that question for a moment!
Many problems in torturing, as I discussed in my earlier essay, revolve around figuring out the right questions to ask, not evaluating the answers. This creates its own problems. It is never the "you have a nuclear bomb hidden and we need the location" kind of thing. That would be just too easy. Too Krauthammer or Jack Bauer. No, instead, the questions usually revolve around the social order. Who do you know? How do you know them? What have you done? Why are you here, in the first place? Yes, that last one is asked all the time, as astounding as that might seem.
Another problem here, especially when you are torturing cross-culturally, is language and cultural differences. How does the torturer come to understand what the subject of his or her torture is saying? How does he or she fit this into the cultural norms and rules of his or her own culture? Is our 'normal' torturer a linguist? An ethnologist, perhaps? More iikely not. More likely there are interpreters involved. And interpreters add another level of filtering. Most interpreters are indigenous to the culture of the subject (else how is the actual torturer to understand the language?). Which means that the interpreter has a vested interest is what is going to happen to the subject. If, for example, and this is all too common, the tortured subject is a higher ranking member of a tribal unit, and the interpreter is from a lower rank. If the tortured subject is removed from life, then the interpreter's situation rises in that tribe. The tribe may even come to understand that the interpreter had something to do with the removal, thereby increasing the interpreter's rank even more. The tortured subject is likely killed or returned as such a shambling wreck as to be ineffective at anything.
Unfortunately, the discussions in and around the subject of torture, as we see them in the mass media, are not dealing with the real torture that has been done. Those subjects (the really tortured) are long gone to their final relief. So there is murder here. And murder is not looked upon nicely in the American culture. So we have people willing to do just about anything to keep themselves from being found out. Then can do that by destroying records, yes, but they can also do it by threatening to expose the whole ugly mess, so that many many more people are touched by the horror of their conduct. And, we come to Dick Cheney. That is what he is trying to do, and he is doing it successfully. Barack Obama knows pretty much everything by now. His job is to protect you and me. He is torn between going after these rat-bastards or allowing most of the country to maintain some kind of positive self-image, in a time of pretty damned poor self-imaging. I feel bad for this nice man, who I contributed a lot of money to help make such decisions. So this is my apology to Barack. I'm sorry that I did this to you. I cannot make the decision, on this one, for you, and you would not have me make it anyway.
If you decide to allow all of this to remain buried, then I will also be sorry. We are doomed to repeat this history, if you decide that. We are already repeating this history, which we thought long learned years ago. Whom of you reading this right now would ever have believed, twenty years ago, that we would be having a discussion about our military and intelligence people torturing people, as a matter of policy, and in great numbers? I would bet that number would be quite small.
Finally, there are people who have been ordered to torture other people, in our name, who did not want to do it, and are having night terrors over their participation this very night. Post Traumatic Stress lives with them, like a constantly beating drum and inescapable drum. Should they come in, their counseling at the Veteran's Administration will be unmercifully cold and harsh. That's only if they have the idiotic temerity to reveal what they were involved with. They have come home to live alone among people. To die alone, hoping that there is no life after death....hoping not to die and have those subjects appear before them, as they do each and every night while they live. And we, this people, of this United States of America, have done this to them. We need to know a measure of shame for our participation. We elected Bush, twice. We elected Cheney, twice. We allowed Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearl, Gonzalez and Rice...and yes, Colin Powell too. If there is no butcher's bill for all of this, then we too need to hope that there is no afterlife.
When I read the latest revelation, and we will hear more and more as the days go by,
I ask myself what kind of people these must be.
Taking a great nation such as this to a long ride, making us look like fools.
Are we going to allow them to get away with this ?
Finally President Obama, we ASK you to take action against these perpetrators of crima against humanity in no uncertain terms.
READ: WE NEED JUSTICE, WE CRY FOR JUSTICE in the name of those who were maltreated, raped, tortured, killed, and sodomized by animals who call themselves humans.
MORE here - at last the truth will come out.
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREERepublicans: Stuck in Own MuckWith the Grand Old Party experiencing its most precipitous decline in modern times, the very last thing it needs is a rusty old anchor pulling it down even farther. But that's exactly what it's got as it finds itself helplessly attached to a discredited and unrepentant Dick Cheney. Ironically, previously elusive and camera-shy, now that the former vice president is out of office, no one in the Republican Party seems to be able to shut him up.
Accountability: America's Moral Responsibility to Humanity
Eight years of Republican "leadership" has left America both economically devastated, and globally humiliated. Yet, far from apologizing for the damage that they've done to the stability and image of this great nation, instead, they've circled their wagons and gone into damage control mode–not to control the damage that they've done to the nation, but in an attempt to rewrite history in order to control the damage that they've done to themselves.
So now, as President Obama goes about the business of desperately trying to return America to its former position of economic stability at home, and respect, admiration, and moral authority abroad, the GOP leadership seems to be completely oblivious to the nation's desperate and immediate need for a concerted effort in that regard. They're like clueless children who find it impossible to see the big picture. Thus, at this point it has become abundantly clear that their primary concern is not with restoring America to a sound footing in the world, but rather, simply restoring themselves to power at any cost.
Latest revelations about CIA torturers and the memos that came from 'above'.
Imagine, Mr. Obama, leaving a human submersed in water with a constant feeling of drowning.
Or, as we saw 'water cascading' on a human 's face, for hours. With the same feeling of getting drowned.
What else? We only begin to know what torture techniques were used against the so called 'Terrorists'.
The difference of being a 'Terrorist' or a CIA thug isn't that big in actual fact.
In Guantanamo Bay, similarly basic human rights were abused by the 'Greatest Nation' on earth.
And finally some of the memos are now being made public .
Where are Bush, Rumsfield, Cheney and Rice, as the master perpetrators. Why don't you take them on trial?
Here is the straw : "Mr President, you now want to protect the CIA henchmen who committed these crimes against humanity". Crimes, for which every normal citizen would be imprisoned for years.
You declare an amnesty for such culprits, who were 'only following orders'.
This means - in actual fact, that German SS troups were only 'following orders' and they should have been exonerated as well. Or do we have some double standards here?
Is it not that any person that tortures another fellow human, is committing a crime against humanity?
No Mr. President, we see some biased decision taking, and we are certain that Mr. Gates is the main reason for this.
He wants to protect his criminal gang.
No Sir, we won't agree. For the first time we speak out against your decision.
Like in the 'illegal use of drones' against innocent civilians.
Your policy of eliminating unwanted people somehow does not compare with the public image you portray. Somehow I have doubts if you are the person we thought you were, or you are simply caving in to pressure.
Torture in any form - is illegal. And torturers must be prosecuted, CIA henchmen or not.
Bush, Rumsfield, Cheney and Rice should be put on trial as well. Fast.
They were lying to us continiously till the end. And now we should let them go free ?
Take them on, the free world looks up to you.
