Torture, Dissidents, and the Unbelievable

It is being reported by the BBC that the UN’s chief anti-toture expert that Iraq is out of control and that torture is worse after Saddam since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. “What most people tell you is that the situation as far as torture is concerned now in Iraq is totally out of hand,” said Manfred Nowak, an Austrian Law professor. “The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein.”

In the mean time, the Senate is facing its own battle over a detainee bill that is supposed to obsolve the United States from alleged agressions against detainees who were in custody of the CIA. The more the White House pushes for this bill, the more they leave the impression that if protections are not passed, the United States will be in violation of General Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

It is being reported that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) will allow a filibuster of the bill supported by John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), John Warner (R-VA), and Susan Collins (R-ME) that does not support the language proposed by the White House. These senators are being called “dissidents” my allegedly mainstream Republicans. Frist, who is speculated to be a candidate for the presidency in 2008 and a person with a medical degree who diagnoses people that are not his patients using selective video from his office in Washington, shows that he wears the jackboots of the neo-con army and will goose-step along with anything that fits his agenda rather than doing what is morally right.

As the debate moves forward, we see members like Christopher Shays (R-CT), Michael Castle (R-DE), Jim Leach (R-IA) and James T. Walsh (R-NY) supporting the McCain-Graham-Warner bill while John Boehner (R-OH) plays politics with his waffling between being a good party-boy and trying to look good at home in a tough election year. Boehner's tough sounding stance is like watching a toothless pitbull trying to gum a rubber bone.

This crowd of neo-cons telling us that they are trying to do what is best for the country is begining to wear very thin. It's almost as funny as Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying he is not an anti-Semite.

Honoring Present Day Heroes

The American Heritage Dictionary defines hero as “A person noted for special achievement in a particular field.” Unfortunately, a special achievement in this political environment means standing up and doing the right thing when political winds are against you. Three members of the United States Senate and a well respected retired Army general deserve the moniker of hero: John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), John Warner (R-VA), and General Colin Powell.

Rather than sitting on the sidelines and nodding in agreement with redefining a treaty the United States voluntarily entered in over fifty years ago, these gentlemen raised their concerns about the risks of such a move. Each of these men have genuine and sincere concerns of the ramifications to American service people on the battlefields of the world. Warner, who served in World War II, Korea, and Undersecretary of the Navy now chairs the Armed Services Committee. Warner has a reputation for working in the best interests of battlefied personnel and their treatment around the world.

Graham was a lawyer in the Air Force and has represented many enlisted personnel. Today, Graham is a member of the reserves and serves as a Staff Judge Advocate. As a member of the Armed Services and Justice committees, Graham is uniquely qualified to understand the convergence of the law as it affects our service personnel. His insights in this area are profound and deserving of respect.

General Colin Powell is a genuine American Hero. His rise from being born in the south Bronx to General, National Security Advisor to President Reagan, commander during the first Gulf War, Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State, there is no ammunition to attack the credibility of Gen. Powell. Rather than denounce the intelligence that lead to the his biggest public embarrasment at the United Nations prior to the Iraqi war, Powell turned it into a diplomatic tool to make the United State's case in his discussions with world leaders. His denouncement of this attempt came from someone with a career of service to his country and deserves every consideration.

Saving the best for last, Sen. McCain is a Naval Academy graduate and former Navy aviator whose six years as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton is legendary. From this perspective, McCain is uniquely qualified to understand the ramifications of rogue states redefining international law to the detriment of our soldiers. We were recently reminded that those the United States called POWs were classified as “detainees” by the North Vietnamese. With lifetime lasting effects of his capture, McCain’s concern is for those who might be in a similar situation.

McCain and Powell are the two I most respect. For them and the sake of the respect of this nation, please support McCain, Graham, Warner, and Powell as they try to protect this great nation from imperialistic leaders who refuse to understand that there are legitimate points of view other than theirs!

Our Liar In Chief

In my continuing effort to exercise the rights that are granted to me by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and my sincere wish for the safety of our gallant men and women unfortunately stationed in the middle of the Iraqi Civil War, I remind you of the following quote:

It’s an interesting lesson here, by the way. He’s an advisor. Now, he is the Ph.D., and I am a C-student—or was a C-student. Now, what's that tell you?
—George W. Bush

Now we are told that the government knew that there was NO connection between Saddam Hussein and Ossama bin Laden BEFORE Bush started the bombing against someone that was NO threat to the United States.

[T]he Cabinet-level Iraqi official “said that Iraq has no past, current, or anticipated future contact with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda” and that the official “added that bin Laden was in fact a longtime enemy of Iraq.”

On Sept. 25, 2002, just days after the CIA received the source’s information, President Bush told reporters: “Al-Qaeda hides. Saddam doesn’t, but the danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is, is that al-Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam’s madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world. . . . [Y]ou can’t distinguish between al-Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror.”
CIA Learned in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties, Report Says
By Walter Pincus; Washington Post; Friday, September 15, 2006;

With all due respect, Mr. President, it tells me that you and your handlers figured how to fool most of the people most of the time and that you have not learned how to analyze information without spinning it finer than cotton candy since leaving college.

Remembering 9/11 Five Years Later

This morning, I woke up, performed my morning ritual, and drove to work. This was the same routine I went through five years ago. As I did five years ago, I listened to the local all news radio station. Just like five years ago, I had overslept and was concerned about the region’s horrendous traffic ahead of me as I tried to arrive to a meeting on time. Traffic reports on the eights, followed by the weather, filled in by commercials and other world news... until that first report.

While listening to the radio five years ago, I heard reports of the United States being physically attacked. Based on the reports, I thought it was a small plane hitting the tower. As a native New Yorker, I know the plethora of helicopters and small planes that fly around the city reporting news and traffic. That made sense. Reality did not make sense. Today’s stories were replays of the reports from five years ago as we remember those who died in the attack.

Like five years ago, I was able to reflect on these events.

The president spoke tonight and said that we are safer than we were five years ago. After all, we are bringing the fight to the enemy and we have not been attacked again. But every time I hear the president say that, I want to jump through the television and scream at him that it took eight years between the two attacks on the World Trade Center. Then I want to ask why would they want to come here to kill Americans since we’re sending our wonderful defenders over to be targets?

If we are safer, then why are words like “improvised explosive devices,” “insurgency,” and “civil war” now part of our lexicon? This is not positive language for a country that is supposed to feel safer.

Are we safer or are we being talked into to being safer? This republic was founded on democratic principles is still under attack. But these attackers are not those who want to do us physical harm. We are being attacked by autocrats and megalomaniacs who want to destroy the freedoms which gallant men and women have fought for over time. With the charm of Snowball setting down the Seven Commandments to an Animal Farm, our elected leaders are using the same tactics in hope we will follow their bequeaths like Boxer and Clover. To do that, these potentates of the absurd create something called the “Patriot Act” that has nothing to do with patriotism. It is an law for the country to support the authority’s interest in maintaining control.

Five years ago, ideologues physically attacked the United States because we do not believe the way they do. Today, ideologues verbally attack us because we question the way our government represents our interests around the world. Our president says “if you are for us, you are against us.” He then says we will preserve our freedoms but if we exercise one of those precious freedoms, we are told we are “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

We have met the enemy... and he is us!

George Orwell would have been saddened that our government has not learned the lessons of his writing and has turned the defense of this country into the foundation for a real-life scenario for what he wrote in 1984.