I have lived most of my life in a democracy, what I always believed to be the world’s foremost democracy—America. At one of the few graduations that graced my years of educational preparation, I was presented with a copy of the United States Constitution as a gift, which at the time, I quietly mocked as a ridiculous gesture. Today, these many years later, I remember that singular gift as an act of great significance, much like the passing of a torch, depicting a symbol of freedom. But that gift came with a price that must be paid with more than reverence. There is a responsibility to uphold the principles of that document, no matter what the cost. Today, I recognize my ignorance those many years ago, my lack of preparation my lack of understanding on that spring morning, which is still etched on my mind; of the importance and significance of the document which was pressed into my hands, and accompanied by a handshake between generations.
Our President, however, is not a recent young impressionable graduate. Neither are Attorney General Ashcroft, or Donald Rumsfeld, or Paul Wolfowitz, or Condi Rice, or Colin Powell or any of that crowd—are they ?
It is a common dictum, that we come to value and cherish that which we have lost or very nearly lost. Well America, we are in that category, because those cherished freedoms, that many have suffered for, labored for, and died for, are slipping away under an iron curtain of secrecy and lies, draped in American flags. Thanks to George W.Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft, and the architects of the Patriot Act; we see the present state of our country, in this ‘New American Century’, and it isn’t pretty. Wake up America, we are losing those cherished freedoms at the hands of sunshine ‘patriots’ ! As the Rev. Al Sharpton said just a few days ago, “there is a vicious spirit in the body politic of this nation”. But it is more than that, I think, it is a vicious spirit, constituted by a minority of men in power that condone assassination for political expedience—that changes good men and women in the service of this nation, in its armed forces, into vile torturers and murderers. Sadly, America is becoming another country, than the one we have known these many years, it has become a State that abandons its principles, its beliefs, its characteristic good will, into a State that uses fear, violence, and torture as tools to achieve its political aims. The people of America deserve better.
The truth is plain, this current administration, condones torture. Memos recently released provide evidence that as the invasion of Iraq was beginning, military officials at the Pentagon, were calling for strong arm tactics to be used in the interrogation of prisoners. A memo directed to Rumsfeld dated March 6, 2003 suggested using “exceptional techniques” in interrogations. Yet the government disavows any knowledge of the use of torture as an accepted method in dealing with prisoners. The soldiers currently facing court martial for the events at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, have stated that they were instructed by superiors to perform the kinds of activities that today form the basis for their charges. What kind of government abandons their own people ? What kind of government instigates and condones the use of such reprehensible violence, and then lies about it ? Is this how we support our troops ?
On August 8, 2004 the Oregonian, published a special report which supported the claims of our ‘abandoned soldiers’—Oregonian National Guard units that intervened at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and stopped Iraqi policemen from conducting brutal beatings and the obvious torture of close to eighty prisoners, received orders from a commanding general to “stand down, and leave the area.” How reliable are the excuses from Washington then, that deny the establishment of the practice of torture, as an acceptable methodology to be used ?
Amnesty International has been documenting a pattern of torture and ill treatment of detainees by coalition forces for over a year. Amnesty has also declared that Staff Sergeant Camillo Mejia Castillo, who was sentenced by a US military tribunal for refusing to return to Iraq and declared a deserter, is a “prisoner of conscience”.
Sgt. Mejia stated that while in Iraq between April and October 2003, he personally witnessed questionable methods of interrogation, and the killing of Iraqi civilians, inclusive of children. How reliable are the excuses from Washington, that they didn’t
know ? Can anyone still cling to any shred of hope that this administration is at all credible ?
M.L. / Contributing
Correspondent
Posted; August 9, 2004
URL: www.thecitizenfsr.org SM 2000-2004