Every American should read this piece by Fred Branfman, "On Being Good Americans in Time of Torture," because he makes two points that should give every single one of us a bad conscience. (1) Bush, unlike any other leader in modern history, has officially reserved the right to torture people at his discretion, and (2) We have all been witnesses to this declaration, despite his bald-faced lie, "We do not torture." In fact, even as he signed the recent defense bill with John McCain's amendment against torture (which passed 90-9 in the Senate, and which Bush threatened the entire defense bill over), he also signed a statement reserving his right to do whatever he saw fit under the guise of protecting America against terrorism. In other words, Chimpie maintained that he had the power to order torture if he personally deemed it necessary.
So Bush has crowned himself Torturer in Chief, and we all know it. The blood and suffering is on our hands, on every American's hands, if we do not bring this monster to justice.
2 comments:
So what do we do? I encourage the students I teach to dig hard at the truth, to have a healthy dose of skepticism. It seems there is no outlet for a people that do know this is quite fucked. I'm frustrated and frightened, but feel there is such a blind apathy here (which I must say, I see countering trends) there's no way to get through. I sit back, read blogs, read the news, dig, talk, and cynically hopr that the next administration is not so fucking full of shit and cowards. Any thoughts, Olaf? What do we do?
I wish I knew. Working with young people is probably the best thing you can possibly do that may have a beneficial effect. But beyond that, I haven'y a clue anymore. Outrage seems an exclusive of the rightwingnut bastards, at least what gets coverage.
The press has major responsibility here--why no polls on "Do you approve of torture under any conditions? Do you approve of presidential discretion to detain and torture anyone as he determines necessary to fight terrorism? Is the mistaken torture of some innocent individuals worth it under certain conditions?"
But they aren't even asking the questions. Chimpie says, "I'm the king and I can torture anyone I want (well, actually have low-level scapegoats do it)," and the press nods, gets back on their knees and begs to kiss his feet some more (or worse).
Frankly, I've given up on this country. People should be marching on Washington over this, but until their sister or brother of wife or mother is hauled off by government agents to undisclosed locations--essentially "disappeared" --life just goes on. Is "American Idol" on tonight? Did Tom and Katie split up for real? Is Britney in trouble again?
Not much to do but watch the nation destroy itself through cowardice and apathy.
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