Torture Photos Threaten National Security?

Hello Readers! There are many things that concern me right now, especially health care reform, the escalating situation in Pakistan, and the way my favorite president just announced that he would ignore a court order to release torture photos.

I don't wish to be negative, but when you think about all that's happening the challenges seem almost overwhelming.

Regarding the president, I'm extremely nervous about what's happening. My new favorite president is beginning to look a little like our past - and my least favorite - president. Why would he ignore a court order to release photos of torture when everybody knows we've already done it? I don't get it! Don't the terrorists already have plenty of recruitment tools? I just can't see how national security is threatened. He seems a little Bush-like in this situation, and that terrifies me.

Btw, I do care about the troops and their safety, but I don't buy the argument the photos will make their situation any more dangerous. The troops are already at extreme risk from the policies of the last eight years. Plenty of torture photos are already out there. I think that's some kind of excuse. Respecting our legal system is important too. That's something our troops are fighting and dying for.

If not photos, then how about torture drawings, like the one seen here? Are those banned too Mr. President? Let's be honest, nobody wants those torture photos released, but it's important to respect the legal system. If civil libertarians successfully sued to disclose our sins so that we are forced to learn and heal, then I think the President should respect that decision. It's also important for the military to learn from its mistakes. The generals should not have that kind of power over our system. "National security" as a power should not be abused.

The information is already out there. No matter what you say, we need to respect our legal system. Nobody is above the law.

Thursday's Political Rant #2 - Michael

Iraq Torturing Gays to Death

Good Morning Bloggers! I don't have anything polite to add to a story I read this morning on The Raw Story about how gays are being tortured and killed in Iraq by both religious terrorists and the government. It even describes how the torturers are coming up with new, creative ways to kill their poor victims.

I feel horrible for those poor people. Most important, as an American, it makes me extremely angry that we are over there risking our soldier's lives, spending billions each month to protect those horrible people, and standing by and doing NOTHING!

The reports suggest there's a witch hunt in progress, with gays being rounded-up, tortured and killed. Reports say that some are killed by having their anuses glued shut, causing a painful, grotesque death. I don't know what to say about that, except that my heart breaks to think we freed those horrible people allowing them to commit their nightmarish deeds.

More Americans should know about this nightmare, because we are partly responsible. Please join me and tell our representatives how angry we are that innocent people are being persecuted by a regime we protect and support. We need to stop them or GET THE HELL OUT! Think about it, if we do nothing, than we are no better. We're simply the guards protecting the lynch mobs murdering innocent people. It's wrong! We shouldn't allow it to happen!

It appears our young men and women died to replace a brutal, inhumane regime with brutal, inhumane, intolerant people. They seem the same to me. It all seems like such a waste of lives, money and effort.

Thursday's Angry Political Rant - Michael

PS - If you decide to take action, here are a few links that may help you. Email President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and/or your national elected officials. If you wish to call, simply call the Whitehouse at 202-456-1414, or the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. I also suggest you contact your local newspaper. Please let them all know how angry we are to see our leaders and military standing idly by while lynch mobs persecute and murder innocent gay people in Iraq.

We Need to End "Republican Justice"

Hello Bloggers - I am very excited that Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) finally dropped his opposition and voted to nominate Eric Holder as our next Attorney General. He should be confirmed very soon.

This is a great day for America. The abused and abusive Justice Department will finally have a new boss to clean house. Not only is Eric Holder considered a highly respected constitutional expert, he will be the first African-American attorney general.

Before the vote, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) praised Holder for the "two short declarative sentences uttered at his confirmation hearing -- without caveats, without parsing words, without equivocation," which "signaled a new direction for the Department of Justice and a turning of the page in the constitutional history of this country. 'Waterboarding is torture.' 'No one is above the law.'"

That is GREAT NEWS for Americans who care about REAL justice - NOT Republican justice!

Of course, there were two Republican malcontents who voted against Holder: John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Cornyn criticized Holder's role in "controversial pardons" during the Clinton years, despite the fact that Holder apologized for not properly vetting Marc Rich and expressed deep regret over the mistake.

Both Senators question whether Holder will "protect intelligence agents who participated in harsh interrogations," the Associated Press notes. "Harsh interrogations?" That's nothing but Republican political-marketing-speak for TORTURE! Republicans are good at lying that way.

I'm sorry Senators, but that's a ridiculous assertion. Whether military or intelligence, "following orders" is not a sufficient defense. People should not be "protected" from breaking the law. Mr. Holder, the majority of Americans want major crimes under the Bush Administration investigated, so please do your job.

Senators Cornyn and Coburn, like so many of their associates on Capitol Hill, turned a blind-eye to Bush's "harsh interrogations" and lawbreaking, and are now partly responsible for US domestic and international lawbreaking. Unlike Bush who - at least - admitted to breaking the law, on issues like torture and eavesdropping, they hid and hoped to avoid the problem. They were cowards, and they were wrong.

The Justice Department should investigate whenever possible, and even if we don't get convictions, for whatever reason, at the very least expose exactly what despicable things happened over the past eight years. Even the lesser crimes need some kind of South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Committee to find the truth. We Americans need to know who broke the law, and why, and make sure that it never happens again.

Anyway, I'm just happy things may begin to change. I, like so many Americans, will be watching to see if Eric Holder restores American justice. In the same way evangelicals cherry-pick bible scripture, Republicans cherry-pick the US Constitution. That Republican BS approach to American justice must change. President Obama and Eric Holder must ACT FAST to restore equal justice under law, and the US Constitution.

Wednesday's Political Rave #1 - Michael

PS - The BAD NEWS is that the conservative Washington Times is reporting that Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond, a Republican from Missouri and the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an interview that he will support Eric Holder's nomination for Attorney General because Holder assured him privately that Mr. Obama's Justice Department will NOT prosecute former Bush officials involved in the interrogations program." That makes me VERY NERVOUS, and it better be WRONG! Please join me in writing President Obama and Eric Holder to DEMAND REAL JUSTICE! Thanks.

News Special: Confusion Over Torture All Started 41 Years Ago Tomorrow

Hello Saturday Bloggers - I know we're used to being lied to by our politicians, but I think the confusion over John McCain's Vietnam captivity and alleged torture needs to be addressed on the anniversary of his capture just before the election.

The possibility that he lied about being tortured to win votes makes me very uneasy. I compiled the following from a very interesting, but long, article in today's London Times.

I know many of you Republicans are going to accuse me of not trusting an American hero over a Vietnamese jailer, but that's not true. I'm not saying McCain lied. I just think it's important to point out the discrepancies in the stories. Read the article in the Times and make up your own mind. I don't know who is telling the truth.

The Times interviewed his jailer Tran Trong Duyet. They were friends after the war. Duyet claims that McCain received good medical care and was never tortured in any way.

Amazingly, McCain crash-landed forty-one years ago tomorrow. He was supposedly treated for his injuries and spent the next five and a half years as a prisoner. The story accounts differ most when each side describes McCain’s incarceration, first at the prison known as the Hanoi Hilton and later at The Plantation.

Tran Tron Duyet's Version from the London Times
"[Duyet], the former prison director, met McCain a year after he had been shot down. He recalls a defiant rule-breaker, the patriotic son of an admiral and a fervent believer in the war. What he does not recall, however, is a victim of torture or violence."

“I never tortured or mistreated the PoWs and nor did my staff,” says Mr Duyet in contradiction of Mr McCain’s account and those of other prisoners. “The Americans were dropping bombs on military and civilian targets – so it’s not as if they had important information we needed to extract.” Mr Duyet says that he sympathises with Mr McCain and other PoWs for claiming that they were tortured. “It’s up to the Americans to decide whether or not he counts as a hero. He was very brave, very manly, he dared to argue with me and he was very intelligent. But all the talk of being tortured is for the sake of votes.”

McCain's Version from Faith of My Fathers, by John McCain
“I was hauled into an empty room and kept there for four days. At intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings. One held me while the others pounded away. They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth. Weakened by beatings and dysentery, with my right leg again almost useless, I found it impossible to stand."

“On the third night I lay in my blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. Three guards lifted me to my feet and gave me the worst beating yet. They left me on the floor moaning from the pain in my arm. Despairing of any relief from pain and further torture, I tried to take my life.”

I don't know what to think. I guess I should believe McCain since he's a fellow American. It's weird though. What do you guys think? McCain does look permanently injured from possible torture, but supposedly his injuries from the crash were severe too.

You should also be aware of another creepy McCain fact related to Vietnam. Did you know that McCain has been receiving 100% disability payments from the Defense Department since the early seventies, despite his abilities and personal mobility?

Many in the veteran's community still think it's a travesty of justice. That level of disability is usually reserved for highly crippled vets. There are many examples of wheelchair bound soldiers who receive less than 50% disability. The man has too many red flags if you ask me.

I guess I'll just have to believe that John McCain did his best, and whether he was tortured or not, he says he was. I'll just have to give him the benefit of the doubt. That doesn't mean, however, that I am free of doubt. I still don't like the red flags. There are too many mysteries. The man creeps me out.

Saturday's Political News Special #1 - Michael

PS - Bloggers, I'm also a contributor to Papamoka Straight Talk, so visit the blog if you want to read some interesting responses to this posting. Click here.

Political Rant: We Need to Demand Justice Over Proof George Bush Approved Torture

Good Morning Bloggers - I would like to discuss torture. You know, the thing we've always been against, even to the point of promoting and signing international treaties to prevent it. The kind of thing that George Washington refused to do because he said that it would harm the "morality of the nation." You know, TORTURE!

To this day it still shocks me how some of my more rough-and-tumble Republican friends think I'm crazy to worry about it. They say it's no big deal. They don't have any problem with the idea that George Bush is breaking domestic and international laws. They say he's doing it to protect the country.

Really? I say he's probably getting his rocks off. I'm horrified by the idea that we've been torturing our prisoners for years now. We've broken our laws, and even more important, we've trashed our "word" and honor as a nation by ignoring our international agreements. We need to feel worse about it. We should be more ashamed of our leaders. They should have been on trial by now, or at least impeached. Thank you so much Nancy Pelosi - what a tool. We need to get more angry.

So, little by little over time, the proof has been leaking out, and a big piece of it just hit the fan this morning. The Washington Post is reporting today that the Bush administration "issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects." Intelligence officials supposedly required the documents for "CYA" purposes, just in case the details of the program became public. Well, it's now public, and I'm angry! You should be too.

"The classified memos, which have not been previously disclosed, were requested by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet more than a year after the start of the secret interrogations, according to four administration and intelligence officials familiar with the documents. Although Justice Department lawyers, beginning in 2002, had signed off on the agency's interrogation methods, senior CIA officials were troubled that White House policymakers had never endorsed the program in writing.

The memos were the first -- and, for years, the only -- tangible expressions of the administration's consent for the CIA's use of harsh measures to extract information from captured al-Qaeda leaders, the sources said. As early as the spring of 2002, several White House officials, including then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Cheney, were given individual briefings by Tenet and his deputies, the officials said. Rice, in a statement to congressional investigators last month, confirmed the briefings and acknowledged that the CIA director had pressed the White House for "policy approval."" To read the whole story, click here.

So, there we have it. The White House authorized torture. Of course, McCain, who originally opposed torture, now says that waterboarding isn't necessarily torture. I see, so what is it? Enhanced interrogation is just another way of describing torture. Prisoners should never be subjected to painful and inhumane treatment. We must always find other ways to get information. The "24" style mentality of treating the enemy as though they're not human is repulsive to me.

There are so many arguments against torture I don't have time to describe them here, but overall we're better off without it. I'm angry, and I hope you are too. We need to vote for Obama in 20 days to make sure this never happens again. Once he's elected, we can start cleaning up the mess made by Bush and his cruel henchmen. Not in my name! Never again!

Wednesday's Political Rant #1 - Michael