torturoUS

Those pinkos over at Amnesty International report that the US has been engaging in widespread torture. A bunch of other wingnuts I know seem to think it's fine if this goes on, that as long as you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear. Hmm. Suppose you haven't done anything wrong yet you're still pulled into Guantanamo? Do you have better rights, more rights? The nice cell with the curtains and room service for the prisoners who didn't do anything wrong, it's just a case of mistaken identity? Or mistaken ethnicity? Or you just happen to tan well? I don't think so. I think you're equally hosed.

Only recently was a list of people who have been living at Gtmo for almost 4 years even made public. Can you imagine being one of those people, and hoping against hope that your family will get you released but they can't because they don't know where the hell you are? Or not being allowed to see a lawyer? Can anyone stay sane in the face of that, to say nothing of being tortured regularly to boot? I know myself. I'd have been rocking in the corner, muttering, inside of a month.

Forgetting for a moment small details like the Geneva Convention, which would protect even an enemy, why has our government not been required to prove that each prisoner is in fact an enemy combatant? This is why the whole idea of "you've got nothing to fear" is itself so very fearful. You have plenty to fear, whether you're a bad guy or a good guy. The reality is that Unca Dubya has no plan, and no one is holding him accountable for that vast and tragic lack. It could be argued that there are times, like in crises of national security, in which we need to give up some of the rights we hold so dear. I would argue that the erosion of civil and human rights is a terrible thing and should never even be entertained without the deepest thought and the most compelling reason, none of which has occurred as yet.

As has been said before, when none of us have any rights, I'm sure we'll all feel very safe. It's a damn scary thing when you realize that the real cause for concern in terms of our national security is inside the Beltway.

Yes, fellow Trogs, it's true. The calls are coming from inside the house.



Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/rights_amnesty_dc
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1757618,00.html