Monday, May 24, 2004
Again, I am driven to comment on what is happening in the world outside of Africa.
So I am not resident in the United States for the time being, and must get my news and opinion primarily from the BBC World Service and from the internet. But I absolutely cannot understand why there does not seem to be any popular outrage about what we are learning of the actions of our government. Does no-one back home see that we have handed victory to Osama while he sat it out on the sidelines, that our credibility in the Middle East is in negative figures, and that we have vastly magnified the danger of terrorism all over the world?
Granted: If concern for human rights and a belief that the US really does want to encourage understanding, peace and freedom in the world makes me a flaming liberal, then I plead guilty. But how can it be that all the papers are now solemnly reporting that the interrogation methods we used in Iraq were simply imported from our methods in Afghanistan, as though that somehow is a rationalization? Do people really think for a moment that brutal US-sponsored torture is OK if it is only used in Afghanistan or Guantanamo? And why is no one asking what is going on in Guantanamo? For that matter, has anyone asked how Saddam is being treated? Yes he may be a monster but he was the head of a sovereign government and he is now our responsibility.
Sorry for this screed, but I can’t stand it. My stomach churns when I hear or see a newscast. I wrote a REAL rant after the whole torture story broke but didn’t post it because surely more information would ameliorate the evil, or my country would rise up in outrage against those who perpetrate such evil in our name. But it seems to be business as usual and by the way we have a policy for the torture, sexual abuse and murder of prisoners, many of whom appear to be innocent and some of whom are children. Is this really my country?
So I am not resident in the United States for the time being, and must get my news and opinion primarily from the BBC World Service and from the internet. But I absolutely cannot understand why there does not seem to be any popular outrage about what we are learning of the actions of our government. Does no-one back home see that we have handed victory to Osama while he sat it out on the sidelines, that our credibility in the Middle East is in negative figures, and that we have vastly magnified the danger of terrorism all over the world?
Granted: If concern for human rights and a belief that the US really does want to encourage understanding, peace and freedom in the world makes me a flaming liberal, then I plead guilty. But how can it be that all the papers are now solemnly reporting that the interrogation methods we used in Iraq were simply imported from our methods in Afghanistan, as though that somehow is a rationalization? Do people really think for a moment that brutal US-sponsored torture is OK if it is only used in Afghanistan or Guantanamo? And why is no one asking what is going on in Guantanamo? For that matter, has anyone asked how Saddam is being treated? Yes he may be a monster but he was the head of a sovereign government and he is now our responsibility.
Sorry for this screed, but I can’t stand it. My stomach churns when I hear or see a newscast. I wrote a REAL rant after the whole torture story broke but didn’t post it because surely more information would ameliorate the evil, or my country would rise up in outrage against those who perpetrate such evil in our name. But it seems to be business as usual and by the way we have a policy for the torture, sexual abuse and murder of prisoners, many of whom appear to be innocent and some of whom are children. Is this really my country?
