Fool me once, shame on you. Shame on the American people for letting a culture of torture become quick-fixed with a few mock trials. Despite the fact that the current regime has undermined the war on terror by reminding the anti-American world just how hypocritical we are, the voters seemed unwilling to oust President Bush, even when taking into consideration the horrors of Abu Ghraib. At the very least, the president could offer himself some deniability by outsourcing the torture as well as the tech jobs — but what do you expect from a government that can’t even figure out how to bribe somebody properly?
Fool me twice…
What did you think would happen in a closed camp of prisoners who
are unable to see the light of day, much less a lawyer? The fact that Mr. Rumsfeld was keeping such respected organizations as the Red Cross away from our detainees might have been
a clue that something was wrong — there is a reason that due process is
so heavily enthroned in the constitution: The government was considered untrustworthy.
The outrages at Guantanamo Bay have gone horribly underreported in the media. The New York Times tells horror stories gleaned from anonymous interviews of the overseers of a dark process of systemic humiliation, where one in six prisoners faced illegal treatment. The only dishonor here is to America, where the shores that are supposed to be sweeping bastions of liberty have become nesting places for the apathetic shells of men and women who don’t seem to give a damn about enemas forcibly administered, Meow Mix commercials played at maximum volume and people under the aegis of a government lolling pitifully about in its own feces.
Apparently, all those wonderful values preached from every single politician’s pulpit can be swept under a throw rug. The U.S. signed a
declaration of human rights admitting that some civil liberties have no borders and that basic humanity cannot be taken away with a label of “enemy combatant.” Most of our treaties, our world obligations, might as well
include the words: “as if.”
It is time to face up to a couple of myths: One, that the American people are the most generous in the world. We may talk big, but our pitifully small foreign aid budget may not swell much despite tsunamis. The U.S. pledged $1.1 billion to the city of Bam, Iran, rocked by earthquakes in 2003, but, according to the Economist, only $16.7 million ever managed to make its way to the humanitarian coffers because tax cuts are apparently more important than human lives, as long as those lives are far enough away that the media forget them after the cameras are gone.
Another myth is the idea that our military can do no wrong. How can you trust an organization to police itself when torture occurs not once, but twice, months apart in two different places? National security is the first priority of any government, but if there is so little to be gained, why are we embarrassing ourselves, generating more guerilla fighters and destroying our ability to negotiate with
the world if those actions can’t even guarantee us a little safety?
I’d bet money that more Americans can name the football teams in the playoffs than can discuss the details of any of those resoundingly important issues, which is perhaps why the Republicans in Congress are
happily licking President Bush’s
cowboy-booted feet. Their cowardice sickens me and makes me ashamed I ever considered myself a conservative. Where is the backbone of the Grand Old Party? Where is the backbone of the people who voted for them? Can’t anyone outside of newspaper editorial pages at least pretend to care about the qualifications of a man who called the Geneva Conventions “quaint” and “obsolete?”
The Bush Administration’s protection of rights has been less than rabid, and Congress has still failed to establish an independent watchdog group that can monitor the government properly. President Bush has graciously gummed the wheels by setting up his own committee, but somehow their autonomy strikes me as less than complete — it might have something to do with the fact that the oversight board has no power of subpoena. Federal judges appointed one after another tear up our civil rights like predators, and the administration is trying to anoint W. David Hager, a doctor who refuses to prescribe birth control prescriptions to unmarried women, as head of the FDA’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. These actions are pretty much uncontested in favor of tongue-biting party loyalty. Courage in the Senate is apparently a dish served … well, never.
If Congress continues this phenomenally appalling trend of rights-shredding that makes the Supreme Court look like a bunch of hippies, we inflammatory columnists may all be facing manacles by 2008. Freedom of speech and religion are already on the chopping block.
One thing is certain: I’d prefer Miss Beazley, President Bush’s newest Scottish terrier, to be attorney general over Mr. Gonzales. If the American people knew a thing or two about pride, they’d be willing to scream with one voice: “not in our house.”

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