"Recycled hillbillies" in charge
(Some of) the truth now seems to have been told. Thanks to Seymour M. Hersh's article in The New Yorker (available here), we have a sad, but detailed account of what the Big Boys have been up to around the world in their war on terror.
In my opinion, the hillbillies who were in charge of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were no worse than the hillbillies in charge of the Pentagon, the SAP and the Whitehouse (i.e. Rumsfeld, Stephen Cambone, Richard Myers, George W. Bush).
The seven accused reservists are not really to blame for the atrocities that got out of hand. The Pentagon consultant who has dealt with SAPs and who spoke to Hersh, said "We don't raise kids to do things like that." Well, guess what? Yes, you do.
It seems Americans raise kids to abuse, humiliate, set dogs on, torture, and interrogate in other ways that violate the Geneva Convention. And it seems Americans raise kids to create and inadequately lead covert and highly guarded secret missions, known as special-access programs, in which military underlings and unidentified civilians can basically do whatever they want, including the above-said indecent acts upon other humans. Most of the victims are not known terrorists, but accused "cabdrivers, brothers-in-law, and people pulled off the streets," according to a former intelligence official quoted in Hersh's article. Rumsfeld, Cambone, Myers, Bush were all kids...once. Now they're playing with bigger toys.
I know Arabs who have left the middle-East to what they happily acknowledge are better lives in North America. But their views on American foreign policy shed great light on the feelings and attitudes whom most in their varied former-homelands hold toward Americans. The types of atrocities being revealed now are nothing new; the 1975 Church Commission "investigated C.I.A. abuses during the previous two decades," mentions Hersh.
Consider the animosity left over from previous abuses. Consider the state of Iraq at present for its pathetic, law-abiding, decent citizens. Consider what they might think of their occupiers.
Consider them.
Then consider who you (the American reader, if there is one), elect.
In my opinion, the hillbillies who were in charge of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were no worse than the hillbillies in charge of the Pentagon, the SAP and the Whitehouse (i.e. Rumsfeld, Stephen Cambone, Richard Myers, George W. Bush).
The seven accused reservists are not really to blame for the atrocities that got out of hand. The Pentagon consultant who has dealt with SAPs and who spoke to Hersh, said "We don't raise kids to do things like that." Well, guess what? Yes, you do.
It seems Americans raise kids to abuse, humiliate, set dogs on, torture, and interrogate in other ways that violate the Geneva Convention. And it seems Americans raise kids to create and inadequately lead covert and highly guarded secret missions, known as special-access programs, in which military underlings and unidentified civilians can basically do whatever they want, including the above-said indecent acts upon other humans. Most of the victims are not known terrorists, but accused "cabdrivers, brothers-in-law, and people pulled off the streets," according to a former intelligence official quoted in Hersh's article. Rumsfeld, Cambone, Myers, Bush were all kids...once. Now they're playing with bigger toys.
I know Arabs who have left the middle-East to what they happily acknowledge are better lives in North America. But their views on American foreign policy shed great light on the feelings and attitudes whom most in their varied former-homelands hold toward Americans. The types of atrocities being revealed now are nothing new; the 1975 Church Commission "investigated C.I.A. abuses during the previous two decades," mentions Hersh.
Consider the animosity left over from previous abuses. Consider the state of Iraq at present for its pathetic, law-abiding, decent citizens. Consider what they might think of their occupiers.
Consider them.
Then consider who you (the American reader, if there is one), elect.
posted by bkkRon at
5/18/2004 12:29:00 AM
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