Discussion for article #231103
“It’s time for us to be the good guys again.”
Don’t get out much, do you?
It’s interesting that the same people who tell us that homosexuality could lead to incest and bestiality think that torture is just fine, and does not diminish our morality. After all, it was a tough period in our history, a “ticking time bomb” scenario.
But that’s precisely when you prove whether you have human values or not. It’s easy to live a moral life when you are under no challenges or stress. But what separates civilized societies from others is that they adhere to their values, regardless of the exigencies.
“…everything, everything, everything is George W. Bush’s fault…”
Finally Cruz gets it.
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He is right. It is on all of us. We the stupid voted in these idiots, except for the appointed ones, who are suppose to abide by the moral and ethical standards of the this country, not to mention the constitution. Hopefully we can fix that come election time 2016 if enough voters educate themselves and see BS for what it really is and vote accordingly. But I won’t hold my breath on that.
Sure, it’s on all of us for having voted that man into office, twice. But “we” did not vote for that policy. There is a reason he kept it secret and lied to us about it. That policy is squarely the responsibility of George Bush.
On us? Fuck you. I’ve been raging about this bullshit for years. I am a visible pain in the ass to fascist right wingers. I offend them in public given the chance, don’t given an inch, and cause a ruckus. You want me to set fire to myself? So they can call me crazy?
Stop with the hand wringing .b.s.; this is just like the false equivalency “both sides do it” shit. The Right in the US are fascists. That’s not hyperbole. That’s not a misstatement. Instead of indicting the opposition, turn up the volume.
Jesus.
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When we aren’t torturing, murdering and kidnapping people ourselves, we are running cover for our cronies who torture, murder and unduly imprison even more zealously than us.
As we speak the US is using “leverage” to block a meeting of the Geneva Convention called because of Israel’s horrific treatment of the millions of Palestinians they hold prisoner
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.6287041
We give Israel over 3 billion dollars a year. The story is nearly the same in Egypt where we give 1.5 billion a year despite the torture and murder of thousands and the toppling of a democratically elected government by a military junta.
We have few if any morals
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I remember how stunned I was when this “should we or shouldn’t we” torture conversation first seeped into the national media. I could not believe we, as a Nation, were even having a conversation about it. Then came Abu Ghraib, and I knew we were way past conversation. So sad that this great experiment in democracy has gotten so horribly sidetracked.
Excuse, me? Yes, it is all about Bush and Cheney. The conservative SCourt crowned them emperors. WE are not responsible for overturning an election and making a shame of our republic.
I’m sick of being told that we have to make allowances for the unholy behavior of conservative psychopaths much less greedy bastards who demonize the poor, sick and minorities. Don’t let Republicans like Ted Cruz mess with your brain. WE who voted for Al Gore did not have a say in this. WE did not cover it up. WE would never have done it because everyone from Napoleon to Ramses II have said it didn’t work and was a waste of time.
Take a gander of the excuse that Ted Cruz is floating now:
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted his Democratic colleagues in the Senate on Thursday, telling reporters, “I’m sick and tired of people blaming George W. Bush for things he did.”
In the aftermath of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture, Cruz said, “Democrats have been busy with their favorite game again: bringing up catastrophic things that President Bush did and then blaming him for them.”
The Texas Senator raised the invasion of Iraq as an example of something that “Bush gets blamed for simply because he did it.”
“Just because President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq, costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, does that mean he should bear the blame for it?” he asked.
“America is not a place where you get blamed for things simply because they never would have happened unless you did them.”
He urged each of his Democratic colleagues “to look in the mirror and ask yourselves whether you want to be blamed for disasters you have personally created? In my case, the answer is a resounding ‘no.’”
Satan couldn’t have stated the Republican position on torture better. “Don’t blame bloodthirsty incompetents” for their disasters? I’d rather vote for Caligula who at least admitted what he was. Cruz chose the wrong country to immigrate to if he thinks that historians or decent citizens are going to let Bush off the hook.
Those images from Abu Graibe will always be the legacy that Bush deserves and will get from the rest of the world and his own countrymen. He was no bumbling fool. He was a cold blooded torturer.
Once upon a time, torture was a crime and those responsible for it were held accountable and brought to justice.
During WWII the Japanese treatment of POW was barbaric-beatings, water boarding, deprivation and death. When the truth was revealed, a public was shocked and outraged at the horrible mistreatment. Torture was a crime.
After all, this is not what Americans do.
Except it is.
Now we learn in the name of democracy the extent of abuse and torture the CIA has inflicted on detainees post 9/11. It turns out when it comes to torture maybe Americans are not so exceptional after all
Seriously, can we get back to that time in history when we we shipped the dirty work off to the Egyptians or Saudis or the Bulgarians or El Salvadorians (is that right) and could therefore, with a wink and a nod, claim that we didn’t torture anyone.The myth of American exceptionalism and that shining city on the hill can’t be clouded in us publicly behaving like Nazis, Stalinist, Khmer Rouge or some tin pot dictatorial leader.***
***Vietnam War, Korean War, Filipino Insurrection, certain incursions into Central America throughout the 20th century and of course slavery excluded.
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Only when we defeat other countries. In Vietnam, Project Phoenix was responsible torture of close to 80,000 people and somewhere around 26,000 died. No one was held accountable.