It’s so sad to see what America is turning into or has turned into. We are supposed to be a guiding light, a beacon of democracy and freedom for the world to see. With lofty principals and above the human rights abuses of other “lesser” nations. But that is not what we have became now. Under the Bush administration we now sanction torture of detainees. Something we should be above. After all we were one of the founding members of the UN and signed it’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights a little over 50 years ago. It’s no wonder we are hated so much the world over. With us saying one thing and doing another. Right now it is pretty much do as we damn well please and to hell with anyone else or their rights and opinions.
Now the Bush administration is telling a federal judge it was not obligated to save tapes of interrogations of suspected terrorists and is telling the court not to even look into the destruction of taped evidence. In court documents filed Friday night, government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about the tapes would interfere with current investigations by Congress and the Justice Department. What this really means is “don’t look into this cause we are hiding the fact that we sanction torture”. Kennedy had ordered the administration in June 2005 to safeguard “all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.” Five months later, the CIA destroyed the interrogation videos. The recordings involved suspected terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Now I will admit these are very bad men and deserve to be locked away and throw away the key. But that still does not give us the right to torture them, or anyone for that matter. We as Americans should be above that.
The Bush administration has taken a similar strategy in its dealings with Congress on the issue. On Friday 14 Dec. 07, the Justice Department urged Congress to hold off on questioning witnesses and demanding documents because that evidence is part of a joint CIA-Justice Department investigation. Attorney General Michael Mukasey also refused to give Congress details of the government’s investigation into the matter.
Even if Kennedy accepts the argument that government did not violate his order, he still could demand a hearing. He could raise questions about obstruction of justice.
What it all boils down to is more stonewalling by the criminal administration sitting in the whitehouse. I know there are still about one in four Americans who think that Bush was sent to us by God himself and is the best thing since sliced bread, but what about the other three in four ? Why do they remain silent about what is going on? Do we just don’t care or too lazy to get involved. All of our representatives have phones and addresses. I have contacted mine several times to no avail but at least I have tried and he won’t be getting my vote come November.
So I ask you, what have you done for your country? Sitting quietly and letting this go on without even a peep is not helping your country. If you are not speaking up you are sanctioning their use of torture whether you realize it or not.
US House of Representatives
US Senate
White House, Office of the President of the Uninted States of America