Holte's corner

"You must have done something"

When I read about the repression era in Argentina, what struck me hardest was the arbitrariness and inaccuracy of it. Repression is always incredibly stupid. It drives the power hungry underground, it rarely actually captures its purported targets, it destroys all that is worthy and noble about a society, and it rarely accomplishes its stated mission. The motto in Argentina was "you must have done something." So imagine my surprise when I found out my own country was engaging in this same stupidity!

The fact is, they disapeared people and tortured them. The fact is they disapeared the wrong people. And not only did they do this, but they disapeared innocent people and tortured them anyway. And not only have they done this but they want to keep most of the people they disapeared after 9/11 indefinately. The proof of the idiocy and inaccuracy of the effort is all over the news the past few days. A canadian national was arrested, sent to Syria and tortured on mistaken identity. His story is all over the news. The US is a pariah all over the world. And there is one administration rightly to blame; the Bush Administration.

To make matters worse, these bald faced hypocrits still claim they were justified. They even still claim it works, and they use popular media to get that message out. For years now a narrative has gone out that the "dirty wars" were what "really" won the cold war -- and now we have a new dirty war in the name of Allah. Oh excuse me, the name of God.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/paper/

The current affairs about the US and Torture have been so shocking to me largely because I've been reading on the subject, from a human rights point of view, since at least the Carter Administration. What this reveals about the motives, deceptiveness, past behavior, and sheer vileness of some present and past officials is shocking.

What side are these officials on? The side of the Constitution or the side of oppression, fascism and authoritarianism? How can the President talk about "freedom on the March" while rendering moral support to torture and murder? If they are not on the side of the Constitution, then it is they, and not the people they lay charges against, who are the traitors to the Country. They take an oath to uphold the constitution. That oath should not be broken by lip service.

He honestly can't. But that doesn't stop him.

Now it is turnng out that evidence is coming out that the illegal kidnappings and arrests (if there is no court order and no due process it is illegal) of "detainees" by the US has been inaccurate and gotten the wrong people. Some claim that there are 9 innocent people for every one guilty party. And since they have all been treated shamefully the administration now is afraid to release them lest they sue or prosecute them.

Here is circumstantial evidence for past crimes, and primae facae evidence of current crimes and misdemeaners! No wonder the administration is trying so hard to get "aggressive interrogation" legalized. The only thing I can be thankful for is that, initially at least, the Administration felt constrained by US law and so we have a living victim rather than a permanently "disapeared" statistic.

Senator Frist says:
http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1648&Month=6&Year=2004

“These seven men are a stirring example of the cruel torture inflicted on Iraqis under the stifling dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. They were made scapegoats for Saddam’s mismanagement of the Iraqi economy. They were unfairly charged with the crime of handling U.S. currency. They were jailed for seven months in Abu Ghraib prison. As a final humiliating punishment, Saddam’s regime ordered the surgical removal of their right hand and scarred their foreheads. Their lives were forever changed by the brutal actions of a madman."

Is he talking about Saddam Hussein, or the current dirty war. Since Saddam has been deposed thousands have been arrested, detained, and since the last visit by Negroponte to Iaq, 15-60 people a day have been disapeared, tortured, and dumped on the streets in Baghdad.

Nobody disagreed that Iraq needed to be freed. But what has happened there is such a scale of magnitude worse than what happened under Saddam, that the words "madmen" can only be applied now to the chief architects of that war. People who lied our way into the country, refused to provide the kind of effort needed to make a successful regime change, and now want to keep us there despite evidence that we are only making things worse by staying the course the way we are.

“The personal stories epitomize why a free Iraq, absent from the tyrannical Saddam regime, is necessary and just. I thank each of them for their bravery in sharing their personal experiences, and remain committed to staying the course to bring peace and democracy to Iraq.”

If it was Evil for Saddam to torture his victims. It is a scale of magnitude worse what is going on now. Local reporters, and even military people, believe that this is going on systematically as part of efforts by the Shiite led and Muktadr Sadr infiltrated Government to fight off a mostly Sunni insurgency. To me this is the 'circumstantial evidence' of past crimes as well. Disapearances and the torture of victims was something that the dictators of South America did during their dirty wars in the 60's, 70's and 80's. They alleged at the time that the CIA was behind them. The modus operandi was similar with the exception of the dumping on the streets. In South America the bodies disapeared as well. Now Negroponte is defending the same kinds of interrogation methods he denied defending when he was pro-consul to Honduras in the 80's.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/nation/15546871.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_nation
Months ago Fox reported this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175704,00.html

However, Sunni Arab anger welled up Wednesday following revelations by the Shiite prime minister that 173 detainees, malnourished and some showing signs of torture, had been found in an Interior Ministry building seized by U.S. troops in Baghdad last weekend. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari promised a full investigation and punishment for anyone guilty of torture. But Sunni leaders claimed the Shiite-led security forces were trying to intimidate Sunnis from voting and demanded an international investigation.

Most insurgents are Sunnis, while Shiites and Kurds dominate the U.S.-backed security services.

Meanwhile, U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, met in Baghdad with al-Jaafari, but neither spoke to the media.

He was sent down to Iraq to supposedly advise Al Jaafari to stop detaining and torturing prisoners, but after he left, the bodies started showing up on the streets murdered and tortured. This is dirty war, pure and systematic. And if the Sunni's are retaliating in kind, that only goes to indicate why it is called dirty war. But as anyone who follows the history of what happened in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 70's and 80's, Negroponte seems to be a covert expert on "aggressive interrogation." And his real beliefs are coming out now when he defends current efforts;

"Bush's national intelligence director, John Negroponte, said the interrogation program has had ``precious little activity of that kind for a number of months now'' because of questions about its legality. But, he said, it is important that the program continue."

He has experience in these things. He thinks they work.

Chris

Posted by cholte at September 20, 2006 05:21 PM