The chief question I came away from Mayer’s article with was, “If these guys dislike the Constitution’s system of checks and balances so much, why don’t they leave?” Look, this is America. If you don’t like it, get the fuck out. For such a miniscule number of ideologues to be able to dismantle 230 years of hard-won liberties is revolting. The only other action in recent times that rises to this level of vomit-worthiness I can think of is Congress’ inaction on the topic.
This piece has so many OMFG! moments it’s hard to assemble highlights, but particularly instructive was a quote by the Navy’s chief JAG, Rear Admiral Donald Guter, who described how even the military’s expertise was scorned for ideological extremism: “We were warning them that we had this long tradition of military justice, and we didn’t want to tarnish it. The treatment of detainees was a huge issue. They didn’t want to hear it.” This is further confirmation of what so many former generals have been saying. This Administration, so chock-full of chicken-hawks, was unwilling to listen to the previous Administration, unwilling to listen to their military advisors, unwilling to listen to Democrats, unwilling to listen to anyone not in lock-step with their extremist ideological positions rooted firmly in a belief system disrespectful of reason, logic, and common-sense. Their guiding principle has been unadulterated ideology.
How it came to be that so many seemingly respectable and ethical people have allowed this atrocity to be perpetrated is a case study in the ills of human nature, and it seems we need new legislation to prevent the kind of groupthink and ass-covering that seems to have silenced any real dissent. Let’s face it: Republicans like their power. I’m certain many dislike what they see happening, but their loyalty to their party and their unwillingness to accept the consequences of doing what is right has silenced dissent.
Perhaps we need automatic triggers, akin to many states’ three strike rules. A mechanism must be in place to force action in the face of zero political will. These issues must be dealt with, but I’m afraid of what might happen if we simply switch extremes. If Democrats win back Congress, and then the Presidency, might we end up with the same problem all over again?
LOL that was a good one. A Democrat wins the Presidency. Hah!
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8 comments:
My only hope is that, due to the lack of American initiative, the UN and the World Court arrest Bush for war crimes and crimes against humanity when he's served his term, as they did recently with Charles Taylor of Liberia. If the republicans steal 2008, it least it would be fodder to help prevent it happening again.
I don't think anything Bush has done or sanctioned could rise to that level. He wasn't directly involved in torturing prisoners, merely asleep at the wheel. Likewise, his overseeing the dismantling of American democracy is not an international issue. The fact that there are innocent civilians in Gitmo, possibly for the rest of their lives, isn't a "Crime Against Humanity." What Bush is doing is more akin to what Putin has done to Russia. Starting a war for ideological reasons isn't a "War Crime" either. This is an issue Americans need to deal with. If the UN can't get it together enough to protect innocents from wholesale genocide, it's not gonna intervene in US politics. And anyway, if it did, would that really be a good thing? There are much worse regimes than this one. I don't want them sitting in judgement over us. We're not the Third Reich just yet. Give it another two terms of a Republican Presidency and we can talk :)
the simple fact that he started a war on lies that has caused the death of 10'000s of not over 100,000 innocent people, partly for the profit of his cronies but to also to insert the US as a power front in that area, is certainly a crime against humanity. the other internal crimes are reason for impeachment and imprisonment, but he's gone way beyond that. this cannot be blamed in his people, you'd be mistaken to think that he's oblivious to anything that's happening.
I understand your sentiment, but I was simply responding to your contention that the UN would charge him. That wouldn't happen, because what he's done are not, technically, crimes against humanity. That's a legal term, and the fact is that most wars are fought for for these reasons. He should be impeached. That's the best that could happen.
If not for crimes against humanity, there have been many offenses that are prosecutable under
international law, in particular the invasion of a sovereign nation causing the deaths of a multitude of innocents, and also pervasive unlawful detention and torture. This is backed by precedents set forth at Nuremburg and by the Geneva Convention.
The administration so steadyfastly opposes the idea of international law because it impinges of their own ideas of sovereignty while they so blatantly disregard the sovereignty of others. It would be difficult if not impossible to effect a change on this internally. Right-wing ideology has long opposed the notion of international law and the existence of the UN, and I believe this is greatly due to the fact that it hampers thier imperialistic objectives. There is no way justice will be served in US courts, especially considering the right-wing regime that is so entrenched today. We won't be able to accomplish a regime change until true justice is served in a world setting, and only until then do we have a chance of returning to a respectable world standing.
Does that mean you advocate prosecuting British officials like Tony Blair as well? As for torture, it seems a stretch to assume that the detainee abuse in Baghdad prisons and at Gitmo can be conclusively linked directly to this President.
My only point is that there isn't a snowballs chance in hell This Administration is going to be or could be tried by an international court. If they were going to put Bush on trial, they couldn't stop with him. All the current world leaders are guilty of bad decisions that have adversely affected innocents. I think they've covered their asses sufficiently well to assure that there could never be a case brought against them. It's the same thing that happened to Karl Rove. Just because he's not going to be tried doesn't mean he didn't do anything wrong.
The point of this blog entry was to focus on the culpability all Americans share for this debacle. People bought into the war rhetoric waaay too easily, and then they voted the guy into a second term. Nothing that has happened should be a surprise to anyone. The people in power have done exactly what their track records indicated they would do. This is an issue ALL Americans need to deal with. That's just my opinion, of course. If you really believe an international court could bring about justice, that's cool. I'm not putting any faith in the UN, however. In my opinion, there's a zero percent chance of any international body trying The Trinity for things done everyday by the hundreds of LESS scrupulous politicians that comprise the membership of the UN. These guys are evil by American standards, but liberals who act like they're among the world's worse (I'm not saying you belong to this group, rickdog) need to wake up. Even if America is on the road to becoming merely a shadow of its former self, with an authoritarian executive at its helm, it will take (I think) a long time before things get so bad that other countries look more appealing. I pray I never have to take back those words.
and I'm not saying that it has any chance of happening either, but it's our only real chance to stop the hemorrhaging. we live in a nation of sheep, induced into a life of consumerism and crap culturalism by the mass media. what's it going to take to bring the people out of their haze, an army of thugs controlling the streets? shades of prewar germany, it happened there underneath their noses and only a small cognizent group realized what was happening. you may not think it can be done internationally and you're probably right, but i don't see any other way to effect change.
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