Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Lie Of The Free

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial are no longer relevant in modern America. In a day when the likes of rape gurney Joe Lieberman is putting forward legislation that would allow the government of the United States to strip individuals, merely accused of terrorism, of their citizenship it should not be too great a surprise. And the subservient lap dogs that infest our halls of power seem perfectly content to bury their snouts in that big dog's hind and accept the stench as the perfume of power and not as symptomatic of a disease that needs to be fought.

The always brilliant skdadl over at Pogge! points out that the disgusting and illegal kangaroo charade being perpetrated at Gitmo has permanently ejected reporters from the Star, the Globe and even Canwest from covering the ongoing travesty of justice. The pretense is that they printed the name of a witness protected by what they're passing off as a trial. It is telling that the individual being "protected" already has a measure of fame as befits his prosecution and conviction for detainee abuse. Before this mockery of a trial even began, the individual in question had given an interview to the Star. The Pentagon has decided that their protected witness would be referred to only as "Interrogator No. 1". But Joshua Claus, the walking vermin in question has a Wikipedia page that details his admission of guilt in the routine torture of "extrajudicial detainees" and the homicide of at least two of the prisoners there. His role as one of Khadr's interrogators has been known to the public for more than two years.

I am confident we can count on Stephen Harper's government to bleat some vague tripe about ongoing blah blah as they continue to turn a blind eye to war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity. When we are not the authors of such crimes, our government is happy to tacitly accept and approve of the demise of our honour and credibility. We are no less the terrorists for our complicity than those that pull the triggers and plant the bombs. I don't enjoy feeling ashamed of this land. We, the people of Canada, are better than this. And if we are not better than this, then we should bloody well aspire to become better, far better.

Mr Harper you are guilty of crimes against humanity and crimes against the person of Omar Khadr whose human rights and charter rights have been grossly violated. As a child soldier, Khadr's protection as a Canadian citizen and under the Geneva Conventions was your duty. You have stood idly by and when that was insufficient you actively prevented the right thing being done. Mr Obama, you were elected in an upwelling of hope for positive change. you fed into and were in turn nourished by the idea that you would steer the ship of the American state away from the gross abuses of law and justice perpetrated by the prior administration. Turns out you lied through your teeth as your forces in your command bombs civilians in third party nations. The very fact that this farcical "military commission" is taking place on your watch is an indictment of you and your presidency. So much for the promise to close Gitmo and clean up the mess you inherited. Turns out you decided to wallow in the filth instead.

What the hell were my old man and the other veteran's fighting for in WW2? It sure as hell wasn't to see torturers and murderers wearing the uniforms they had served in and it certainly wasn't to follow the illegal orders of corrupt rulers. The greatest generation staked their lives against secret prisons. They left their homes and families and sacrificed in every regard to bring low those that would create a Bagram or an Abu Ghraib. Mr Harper, Mr Obama, you and your generals bring shame to the memories and uniforms of the men who fought for freedom and for justice. In a slip of time it would be you two in the docks at Nuremberg with your generals and those who followed the orders you give. We will never defeat evil by becoming evil ourselves. Shame on you and shame on us for abiding your disdain of our better instincts and natures.

8 comments:

Moon Rattled said...

Dull, thoughtless, myopic, unimaginative people - the same ones who subscribe to "survival of the fittest" and wouldn't have lasted an hour in the Stone Age - are taking over.

It's not surprising people like this lack empathy. They're functionally sociopathic.

Anonymous said...

And over at Taylor's house of the perpetually stupid we have Alexander-what-the-fuck-is-his-name-this-week who does not understand "blowback" and the simple and predicted consequences of the "war on terror" and his quite happy to shit his pants at the mention of terrorism...
http://unambig.com/terrorist-apologism-in-the-toronto-star/

Then we have another Blogging Tory "Jonathon Narvey" decrying that Canadian are " gutless pimply-faced simps" and "spoiled useless cowards" for not joining the Army. Maybe he can get felllow idiot BT Iceman to join....

He may want to talk to "Right From the Prairies" first who confess to suffering from some rare disorder and mental disease
http://rightfromtheprairies.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-long-absence.html

Now of course the circle is complete with Alberta Adrvark applauding the banning of Canadian journalists at this farce of a trial.
http://thealbertaardvark.blogspot.com/2010/05/starg-and-canwest-forced-to-change.html


All the Blogging Tories seems severely mentally deficient and have less critical thinking skills than a sleep deprived Bangkok hooker after a 36 hour marathon work session while on crack.....

Lindsay Stewart said...

raphelxander is a squalling little bigot. he declared khadr guilty ages ago. being of brownish persuasion, the accusation equals guilt. no need for that messy rule of law stuff, bothersome trials with all of that confusing evidence fuck all that stuff. dial the clock back and that worthless twit would have the brownest shirt in the league.

Anonymous said...

that worthless twit would have the brownest shirt in the league
His Nazi German father's roots are showing... of course he once went at length on this blog to say how that was different...

There is only subtlety and nuance when it is something that affects then personally. When it comes to others it is all bluster and easy associations without a hint of logic or intelligence in their comments.

Maybe raphael could explain once again how his German mom, who only comes back to Canada for 6 month during a year (to keep her Canadian citizenship one would think) and the rest of the time is in India is somehow more of a real Canadian than other immigrants that are not white...

skdadl said...

So eloquent, Lindsay, and thank you for the kind mention of my rattled scattered note when I first read the news.

Last night Candace Gorman, who is a defence attorney for several of the prisoners at GTMO, linked readers at EW's place to Andy Worthington's retelling of an even more perverse, irrational, sadistic gag order laid on her -- because her client had actually been cleared for release! Not released, you understand -- I mean, we can't have everything, can we.

You may already know this story or have heard of others like it -- obviously they're being played out at GTMO daily. It leaves me feeling discouraged about our prospects of ever breaking through the fog of unreason emitted by the Ministry of Truth (theirs, ours, anyone's). They mainly don't hear us, and even when they do, they have only one reply: STFU.

As I know you know, o' course.

CC said...

How dare y'all yammer on about the overt racism of Adrael MacAlexanderNair and not give me proper credit. He really is a loathsome little bigot, isn't he?

LK said...

Lindsay, an exquisite piece of writing. A young person has been riding with me lately and in the interest of equal opportunity, I've been listening to some of their music. Sublime--April 26/92 is excellent and KRS One, and several others. It's that daily grind of injustice, bigotry that you cannot escape. Example--the first and only news story I've read so far today--Edmonton Police--Racist Email...so, what else is new? Thanks. From a sister in the fight.

LK said...

My family fought and taught us that "Never Again", was what it was about. Don't hear much about that,anymore. In these days--war is peace. Down is up. And wrong is right.