Monday, February 19, 2007

Scott Kesterson: Guilt and the Daily Contribution to Terror. Two years ago his sister was burned when she fell into the open cooking fire inside their mud hut. As he sat talking to the US Army Special Forces Medic, he pleaded for help. One of his sister's hands had been burned to stubs; her face left with visible scars. The young girl's eyelids were no longer able to close; her family would place a cloth over her face at night so that she could sleep. There was no medical care available at the time of her accident; and now the damage was so severe that there was nothing that the Medic could do for her. Her fate was sealed. Back home a group of people sits around a table at a local pub. They talk about politics, the problems of the world, the problems of America even though most have never left the country. As the conversation continues it strays to the new car, the house they want to buy, the cost of day care and Johnny's private school. With the arrival of their food comes another round of beer as the conversations continue. At last the evening begins to wind down, as they pay their tab, say good night, and drive home to the comfort of a clean sheets, thermostatically controlled heat and the relaxing grip of a down filled pillow. ... the consequential politics of a spoiled nation. The United States is currently in a period of doubt. We are asking the hard questions about our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, now that the threat of 9-11 seems a distant memory. We are quick to pass blame as a society, targeting the usual subjects of political and corporate figure-heads, while we fail to take a hard look at ourselves as citizens of a country, rather than individuals in a race to consume and hoard. Wars begin by various motives, but are ultimately driven by economics. We live in a world of shrinking resources, and expanding global economies. The safety and security of the United States detaches us as a public from the hard truth that our consumptive lifestyle is not separate from conflict, but is in fact the very catalyst and principle driver. The hard truth is that there are consequences for consumption. We involve ourselves in countries militarily for economic reasons and we fortify our military might to ensure protection of our way of life. Soldiers are deployed directly by actions of our government and President, and indirectly by the consumptive actions of the 300 million citizens of the United States. And while we continue to point the blame at the government it is not the problem, people are. After all, those in office are elected by the action or inaction of the vote. It's all too easy to target the President as the fault of things we don't like. It's all too difficult to accept that our way of life breeds enemies, breeds hate and contempt for what we have. When you live around people that scrape daily to survive, you realize how much we have and how fortunate we are. Given the option I doubt any American would choose to live a daily life of an Afghan. Sadly, passing the buck has become more than a trend, it has become a way of life in the United States. After all, we will change a presidency over the cost of gas, but continue to buy our SUVs. From within our bubble of safety and idealistic visions of the world spring forth aberrations of truth that marginalize the harsh realities the exist outside of our boarders. No matter how much new age love is extended to the world, there are the many that will still hate you. They hate you for what you have, for what you represent, for what you deny them... and they seek only one thing... the total destruction and subjugation of the United States to the wills and ways of a vanguard of extremists leading this new era of fight. As our debates rage on, they constantly emanate from the place where an obsessional fear of being hated is put in conflict with a fear of losing what we have. So the discussions lash out with misdirection taking target at the easy prey of soldiers, politicians, and government, while ignoring our responsibility as citizens. Face it, you can't have all that you have and want without consequences. If you want change, look no further than yourself,... it's a process that begins every morning when you look in the mirror. [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 5:51:54 PM    comment []

Brent Budowsky: Democrats Must Prevent Bin Laden From Defeating George Bush. Osama Bin Laden is on the brink of a major strategic victory over George W. Bush caused by the arrogance, ignorance, and partisanship of an Administration that does nothing except escalate its mistakes. In the greatest dereliction of duty in the history of American commanders in chief, George W. Bush failed to provide the reinforcements to kill Bin Laden at Tora Bora. He allowed Bin Laden to escape, in order to invade Iraq, in violation of the unamimous advice of American commanders. Bin Laden has maneuvered Bush into a series of miscalculations. Bin Laden wanted the United States bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden wanted to turn Iraq into a giant recruitment and training operation for a new generation of terrorists. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden sought to divide and conquer, hoping to disillusion the American people and divide the American people from our allies. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden sought to dramatize publicity about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to alienate world opinion from the United States, and to create recruitment rage among a generation of young Arabs. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden sought to wear down undersupplied NATO forces in Afghanistan, weaken our stand in a legthening war, and prepare for a major Taliban offensive this spring. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden sought to establish a free fire zone for terrorist training, new command and control and preparation for new operations in the no man's land in Pakistan. Mission accomplished. Bin Laden sought to create an arc of chaos, carnage and religous war between Sunnis and Shi'ites that would spread well beyond Iraq. Mission accomplished. Meanwhile, George W. Bush ignores the advice of American commanders and the Joint Chiefs of staff. Ignores the opinion of the intelligence community. Disrespects with sweeping scorn and contempt the bipartisan good faith of the Baker Hamilton Group. Bangs the war drums for Iran. And brings back that good fashioned politics of partisan blame. Yes indeed, war heroes from Chuck Hagel to Jack Murtha, from Jim Webb to John Warner, are slandered with the lie that they vote no confidence in the troops. Our mission is clear. We have not yet begun to fight. We will defeat Osama Bin Laden, as we should have killed him at Tora Bora. We will not permit George W. Bush to lose this war. We will not permit George W. Bush to escalate every war except the one that is most important. We will defeat Osama Bin Laden and we have not yet begun to fight. [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 5:50:50 PM    comment []

The Rape of Sabrine. In the southern part of Baghdad Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman was taken from her home by security forces-- the ones Bush and Rice love to talk about-- who proceeded to gang rape her. From shame and fear,many Iraqi women would remain silent. But Sabrine went on AlJazeera and in a hoarse voice,with only her eyes visible,told what happened. What follows is a translation of what she said provided by Riverbend, who writes the girl blog from Baghdad. You can read it at http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ ``[sigma].I told him, [OE]I don[base ']t have anything [I did not do anything].[base '] He said, 'You don[base ']t have anything?[base '] One of them threw me on the ground and my head hit the tiles. He did what he did- I mean he raped me. The second one came and raped me. The third one also raped me. [Pause- sobbing] I begged them and cried, and one of them covered my mouth. [Unclear, crying] Another one of them came and said, 'Are you finished? We also want our turn.' So they answered, [OE]No, an American committee came.[base '] They took me to the judge. (Anchorwoman: Sabrine Al Janabi, , said that one of the security forces videotaped/photographed her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the rape. Another officer raped her after she saw the investigative judge.[~]Riverbend[base ']s words.) Sabrine continuing: [base "]One of them, he said[sigma] I told him, [OE]Please- by your father and mother- let me go.[base '] He said, [OE]No, no- by my mother[base ']s soul I[base ']ll let you go- but on one condition, you give me one single thing.[base '] I said, [OE]What?[base '] He said, [OE][I want] to rape you.[base '] I told him, [OE]No- I can[base ']t.[base '] So he took me to a room with a weapon[sigma] It had a weapon, a Klashnikov, a small bed [Unclear], he sat me on it. So [the officer came] and told him, [OE]Leave her to me.[base '] I swore to him on the Quran, I told him, [OE]By the light of the Prophet I don[base ']t do such things[sigma][base '] He said, [OE]You don[base ']t do such things?[base '] I said, [OE]Yes[base ']. [Crying] He picked up a black hose, like a pipe. He hit me on the thigh. [Crying] I told him, [OE]What do you want from me? Do you want me to tell you rape me? But I can[base ']t[sigma] I[base ']m not one of those ***** [Prostitutes] I don[base ']t do such things.[base '] So he said to me, [OE]We take what we want and what we don[base ']t want we kill. That[base ']s that.[base '] [Sobbing] I can[base ']t anymore[sigma] please, I can[base ']t finish.[per thou] What more do the members of Congress need for a war crimes investigation?How many more war crimes are we going to sluff off,claiming we had nothing to do with them. These are our people. We put them there. Will McCain read Sabrine? What about Hillary?What about the brave new members of the so-called progressive Democratic party? Where is Speaker Pelosi? Levin of the Armed Services Committee? Biden? Warner and all those genteel Republicans whose consciences are stricken by the war? Stand up ladies and gentlemen of the Congress. Let us for once hear from you [MotherJones.com | MoJo Blog - Social Issues and Political Commentary] 4:55:07 PM    comment []

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