There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency. It was not the first time in recent years we’ve felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept. 11, 2001. The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country when those ideals are sacrificed. Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America’s position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America’s global image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world’s anger and alienation and have not made any of us safer.
To say that I can only describe the past seven years as an unmitigated nightmare wouldn’t begin to do justice to the depths of my despair. I grew up (perhaps too idealistically) believing that America stood for freedom. I believed it was our responsibility as the most powerful nation in the free to world to assist other nations and peoples who aspired to achieve their own freedom from tyranny, evil, and corruption. Now, in my fifth decade, I can no longer ignore the reality that we can no longer be an example to ourselves, much less other nations.
Over the past seven years, using 9.11 and the war against terrorism as cover, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © has presided over the most egregious dismantling of Constitutionally-guaranteed rights that any of us have seen in our lifetimes. Not only has our government compromised the civil rights of all Americans, they have extended that lack of commitment to human rights outside our borders. Despite the protestations of The Worst President EVER © , there is clear, convincing, and abundant evidence that America engages in torture. . While I’m proud to be an American, I’m profoundly ashamed of what has been and continues to be done in the name of freedom and democracy. It’s a travesty, and we’re better than that…or at least we used to be.
In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.
We have read accounts of how the government’s top lawyers huddled in secret after the attacks in New York and Washington and plotted ways to circumvent the Geneva Conventions ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ and both American and international law ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ to hold anyone the president chose indefinitely without charges or judicial review.
Those same lawyers then twisted other laws beyond recognition to allow Mr. Bush to turn intelligence agents into torturers, to force doctors to abdicate their professional oaths and responsibilities to prepare prisoners for abuse, and then to monitor the torment to make sure it didn’t go just a bit too far and actually kill them.
The White House used the fear of terrorism and the sense of national unity to ram laws through Congress that gave law-enforcement agencies far more power than they truly needed to respond to the threat — and at the same time fulfilled the imperial fantasies of Vice President Dick Cheney and others determined to use the tragedy of 9/11 to arrogate as much power as they could.
The sad thing is that none of this had to happen. The reason this sorry excuse for a President is in the White House to begin with is that he and his minions figured out how to steal the 2000 election (and spare me the lame denial of what any reasonable person knows to be the truth). Yes, that may be water under the bridge, but without that reality, none of the shameful activities that have transpired since then would have occurred. (Does anyone think for a minute that President Gore would have tolerated Americans torturing other human beings in the name of freedom and democracy?)
To make matters even worse, more than 54 million Americans were stupid and brain-dead enough to vote for Commander Codpiece © in 2004. Yes, I will grant you that part of the responsibility lies with the Democratic Party for putting forward a candidate with no guts and no balls. Still, millions of the American sheeple allowed themselves to be propaganized and brainwashed into casting their votes for a liar and a war criminal. Almost 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq, and those who voted for the War Criminal in Chief © cannot deny the reality that they have the blood of our sons and daughters on their hands.
I’m not ashamed to be an American, but I am ashamed of what has been and continues to be done under the guise of protecting freedom and democracy. Silly me; I guess I didn’t realize that the only way to save American freedom and democracy was to destroy it. I never understood that defeating terrorism required that we renounce our humanity and condone the use of torture. Of course, if you can so thoroughly alter and neuter the definition of torture, then it really ISN’T torture at all, is it? Freedom tickles….
The worst part of where this country finds itself now is that none of this needed to happen. If Americans had bothered to pay attention, if they had simply demanded accountability and integrity from those they elected to represent them, we would find ourselves in a much different place now. That we do not is something that we can and should collectively be ashamed of.
WE DESERVE BETTER. It’s just too bad we’ve been too propagandized and terrified to demand better.
