What had to be the best irony ever on the Coeur d'Alene Press letter pages: Ray Fink attacking a previous writer for his "schizo" conspiracy theories and Richard Masker getting his published at the same time. Leonard Brant informing the CDA Press readership that our federal government (which is still partly under Republican control) is out to give up at least part of the Alaskan islands to the Russkies. Wouldn't that be hard to do given the fact that Americans live there? So either (Fink) GW Bush can do no wrong and he has to whack away at anyone who disagrees with GW's policies or political failures; or (Brant and Masker) our ports and oil and gas reserves (Brant) should now be under foreign control a la GW, (Masker) a little known anti-terrorism bill now going through Congress that ultimately treats all Americans as suspected terrorists. Aside note to Masker, when GW proceeded to start the warrantless wiretapping of international phone calls originating from America to any country outside of the U.S., his presumption was any American could be considered a terrorist suspect for even making such phone calls. Never mind to whom and no matter how innocently. Presumably, HB HR1955 would simply make what was an illegal act official and legal. Readers Write of the CDA Press published 7 November 2007 edition of the CDA Press. (cdapress.com)
In the Roundtable of the Spokesman-Review comes this letter from Joseph Harari who takes the time to argue that yes, we can torture and practically kill someone we deem the enemy and goes from there to flail away at "the liberals" and how weak they truly happen to be and how dangerous it is for such "weak people" to be in control of the country.
From another writer, "Torture disgraces us" that not only rebuts the prior author but also practically accuses him of treason. The succeeding author, Ken Wells.
Take it from me, there is nothing liberal about opposing torture to gain what can only be described as unreliable information. There is nothing conservative in deciding we can simply bypass the rule of law in dealing with an affirmed enemy. Nor can there be anything of religious superiority in degrading what has been touted as "moral authority" in even desiring to engage in such acts. Torture is a criminal act, no matter how those who pursue it seek to justify it. As Wells said and I agree, we put the Nazis on trial in Nuremburg for the same acts that we carry out today. Where truly does our moral authority exist if we proceed to act now as our World War 2 enemies did then and we fought them because of their criminal behavior during acts of war?
"Waterboarding" as described, is to cover the face, cover the mouth with plastic and pour water in the prisoner's nose. It does not involve dunking the subject under water to get him to talk. So, to put it bluntly, Harari demonstrates the very ignorance that Wells finds so abominable.
A book I have on hand that describes the Bush family by Kitty Kelly, shows us a young guy in college prepared to play dirty to get his way during a basketball game. Considering that GW was able to get away with it, shows us that--lessoned learned--he would continue to act that way for the rest of his career. Either in business or government. Thus, torture is the ultimate in playing dirty so that a President can proudly gloat over how we have won over the rabid radical Islamofascists. And exploit their continued existence as a tool against his political opposition. But has torture guaranteed that Al Qaeda would effectively disappear and that the Taliban would now set up a new home in Pakistan? The news facts are, the answer is no.
In Iraq, 855 of our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen have died so far this year. We are now near 4,000 dead in Iraq. In the last 2 days, 10 members of the U.S. Military died violently during combat operations throughout Iraq. Not only is the war far from over, but we may again be seeing the situation there taking a turn for the worse. Source--CNN.
So if there is an argument about "weak people" and dangerous "liberalism;" seems that is what GW depends on to keep his failed foreign and domestic policies going that are by themselves truly dangerous to this country. About time that Fink and Harari woke up to the reality on the ground that now goes well beyond political partisanship.
In the Roundtable of the Spokesman-Review comes this letter from Joseph Harari who takes the time to argue that yes, we can torture and practically kill someone we deem the enemy and goes from there to flail away at "the liberals" and how weak they truly happen to be and how dangerous it is for such "weak people" to be in control of the country.
From another writer, "Torture disgraces us" that not only rebuts the prior author but also practically accuses him of treason. The succeeding author, Ken Wells.
Take it from me, there is nothing liberal about opposing torture to gain what can only be described as unreliable information. There is nothing conservative in deciding we can simply bypass the rule of law in dealing with an affirmed enemy. Nor can there be anything of religious superiority in degrading what has been touted as "moral authority" in even desiring to engage in such acts. Torture is a criminal act, no matter how those who pursue it seek to justify it. As Wells said and I agree, we put the Nazis on trial in Nuremburg for the same acts that we carry out today. Where truly does our moral authority exist if we proceed to act now as our World War 2 enemies did then and we fought them because of their criminal behavior during acts of war?
"Waterboarding" as described, is to cover the face, cover the mouth with plastic and pour water in the prisoner's nose. It does not involve dunking the subject under water to get him to talk. So, to put it bluntly, Harari demonstrates the very ignorance that Wells finds so abominable.
A book I have on hand that describes the Bush family by Kitty Kelly, shows us a young guy in college prepared to play dirty to get his way during a basketball game. Considering that GW was able to get away with it, shows us that--lessoned learned--he would continue to act that way for the rest of his career. Either in business or government. Thus, torture is the ultimate in playing dirty so that a President can proudly gloat over how we have won over the rabid radical Islamofascists. And exploit their continued existence as a tool against his political opposition. But has torture guaranteed that Al Qaeda would effectively disappear and that the Taliban would now set up a new home in Pakistan? The news facts are, the answer is no.
In Iraq, 855 of our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen have died so far this year. We are now near 4,000 dead in Iraq. In the last 2 days, 10 members of the U.S. Military died violently during combat operations throughout Iraq. Not only is the war far from over, but we may again be seeing the situation there taking a turn for the worse. Source--CNN.
So if there is an argument about "weak people" and dangerous "liberalism;" seems that is what GW depends on to keep his failed foreign and domestic policies going that are by themselves truly dangerous to this country. About time that Fink and Harari woke up to the reality on the ground that now goes well beyond political partisanship.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment