The Creation of Amerika the Fearful

fastpat · 04-30-2006, 10:01 AM

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The Creation of Amerika the Fearful
Posted by William L. Anderson at 07:51 AM

The Washington Post has an excellent op-ed today on the Guantanamo prison, and one section highlights to me what the U.S. Government has become:

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"Ali Shah Mousovi is standing at attention at the far end of the room, his leg chained to the floor. His expression is wary, but when he sees me in my traditional embroidered shawl from Peshawar, he breaks into a smile. Later, he'll tell me that I resemble his younger sister, and that for a split second he mistook me for her.

I introduce myself and Peter Ryan, a Philadelphia lawyer for whom I'm interpreting. I hand Mousovi a Starbucks chai, the closest thing to Afghan tea I've been able to find on the base. Then I open up boxes of pizza, cookies and baklava, but he doesn't reach for anything. Instead, in true Afghan fashion, he urges us to share the food we have brought for him.

Mousovi is a physician from the Afghan city of Gardez, where he was arrested by U.S. troops 2 1/2 years ago. He tells us that he had returned to Afghanistan in August 2003, after 12 years of exile in Iran, to help rebuild his wathan , his homeland. He believes that someone turned him in to U.S. forces just to collect up to $25,000 being offered to anyone who gave up a Talib or al-Qaeda member.

As I translate from Pashto, Mousovi hesitantly describes life since his arrest. Transported to Bagram air base near Kabul in eastern Afghanistan, he was thrown -- blindfolded, hooded and gagged -- into a 3 1/2 -by-7-foot shed. He says he was beaten regularly by Americans in civilian clothing, deprived of sleep by tape-recordings of sirens that blared day and night. He describes being dragged around by a rope, subjected to extremes of heat and cold. He says he barely slept for an entire month.

He doesn't know why he was brought to Guantanamo Bay. He had hoped he would be freed at his military hearing in December 2004. Instead, he was accused of associating with the Taliban and of funneling money to anti-coalition insurgents. When he asked for evidence, he was told it was classified. And so he sits in prison, far from his wife and three children. More than anyone, he misses his 11-year-old daughter, Hajar. When he talks about her, his eyes fill with tears and his head droops."

These abuses have gone on under the Bush Administration, but the culture did not begin with George W. Instead, it is a natural progression of a state that becomes all-powerful, and a "citizenry" that is taught to revere anything that comes from Washington.

Perhaps Ali Shah Mousovi can take heart in knowing that U.S. authorities do not treat Americans any better. We live today under a government that suspects all of us to be terrorists, at least when we travel, and lives in fear that someone is going to crash a one-engine Cessna into the Capitol at any minute.

I'm not sure what we should call the USA, but perhaps the United States of Fear is a good place to start.
http://blog.lewrockwell.com/

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 04:19 PM

Gunatanamo Bay, and what it represents, is simply a disgrace. People get termed "anti American" for railing against this travesty, but I cant think of anything more anti-American than what is represented by Guanatanamo Bay.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
2.2 That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
2.3 Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
2.4 But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Rodeo · 04-30-2006, 05:45 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
Gunatanamo Bay, and what it represents, is simply a disgrace. People get termed "anti American" for railing against this travesty, but I cant think of anything more anti-American than what is represented by Guanatanamo Bay.

Well said.

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 06:57 PM

Jackass circlejerk.

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 07:04 PM

Circle jerk Mul?

Tell me, Deep Thought -even if they are "the worst of the worst"- how snatching people, holding them under a jurisdictional fairy tale and denying them trial or sentence indefinately, is in any way consistent with the principles articulated in the US constitution?

And if this treatment is not good enough for American citizens, why is good enough for citizens of other countries?

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 07:26 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
Tell me, Deep Thought -even if they are "the worst of the worst"- how snatching people, holding them under a jurisdictional fairy tale and denying them trial or sentence indefinately, is in any way consistent with the principles articulated in the US constitution?

You forgot the big bad American military wolf was huffing and puffing and flushing Quarans down the toilet...oh wait, that was a lie. Just as the rest of the above microscopic intentional mis-analysis is a damned dirty lie. Bush is protecting our country. The American media puppet masters have the puppets (people like you and Patsy and the Clown) singing the malicious anti-American propaganda tune. You aid and abet the enemy, the enemy that would like to see your heathen liberal ass with your chopped off bloody head up it.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Hummmm...somewhere in-between my convictions do lie. Pat and Mul --- you both need some help. I mean that with the best of intentions

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 07:36 PM

Liberal media...anti American propaganda....aid and abet the enemy...etc ect. To save time, lets just take all that as a given, shall we, Mul?

How about you answer the question.

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 07:43 PM

Your ignorance blinds you.

stuartj · 07:48 PM

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Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
Your ignorance blinds you.

Gee, excellent answer. If the question is too hard, I could give you one on sport.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 08:00 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Gotta love Christianity...the greatest, most rational, religion on Earth.

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 08:04 PM

Praise the Lord.

How about you answer the question?

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 08:06 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
Gee, excellent answer. If the question is too hard, I could give you one on sport.

You wrapped up propaganda, a series of false premises, into a question and expected an answer that assumed truth. I do not operate in the imaginary world of leftism, it does not compute...Those held in G'itmo are murderers, guilty by association and enemy combatants, otherwise they would not be held. They are treated better than any other POW on earth has ever been treated. They have no rights under Geneva. They are pampered and coddled, catered to, allowed access to their book of evil, fed and taken care of better than they ever were in their homeland or in their terrorist camps...Those that are held are the worst of the worst, otherwise they would not be held.

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 08:07 PM

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Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
Those held in G'itmo are murderers, guilty by association and enemy combatants, otherwise they would not be held. They are treated better than any other POW on earth has ever been treated. They have no rights under Geneva. They are pampered and coddled, catered to, allowed access to their book of evil, fed and taken care of better than they ever were in their homeland or in their terrorist camps...Those that are held are the worst of the worst, otherwise they would not be held.

How do you know that?

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Almost every person in prison will tell you he is innocent. Reporters bring gifts and treats to the prisoners at Gitmo...and treat them like celebrities.....if they tell stories of mistreatment. Other get nothing. It pays to be a good actor in prison.

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 08:14 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
How do you know that?

Muslims and Democrats are very proficient at disinformation. They both have a bad habit of lying and they are currently working for the same cause...This is plenty of reason to believe what I believe. It is more trustworthy analysis than anything you, Patsy or Rodeo have offered in this thread.

stuartj · 04-30-2006, 08:26 PM

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Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
Muslims and Democrats are very proficient at disinformation. They both have a bad habit of lying and they are currently working for the same cause...This is plenty of reason to believe what I believe. It is more trustworthy analysis than anything you, Patsy or Rodeo have offered in this thread.

So yours is a faith based opinion, Mul. You simply believe it. That hardly cinstitues "analysis", now does it?

You have avoided the question. Its not one of guilt or innocence. Its a question of holding people indefinately without charge or trial. That is anti American.

Over here in the reality based community, I wonder why, if we look at the case of David Hicks, who is alleged to committed crimes against the US military in Afghanisatn- one of the worst in Guantanomo, apparently, we find that after four and half years he has not been tried for anything. Now, if he is guility under a fair judical process, then, by all means, hang him. But if he is not guilty, or charges cannot be proven, whats he doing there?

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 08:28 PM

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Originally posted by Patsy
blah blah blah...leftist lewrockwell rant agreeing with leftist Washington Compost leftist editorial blah blah blah

Mulhollanddose · 04-30-2006, 08:32 PM

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Originally posted by stuartj
Over here in the reality based community, I wonder why, if we look at the case of David Hicks, who is alleged to committed crimes against the US military in Afghanisatn- one of the worst in Guantanomo, apparently, we find that after four and half years he has not been tried for anything. Now, if he is guility under a fair judical process, then, by all means, hang him. But if he is not guilty, or charges cannot be proven, whats he doing there?

Are you suggesting he is the victim of American military, or do you think perhaps there is more to the story that cannot be disclosed for national security reasons?...Do you think that those making hay out of G'itmo have an agenda that is not necessarily pro-American or pro-truth?

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

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Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
Gotta love Christianity...the greatest, most rational, religion on Earth.

you see, i got these three gods, but they're really only one god...oh, and he died but then rose from the dead, and his dad let him die, even though they are the same god...

The words "religion" and "rational" do not belong in the same sentence unless you put "isn't" between them. To think otherwise means you don't understand religion, rational thought, or both.