After 9/11 many American’s and especially Congress and President Bush decided it was their duty to protect America no matter how they did it. So a lot of people, among those may have been the President, lied and obscured the truth until they had a story. A particular narrative that they sold to the American people and the world. It was essential that we seem to be the righteous victim. Avenging a most heinous attack on our home soil. Forget for a moment all of the most heinous things the US has done to others around the world. Forget for a moment how we have manipulated events in the Middle East along with our European allies for hundreds of years. We had a right to seek retribution for this attack. And we did. We attacked Afghanistan and rather than concentrate on that war/battle we used that narrative, that lie that had been created to attack Iraq. And then for more than ten years we were engaged in battles in two countries. In some ways these battles were both easier and much harder than previous conflicts. They didn’t pose any really military challenge to the regular army units marching across either country. The only real challenges came from the occupation of both countries. Winning the hearts and minds of the locals so that we could root out the rebels in both countries, fighting us and the newly elected governments in both countries. But somewhere along the way we stepped off of the side of virtue and righteousness and full on accepted the dark side. In the twisted corners of the White House and the CIA and others tasked with protecting this country, they decided that we needed to torture others to get the information we needed. No matter that torture was illegal. No matter that the information given by those being tortured can almost never be trusted. No matter the depraved morality of it. They would try to change the rules. They would lie about it. They would use any justification and reason to sell this as the only course of action. And so they tortured. They tortured a lot of people. Did they get any information? Did they even admit to themselves that had stepped over a line? I don’t know for sure. But what I do know is that it was wrong. It was wrong in so many ways. They justified a horrific act by saying they were protecting us. In the process of protecting us they were spitting on our Constitution. Will we give up all of our rights, all of our beliefs, to feel safe? If we do that we will not recognize our country any more. If we give up those rights and beliefs, you know; Life, Liberty and Justice. If we give up those rights we will not have a country worth fighting for. We have ventured onto a very slippery slope. This is not Nazi Germany! We do not torture. We are supposed to be the good guys. When did doing the right thing, believing in Truth and Justice, when did that stop being the American way? We are gradually turning into the thing we hate. Step by step we are descending into a world from which we should not go. As an American I will stand up forever and say we must be better than that. I don’t accept that we must give away our rights and quit believing in a better America simply to feel safe. If we give up on all of those things we will be no better than those we fight. If we don’t stand up and stop this type of behavior we will be as bad as those in Germany during the rise of the Nazi’s. If we, as a nation can justify that type of behavior we have already lost. I honestly cant post the types of pictures that should accompany this topic. So these two will have to do. One is a rendition of what I believe is waterboarding. The other speaks as plainly as can be, Stop Torture!
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 07:14:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015