May 04, 2004

Can This Country Be Saved?

I was talking with a friend this weekend about the awful news of Abu Ghraib. He thought that as usual, Bush would rise above this scandal and once more convince [enough] Americans that he was doing a good job "on terrorism". This whole thing makes me sick and the thought of Bush not getting hurt by this makes me even sicker.

A segment on NPR tonight talked about how the military is trying to get out and talk to the Iraqis and let them know that this was just a set of bad actors that would be severely reprimanded. But as the reporter said, it would be hard to know what would satisfy the families that have been coming back day after day to find out what happened with their family member who "disappeared" when picked up by the Americans. And if there are 20000 people who have been taken in custody by the Americans never to be seen again, how many Iraqis do you think are demanding information?

Detainees: And, oh yes, in the escalatory realm, Aaron Glantz of Inter Press Service reports far higher figures for Iraqi detainees than I've previously seen. He writes: "The U.S. military is currently holding more than 20,000 Iraqis behind bars -- most of them taken during house to house searches by the U.S. military." Maybe we could just imprison the whole population and be done with it.

When I hear that the Arabic communities in Dearborn Michigan (from a BBC report on Bush's bus tour) are still strongly pro-Bush even if they think things are going badly in Iraq, I wonder if our country is simply doomed because of the evil that we've allowed to be done in our name. Worse yet, Bush is totally oblivious to the damage he has done and I suspect would not give a damn even if he was told about it.

Posted by Mary at May 4, 2004 07:39 AM | War on Terrorism | Technorati links |
Comments

You know, Mary, 20 000 detainees, most of whom are being tortured in some way and some of whom are being tortured hideously, is a very bad deal. It reminds me a little of the South African State of Emergency. But -- whoops -- the Reagan Administration supported the South African State of Emergency. It facilitated the Angolan war, and the really, really nasty wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. And before that there was South-East Asia.

I understand your depression, but remember, compared with what some fairly recent American administrations have done (without notably threatening either the nation or their electability), Bush's wars are just small-time gang fights.

Posted by: MFB at May 4, 2004 08:39 AM

Remember: every voter you register, every door you knock on, every get-out-the-vote phone call you make is one more link in the chain that yanks these jokers out of the White House, and hopefully into the War Crimes Tribunal.

One local effort that I think is worthy of attention is the Vote for a Change Campaign, a project of SPAN (Statewide Poverty Action Network). Every Saturday, they're going door to door in south King County to register low-income voters in swing districts. Not only will this help move Washington State out of the "swing" column, it will help tip the balance in key local races, including Jennifer Dunn's open seat in the 8th District.

Posted by: Jon Stahl at May 4, 2004 08:49 AM

Shudder.

I hate to think you are right.

It's as if we have the anti-Christ in power and nothing can move him as he works to destroy the world.

HE LOST THE POPULAR VOTE.

He is incapable of fighting terrorism, and his ideas lead directly to terrorism on a more personal level.

Scorpio

Posted by: Scorpio at May 5, 2004 12:49 AM