Now?

Man jumps from third story window,
strangles woman’s dog, is found
naked, pouring coffee on himself.

Now do you think some action might be taken to investigate and (probably) prosecute Bush/Cheney for their obvious war crimes? Or will Obama and Holder go on pretending they didn’t happen, or if they did they aren’t worth bothering about? What has been rumored, assumed, speculated, hypothesized, believed, and asserted by some for a long time has finally been revealed as true by Rachel Maddow. The primary purpose of the torture ordered by Bush/Cheney was not, as they claimed, to protect America from further attacks, but, rather, to try to prove a link between al Quaida and Saddam Hussein, a link that did not, in fact, exist, but if it could be so established would presumably make their cowardly and unnecessary attack on Iraq more legitimate. As Maddow has revealed, there are at least four independent sources that have now confirmed this was the primary motive for the torture. This means that Bush/Cheney violated the very (questionable) legal justification they claimed for the torture. That is, torture (“enhanced interrogation techniques”) was to be used only to protect us from further (presumably imminent) attacks. Ignore for the moment that even this was both illegal and unconstitutional in the first place, and concentrate on the fact that they violated even this bogus rationale. Their unprovoked (“pre-emptive”) attack on Iraq was a heinous war crime, their attempt to find justification for it through torture and other methods (blatant lies) makes it even worse. Surely there is enough evidence to warrant a thorough investigation and possible prosecution. If Obama and Holder do not act now they will reveal their own complicity in war crimes. Or, I suppose, we can conclude that war crimes are no longer considered important enough to bother about.

And speaking of such things, perhaps now might also be the time to hold Israel responsible for their blatant war crimes (aided and abetted always by the U.S.). Their cowardly attack on Gaza has left them at an all time low in world public opinion (assuming that the U.S. and Britain are not part of the real world). There are presently hundreds if not thousands of people in Egypt protesting the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza (not that you would hear much about it in the MSM), at the very moment the Egyptians (with U.S. aid) are building a fifty foot deep steel wall to protect against smuggling. As smuggling has been virtually the only life line available to the people in Gaza, this is tightening the screws on the slow genocide being carried out in full view of the entire world. That the U.S. is involved in this attempt to prevent Gaza from getting even marginal, desperately needed imports, is shameful (to say nothing of despicable, murderous, unconscionable, vile, criminal, and unpardonable). Obama has the power to stop this. He apparently prefers being one with the criminals.

So Happy New Year! Could 2010 be the year in which war criminals were finally held accountable and brought to justice? Or will we just allow our “leaders” to continue to ignore all this murder, arson, torture, rape, and pillage being done in our name under the ridiculous claim of “spreading democracy,” or fighting a “war on terror?” Bush/Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and others are personally responsible for more misery than can ever be comprehended. They cannot be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders and a claim that “life is like that.” Obama, being part black himself, you would think might have more empathy than Bush/Cheney (who obviously have none), but so far he has not indicated a willingness to abandon the worst features of 18th century colonialism, and seems to have accepted responsibility for “the white man’s burden” in the Middle East. He makes no noises signifying “sound and fury,” but merely quiet, meaningless platitudes “leading nowhere.” I wish it were not so. I wish that now, with the nightmare opening years of this century over, we could shift from simply wringing our hands over the terrible things we have done, and concentrate seriously on what we can do to rectify them. Don’t hold your breath.

LKBIQ:
A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.
Joseph Addison

TILT:
The world’s record for snowfall in one year is held by Mt. Baker, Washington state, at 95 feet.