There’s a doctor present
April 30, 2009
“It’s not torture because there was a doctor present.” That is the entirety of their argument.
The Bush administration approved and committed torture, period. There is no debating it anymore. They did it for the same reasons, used the same methods and fabricated the same legal justification that every other torturing regime in the history of the planet has used to commit torture. It’s the icing on the cake for the Bush administration – illegal wars, illegal surveillance, claims of unrestricted power, promotion of a permanent state of fear, and naturally, torture. They played the part and followed the script of madmen, dictators and murderers. They are criminals and they will be forever remembered along with the worst of the worst of humanity; but history alone is not justice.
Torture is a crime. It is not a policy difference. There are laws in the books against it. The idea that we have to move on is stupid and just as dangerous as committing torture in the first place. This is not the same as dropping a nuclear bomb for the first time in the history of the world and then deciding it will not happen again no matter the circumstance. Torture is an old evil and this is it happening yet again and there is no room for forgiveness. They knew very well what they were doing which is why they worked so hard to justify it, then hide it, and now misinform and lie about it.
The future of international law will be decided by what comes next. If the US were to prosecute those responsible for the torture regime, it’ll be the most important thing to ever happen in terms of the advancement of international human rights and international law principles. The most powerful country on the planet holding itself accountable for its own crimes. There is no more powerful statement and it would realize a lot of what right now are just words on papers – that people are entitled to human rights and that all governments must respect those rights. No one would ever again get away with it.
Failure to prosecute would only signal that the US does not take those words and ideals seriously. That they are meaningless. Everyone else would have reason to follow suit if they wished to and violate whatever law they feel – be it torture, nuclear weapons proliferation, aggressive war or else. Bush’s actions have already caused a lot of this to happen – look at North Korea and Iran’s pursuit of illegal nuclear weapons, look at Russia, China and Israel’s aggressive illegal military actions towards their own people and their neighbors, look at the ongoing Sudanese genocide. If the biggest player will not respect international law then there is no reason for anyone else to do so either and there is no one left to enforce it. Other countries could prosecute the Bush admin and likely will, but that would just be a continuation of the same slow struggle for international human rights that led to the successful prosecution of German war criminals, Japanese war criminals, South American war criminals, African war criminals – only to see it happen yet again in the US. Just trudging along forever.
2008 Top Ten
February 9, 2009
This is totally late, but thankfully only three people (max) read this blog. Anyway, here’s my top 10 movie picks of the year.
1. The Wrestler
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. Pineapple Express
5. Wall-E
6. Frost/Nixon
7. Vicky Christina Barcelona
8. Man on Wire
9. Hamlet 2
10. Quantum of Solace
Israel’s existance is threatened
January 14, 2009
Yup, these guys and their shitty rockets are a threat to Israel’s existance. Kinda like how 50 guys in a cave in Afghanistan threatened the very fabric of America, it’s very physical and ideological existence, even though 19 of them had already killed themselves in their only attack against the country.
Me thinks Israel and the US are giving these people too much credit. All overreacting does is legitimize them. Whether or not they have a right to do what they do is irrelevant – it should be about finding a lasting peace. You do not create peace with war, period. That was never the case. Domination, occupation, oppression, that is not peace – and they were always ultimately defeated. World War II succeeded because we let Japan and Germany be. The Cold War never evolved into actual war. We have seen the success of non-violent movements in gaining the independence of countries and the freedoms of peoples all over the world. We have seen the success international cooperation can have in stopping conflicts and in avoiding them. These are real examples of how today’s world works and how peace is achieved. And it does not involve lasting occupation and repeated unprecedented military action.
Israel is addicted to war, just like its neighbors, just like its enemies. You’d think being such a supposed advance democratic society, they’d act accordingly and make mature decisions about their future. You’d think they’d extend a hand to their adversaries and attempt to find common ground and a solution that didn’t involve perpetual war. It’s been 60 years. 60 years of war. But this is democracy in the Middle East – in Israel and in Palestine, people vote for murder, for war and against peace because that is what they want.
One last time
January 14, 2009
Bush’s final press conference. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve watched a lot of these in the last 8 years. They’ve been sad, painful, infuriating, maddening, disheartening, entertaining, all sorts of adjectives. He has wrecked psychological havoc on my life. I guess I’ve been inflicted with Bush derangement syndrome and I won’t be happy till he’s sitting in jail. Which unfortunately means I will never be happy. But at least he is finally gone, defeated and humiliated, and his name forever to be remembered amongst the worst of the worst.
Massive, cowardly overreaction. Arrogant, provocative attitude. A vision of government that believes government shouldn’t exist. Stolen election. War crimes. Blatant corruption. From top to bottom, a complete assault on the Constitution. The end result of the 60+ year conservative movement and a Republican party that simply sought to destroy the American government. But bad ideas are doomed to fail and so it all collapses at once. We’re all fucked but at least it’s over.
Israel-Palestine
December 29, 2008
They tried bombing the shit out of Lebanon in 2006 and ended up making Hezbollah look like heroes to the Muslim world and gaining huge amounts of power in Lebanon. Now they’re bombing Gaza again, because cutting off resources wasn’t killing enough people, to try to bring down Hamas. 60 years of non-stop fighting, they still think fighting is the way towards peace. And time and again when they destroy their supposed enemies of the day, all they do is leave behind bigger and more dangerous ones for tomorrow. It’s an illegal use of force, it’s just plain stupid policy and basically guarantees that there will be no peace anytime soon.
Obama is lucky he still doesn’t have to announce his position yet because of a constitutional technicality, but the situation he’s going to have to address isn’t going to change regardless of what happens. Either Israel can bomb its neighbors without legitimate need and without external consequences for its actions or they can’t. And any chance and hope the world had for Obama is riding on his response to this. Either he’s going to have a common sense foreign policy or he’s been scared shitless by the dumbasses at the Pentagon and CIA who thought invading Iraq was a great idea, who convinced him to re-hire them and who still think aggressive militarism is a good idea. We’ll see in less than a month.
Evangelicals
October 31, 2008
I finally got to see the Evangelicals earlier this month at the Middle East Upstairs… There were literally around 30 people at this show, and that’s counting the band members of two other bands that opened for them. That is absolutely tragic because the Evangelicals are amazing. They have that Oklahoma City (read: Flaming Lips) sound and charm to their music and their lyrics, and their sound is perfect for Halloween. Here’s a great video for their song “Midnight Vignette”
My current obsession – Mirah, C’mon Miracle
October 29, 2008
Everybody should listen to this album.
Movies
October 28, 2008
I watched two movies this weekend, one old(ish) and one new.
First movie: Lars and the Real Girl
I think I liked this movie more back when it was called “Mannequin.”
Second movie: Synecdoche New York
This film is mad depressing. After watching it one reviewer wrote: “When I say Charlie Kaufman should be put on suicide watch, I’m not being facetious.”
I completely agree.
Terrorist
October 23, 2008
