American terrorism: our prez and v.p.
Upon hearing that Moslems in Lebanon were cheering as a hero a man recently released by Israel, a man who had bludgeoned to death a 4-year-old child, angered me greatly. Where are the voices of civilized, non-violent Moslems? Why haven't more Moslems spoken out more often and more strongly about Moslem terrorism? How can Islam remain so silent about the eruption of Moslem terrorism throughout the Middle East?
Of course we Americans have remained all-too-silent about the terrorism in our own Bush administration. Even though we have been shown that our government representatives in the Pentagon and elsewhere encouraged torture treatment in Iraqi prisons and elsewhere. And when we found out that we flew suspects to nations where terrorism is a method to "question" them, we were quiet. And now as we learn that we have questioned a 14 year old boy at Guantanamo Bay, and subjected him to violent inquisitions, where is the outcry? Further, another young boy held at Guantanamo Bay has been charged and held for alleged "terrorism" he committed when he was 11 years old. Guantanamo Bay is a place where none of the usual rights are given prisoners and torture has been used to try and get information. The world looks on in horror at what the Bush administration sanctions. Remember, these are people who simply have been suspected of crimes, not proven to be terrorists. And many of them were sold to American forces for money by people whose activities can themselves be questioned.
Since Ronald Reagan's presidency, the U.S. image in the world has declined. Remember Ronald Reagan visiting Germany and deciding to visit a place that is held hallowed by former Nazi S.S. troops? Even though the German government and military veterans in the U.S. pleaded with him not to go there, among all the possible places he could have visited in Germany, he chose Bitberg. Sickening. And in that repulsive tradition we have George W. Bush.
Americans must wake up soon or they will totally lose their democracy. This is not alarmist rhetoric, this is history! This is not this blogger's opinion, all you have to do is look around you. The middle class is disappearing in America. The gap between rich and poor is widening. The American dollar's value has plummeted. People are losing their homes in droves. Decent-paying jobs here are lost to foreign sweatshops. Veterans, even those fighting Bush's war in Iraq, have to scrape for benefits incurred while serving in the military. Our health care system is the worst in the idustrialized world. Children in the U.S. look forward to a standard of living below that of their parents. Drug cartels, protected by neocons, are gouging sick people and these conglomerates have no outside competition. Our national debt is skyrocketing and we are leaving our children and grandchildren the debt to pay for right-wing empire-building. The U.S. is being sold off at bargain basement prices.
I don't know if Barack Obama can fix this. I don't know if anyone can fix this. But I do know that we need to change course ASAP, and John McCain sure-as-heck won't do that.
