Taxi to the Dark Side

Last night I watch the documentary - Taxi to the Dark Side - at the recommendation of my daughter. Specially the film dealt with the fate of an Afghan taxi driver who was captured by American forces in 2002, placed in prison in Bagram Air Force Base, and died with in a couple of days. The Army reported that the death was accidental, the death certificate filled out by the Army medical examiner and given to the family (who showed it to a New York Times reporter because they did not read English) listed the cause of death as a homicide.

The captain in charge of the military intelligence unit was transferred to Iraq to work in Abu Ghraib and we all know what happened there.

The sad thing about the story is that the United States has become the bad guy. Growing up I saw the movies about World War II where the Nazis in the form of the Gestapo or SS tortured prisoners or innocent civilians. Americans were always above that kind of action. We believed in the law and democracy and everyone having their day in court. That does not appear to be the case any longer.

When George W signed off on renewing the "Patriot" Bill in 2006 he reserved the right for the executive branch to tell what they wanted to tell, do what they wanted to do, and not be held accountable while the war on terrorism is going on. Therefore, anyone who commits a crime against US law against a suspected terrorist or insurgent receives a get out of jail card.

Our Congress gave the Bush Administration the votes to do this.

Most heart breaking is the fact that John McCain, one of the most outspoken critics of the US torture policy since 911, signed off on the bill, supposedly to get the endorsement of conservative Republicans. I hope that is wrong. I plan to write Senator McCain and maybe get his side of the story.

Torture does not work. Trust me, show me a pair of pliers and I will tell you whatever you want to know. That evidently happened shortly before Colin Powell went before the United Nations with his "proof" that Saddam Hussein had train Al Queda fighters and had chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

The CIA captured a high ranking member of Al Queda, flew him to Egypt - evidently we are out sourcing our torture - and after a bit of water boarding he told the CIA exactly what they wanted to hear. It was only after the invasion of Iraq that the CIA came forward and admitted that maybe their information was not 100%.

I have complained about GITMO from the beginning. Prisoners must be treat by the standards of the Geneva Convention. When we treat the enemy like they treat us, then we become the enemy and they are the true victors of the fight.

I believe the bad guys need to be put down, either in gun battles or when proven guilty by a court of law, put away in jail for life. But nothing excuses torture.

I think we need to go to George W and have him tell us when the information obtained from tortured saved the United States from an imminent attack of any kind. I doubt if there is an answer.

As you can tell I am upset with this, which means I will be writing my representatives in Washington and getting their views. I am curious how they voted on the renewal of the "Patriot" Act. I will be sharing my letters as I always do. In addition I will probably write to President Elect Obama and see where he stands on the issue.

Torture is something none of us in this country can ever condone - regardless of what Jack Bauer says on "24".

Say no to torture! Tell your representatives you are against torture and that you believe all parties, at all levels who are involved in torture should be punished. It is a sad commentary that the only ones court martial for the deaths in Bagram and Abu Ghraib were enlisted men and women. One of the charges against them was dereliction of duty. What about the dereliction of duty on the part of their commanders, and the commanders of those commanders?

Dick Cheney came out publicly and said the US would have to do things never done before and we have allowed him to get away with it.

Shame on all of us!!

We have all grown too complacent in our lives and have passed on our moral responsibilities to others. If it does not touch us directly, we do not care.

Take the time to find out what our country is doing. Write, protest, and tell your representatives that we want the America of our fore fathers, not the America of terrorist hunting crazy men.

It's Common Sense!