 | Circular Beastliness From the Dogs of War |
South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced this morning that he is in support of the brutal treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, even when such treatment goes so far as to break international war crimes law. Senator Graham’s line of reasoning was that the United States government has the right to break the laws of war because its opponents broke the laws of war first.
What kind of ethics is it that says that it’s okay to break rules so long as someone else has broken some other rules first? Those are the ethics of the elementary school playground. They’re also the ethics used by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust. It was okay to kill jews by the millions, the Nazis said, because the jews had committed crimes against the German people.
Of course, the crimes of the jews were imaginary. The crimes of Al Quaida are not imaginary. But does that really mean that the United States is free to commit war crimes, as Lindsey Graham says? When prominent politicians begin making such claims, it’s a strong sign that American liberty is under serious threat - from within. Senator Graham’s attitudes would place the United States in the company of Nazi Germany and the machete wielding death squads of Rwanda.
As Senator Graham’s comments and today’s story about a newly revealed memo that directly links George W. Bush with a plan to concoct reasons to invade and occupy Iraq in April 2002 show, the United States of America is approaching a tipping point past which democracy will not be able to survive, and a new despotism the likes of which the world has never seen will be unleashed.
Those of us who believe in the historical identity of the United States of America as a nation of laws and of liberty need to shake off our complacency and organize to defend our freedoms now, before it is too late.
Contact Us
To be fair, some of the Jewish families did still have silver cutlery, some family mansions and such in their possession whilst other Germans were starving to the point of eating dead horses on the streets, and although the Jews didn’t GAIN from WW1, it’s possible to see why the downtrodden German people might have thought so.
The Nazis took advantage of the scapegoat, like Bush and the Muslim countries. The crimes Bush accused the Iraqis of were pretty imaginary.
Comment by HareTrinity — 6/12/2005 @ 9:36 pm
Organize what? I don’t think another drum cicle is going to help.
It’s not a matter of getting the story out to the American people. The people know. They just don’t give a shit.
Our options are dwindling.
Comment by MK — 6/12/2005 @ 9:43 pm
“a new despotism the likes of which the world has never seen…”??? NEVER SEEN? WHat? The Death Star? This is a ways off the deep end here. Sorry, I just don’t see the death camps and killing fields and acid baths and mass impalings and crucifixionz. The world has seen a lot of things that are a wole lot worse than what is going on now
Comment by Carlos Figuero — 6/12/2005 @ 10:40 pm
You know, I really don’t feel the need to “be fair” about the jews when it comes to the Nazis, and allowing for how the Nazis must have felt.
I’m not talking about a drum circle, MK. I’m talking about progressives actually getting active in practical ways: Getting funds raised for projects, getting appropriate candidates identified and supported for 2006, and putting together pressure campaigns on specific Republican representatives and Senators to control the debate in the 2006 in particular campaigns. I’m also talking about visiting the web site After Downing Street and getting involved in the particular activist opportunities outlined there.
Have you called your members of Congress demanding answers about these memos? Have you spread the word to your friends and family? There are easy actions like these that most progressives are not yet taking.
When you say that “the people know”, MK, the truth is that they don’t know much at all about what their particular members of Congress are doing in terms of their roles in the crimes of the Bush Administration. That information is not getting out, and it needs to be applied in grassroots networks.
Certainly, complaining that there’s nothing to be done will accomplish nothing. Our options are limited by our imaginations. We can beat the Republican nationalists, if we apply ourselves and stop meekly sighing as if there is nothing to do.
Comment by Truman — 6/12/2005 @ 10:44 pm
No, I’m talking about what would go on if democracy and liberty were lost in the United States. The United States of America is far more powerful than any other nation has ever been in history. What I’m saying is that if the United States is allowed to descend out of democracy, we will see terror “the likes of which the world has never seen.” How could you argue against that???
We’re talking about war crimes, Carlos. In both stories, war crimes, and a pattern of war crimes organized by the President of the United States. You’ve got a United States Senator announcing that America has the right to commit as many war crimes as it wants. That doesn’t frighten you, Carlos???
You’ve been watching too many cheesy horror movies, Carlos, if this stuff doesn’t bother you. Or, maybe you just don’t care about little things like war crimes.
Comment by Truman — 6/12/2005 @ 10:52 pm
MK,
I agree, it doesn’t seem to matter how much we tell people what’s going on; first they deny it, and then, when proven wrong, they act like it’s unimportant.
And Truman,
Much as my grandfather was one house away from being killed due to his ethnicity, I DO believe that it’s important to remember that the Nazis were NORMAL PEOPLE.
NORMAL PEOPLE stuffed the Jews into death camps, shot them, watched them starve to death; NORMAL PEOPLE accidentally fell under the control of a dictator and didn’t realise how much they’d regret it until it was too late.
NORMAL PEOPLE can do extremely sadistic and horrible things, and some how they can block it out. Humans conform and obey authority a LOT more than easily than they think.
That’s why it’s important to remember that the Nazis, the students of the Zimbardo Prison Experiment, the participants of Milgram’s experiments, and all the other cases where a group of normal people are changed into sadists and killers.
People shouldn’t be able to think that it’s something they’d never do, not when it’s been shown many a time that authority can do strange things to people very easily.
Comment by HareTrinity — 6/13/2005 @ 4:10 am
Well, people can THINK that obviously, they just shouldn’t be allowed to idly forget about it. It’s an important fact, and it’s extremely hard to resist things like that if one doesn’t stay wary.
Comment by HareTrinity — 6/13/2005 @ 4:12 am
Hare Trinity,
That’s why I’ve written this article - because I think that the good old American people are just as capable of supporting mass atrocities as the Germans were. Current events prove that’s the case: Americans knew that the Republicans were the party supporting torture, and 51 percent voted for a Republican leader anyway.
I just don’t think that it’s at all called for to “be fair” about the jews and the Nazis by considering whether the Jews had maybe done something to deserve their persecution. First of all, they didn’t. Second, even if the Jews were somehow collectively guilty of some crime, that would never justify the mass slaughter of millions of them. There’s nothing “fair” in considering whether the Nazis had any reason to be so furious a the Jews. There can be no reason at all when it comes to fury of the sort unleashed by the Nazis. It is without rational justification.
That doesn’t mean that it’s without rationalizations. There are rationalizations for the current American regime of torture as well. But, rationalizations are not really rational. They’re pretexts, excuses that don’t hold up to the most basic logical examination.
The violent glee of the Nazis and the current violent glee of 51 percent of the American people for war and torture are too similar for my comfort.
Comment by Truman — 6/13/2005 @ 6:22 am
So much for the “morality” and “values” lines we’ve been fed, eh? Why is it that the leaders of the most powerful nation can’t see that being benevolent leads to much more cooperation, gets the job done without killing anyone, and spreads the message of democracy much better than bombs? All we had to do after Saddam was captured was replace the army with a huge multinational coalition of UN peacekeepers and supplies for rebuilding the country. Let the Iraqis figure it out! If they want warlords and brutality, fine! But i think forcing them to accept an occupying force backed by a fledgling government of our making isn’t going to work. Besides, how transparent was this whole deal when everyone knew it was about oil and big contracts for Cheyney’s buddies from the start. I’m not sure anyone can fix this mess now. It really feels like a worse case than Vietnam. On the domestic side, the “haves” are laughing and joking, too busy shopping and going on vacations, renovating their homes and partying to bother with the plight of the masses or the demise of their country. See, everyone pretends to be all religious and caring when they’re in church, but as soon as the service is over, it’s back to business as usual. “Yeah, i’ll give money for the poor in Biafra or Djibuti, but i’m not helping anyone from around here!” Their logic is twisted and their morality is bent. But no one cares and the rot continues unabated.
Comment by Tom — 6/13/2005 @ 7:41 am
“False consciousness” thing at work.
Comment by HareTrinity — 6/17/2005 @ 10:44 am