SIG HEIL TO TORTURE!

SIG HEIL TO TORTURE!

(Doug Linder/Reuters News/Frazer Chronicle)

Are we reverting to the old days, when people would come from miles around, kids in hand to watch a hanging? People would take the day off, get drunk the night before, just so they could watch the wheels of justice roll over some stupid slob who was dumb enough to get caught for stealing horses, robbing a bank, or shooting somebody to death.

 

Sure most of the people that were hanged "in the old west," deserved what they got, and I really do think that justice was mostly served, but gee, what kind of a ghoulish psychos were these people, I mean to almost declare a holiday to watch somebody get their neck snapped by a rope.....and to bring the kids.

 

Maybe some of the hangings were something like today's "kids day at the ball park," I can just see it, "Come on, bring the kids, tickets include a soda, a box of popcorn and a hot dog," however, no autographs allowed. Morbid really doesn't describe these old western folks who turned out for the scene of justice at work.

 

Golly.....it didn't work either, deterring really bad crime, because hangings were still legal in some states, to deal with capital crimes well into the 20^th century. I guess I kind of figured that if a person was convicted of murder, or taking people's livelihoods, or swindling folks, these people should all get the same, prison, prison, prison, I mean really long stays in the "bizz-bo," (jail) but to snap a person's neck, hung till they were dead was a little strong, kind of like two wrongs making a right, that thinking is never true, two wrongs do not make a situation right.

 

You read and hear a lot today about terrorism, the war on it, how we should all be vigilant against it, and how mostly people of color, or Arab decent need to be watched.....at all times, "you just can't trust em." However, on the other hand, we need to continue our daily lives, go shopping, get out to the movies, take in a ball game, vacation or take a walk, just like nothing dangerous was going on.

 

It really is a good thing that we as a people aren't easily swayed by these complex and abstract differing orders, otherwise we'd all be carrying some sort of weapon at all times, oh wait, I guess most of are carrying some sort of protection, it's like we "never leave home without it," protection I mean. And fellas, I'm not talking about the kind of protection you keep in your wallet.

 

Afghanistan doesn't even seem to be a topic in the presidential campaigns thus far; it's kind of like the deaths, the mangled bodies the country gets back to have to deal with matter to either candidate. The millions that are being pumped into the Pentagon so that they in turn can pump those millions into a foreign country doesn't matter at all. But that's for another time.

 

GUANTANAMO TRIALS ARE ALMOST AT HAND!

It's true.....I read it in Al Jazeera, so it's gotta be true.....right, those guys never lie, especially when it comes to reporting on the United States.....right? Actually, you know what, Al Jazeera really does report the news in an accurate, understandable way, doesn't pull any punches, and uses reporters, bloggers and resources that meat out a pretty damn good brand of news.

 

The United States has held what some refer to as detainees for as long as 8 or 9 years, of course some have been let go, while some have actually been brought to justice. I have absolutely no doubt that some of these people are dangerous terrorists who need to be brought to justice.....justice, justice. No fooling around, give then a trial, a fair trial, if they are found guilty, they get appropriate sentences, go off to jail, or in the really bad cases, where death has occurred, "off with their heads." It's really the few agreements I ever had with the Bush administration, those that killed American citizens need to be put to death.

 

There still are at least 5 alleged plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks being held at Guantanamo Bay, seems to me as if they should already have had their trials, and their dispositions already been done with. Isn't it funny how slow the wheels of justice can move whenever the military is involved with the proceedings, everything seems to take forever, or is the slow-motion activity is because the military isn't done with procuring information from them.

 

According to reports, there are 168 prisoners left at "Gitmo," down from a peek population of 771 captured primarily from Afghanistan. These prisoners, suspected of supporting either al-Qaeda or the Taliban, or of committing outright terrorism acts. The C.I.A. "commandeered" the (high level) captives and transferred them to overseas prisons throughout the world, where "enhanced interrogation techniques were used including waterboarding, stress positions, mock executions, sleep deprivation, finger and toe -nail pulling were also undoubtedly used.

 

No matter what these people have done, as a free country, we have no right to hold these people for this length of time.....and we sure as hell have absolutely no right to use the dastardly methods that are listed above.

 

RULES OF THE TRIAL:

It's almost laughable, there are actually some cock-eyed rules that are either in place, or are being set up so that certain topics are "top secret," like certain words can't be used, or certain topics can only be discussed away from the "probing eyes or worse yet, the tape recorders" that the press wants to use.

 

Hey, I understand that there are certain people need protection from inquiring eyes or recorders, but torture, come on, everybody in the world, with access to a news paper, or radio, television, or a computer knows that the United States has used torture tactics, it's not our brightest hour as a world leader, but like my friend said, "Get the hell out of the closet, everybody knows your gay.”

 

I remember another famous war crimes trial; in fact former president George W. Bush referenced the war off and on during his two terms in the White House. The war was the 2^nd World War, and the trial was at Nuremberg, Germany. And you know what, nothing, absolutely nothing was left out of that trial.....and they killed millions upon millions of people.

 

The judges only wanted one thing, the truth, once that truth was found out, then the wheels of justice took over, and some heads rolled. It was however done with dignity, and with respect, even for some of the worst war time criminals in the history of man-kind.

 

The only people who should be protected are the people that gave evidence, or passed on information that lead to the capture of a terrorist. Without exception, everything else, the waterboarding, the mock executions and whatever type of depravities might have been used.

 

Talk about your transparency, let's get real, let's wash our hands, and let's get "Tide clean and Downy soft." There has been mistakes made, probably a boat-load, let's admit them, and move on. By setting silly rules, and playing word games, we, as center stage players need to lead by example, if we don't, by God, we are lost, and worst.....we lose.

 

There was another culture of people who let their leaders keep things from them, it was all in the name of and the good of the party, it was called Nazi Germany. We aren't there yet, we don't operate under a totalitarian state yet, but the longer we allow military attitudes to rule, we sure are driving towards that end.....and everybody remembers what happened to the leaders of the Nazis, don't we.