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Not Eudora
By Harry Welty
A Helluva Way to Treat God Weeks
before Alberto Gonzalez became Attorney General I sent an essay opposing his
confirmation to the At
his swearing in Mr. Gonzalez said that he owes his greatest allegiance to the Prisoners
are among “the least” of mankind. Their lives are the property of their
captors. George Bush’s “favorite philosopher” had this to say about
“the least of these”: “Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of THE
LEAST OF THESE my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” - Mathew 40,
KJV The
Column the Trib didn’t publish The
following testimony is from a Red Cross deposition taken from a detainee in
Abu Ghraib Prison which seems fairly typical of the abuses meted out in many
American detention centers: “They
took me inside the building and started to scream at me. They stripped me
naked, they asked me, ‘Do you pray to Allah?’ I said ‘Yes,’ They sad,
‘F*** you’ and ‘F*** him.’ … Someone else asked me, ‘Do you
believe in anything?’ I said to him, ‘I believe in Allah.’ So he said,
‘But I believe in torture and I will torture you. When I go home to my
country, I will ask whoever comes after me to torture you.’ Then they
handcuffed me and hung me to the bed. They ordered me to curse Islam and
because they started to hit my broken leg, I cursed my religion. They ordered
me to thank Jesus I am alive. And I did what they ordered me. This is against
my belief. They left me hang from the bed and after a while I lost
consciousness.” Long
before the sexual humiliation, the rape, the force-feeding of pork and liquor,
and the duct taping of inmate’s mouths to silence their prayers gave Iraqi
insurgents a new reason to kill American soldiers I read that America would
not be held to the standards of the Geneva Convention. I’m sure such stories
can be found in the New Tribune’s archives pre Abu Ghraib. It
did not occur to me, however, that some of our soldiers would make Many
of President Bush’s supporters believe that the problem with the It
is widely rumored that Gonzalez is a likely Supreme Court nominee. If, after
his directives on torture, he can become Attorney General why shouldn’t he
also become the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? Some
of George Bush’s supporters find nothing terribly offensive about the
interrogation methods which have been brought to light. Rush Limbaugh has
likened them to fraternity hazing. (Maybe I was in the wrong fraternity but
mine never forced me to sit in my own excrement.) Six
years ago I invited a friend of mine, a Muslim woman, to the Christian work
camp that my daughter and I were attending to rebuild people’s houses.
Rubaba brought her children and was very touched by our good work. After 9/11
Rubaba has had reason to be fearful despite the President’s early call for
tolerance. I see little in the Gonzales appointment to offer her reassurance.
Neither do I see any reassurance for two young men who also accompanied us on
our Christian mission because both of them are now in the military and headed
for I
still believe that the GOP is the “Grand Old Party” and not God’s Own
Party. But I also remember when Senator
Boschwitz was Jewish. So too have been his successors, Paul Wellstone and now
Norm Coleman. Mr. Coleman,
another Republican, has made it clear that he leans toward confirming Gonzales
to be Attorney General. As
a Republican I would like to remind Senator Coleman of Rudy Boschwitz’s
willingness to buck a Republican President. As an American I’d like to ask
Senator Coleman how he would have responded to the interrogation techniques
which our soldiers thought had been officially approved. If the Senator had
been ordered to thank Jesus that he was still alive would it have altered his
opinion of Alberto Gonzalez? Welty
is a small time politician who lets it all hang out at: www.snowbizz.com |