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What Have We Done to Ourselves America?
By Nolan K. Anderson
06/27/05 "ICH"
- - Is the noose of fascism tightening around the necks of Americans or are corruption, cowardice and the malfeasance of our Congress responsible for more serious, recently inflicted blows to American freedom and our American way of life? Congress has long since confirmed John Negroponte as our new “insecurity” czar. This marks the zenith of a “tyrant–in-waiting” that Bush has added to his “cabal of criminals”. Negroponte’s confirmation drew less attention from the American public and what is laughingly called the “news” media than the 1938 appointment of his kindred spirit, Lavrenty Beria, by Stalin to serve in the NKVD. I’m sure Bush had no immediate intention of dying when he made his recommendation for Negroponte’s appointment, however, George should be aware that:
“After the death of Stalin in March, 1953, Beria attempted to replace him as dictator of the Soviet Union. Beria was arrested and accused of conducting "anti-state activities. Lavrenty Beria was found guilty and was executed on 23rd December, 1953.”
If there really were such a thing as an ”axis of evil”, it could possibly be more accurately and meaningfully described as the “American Choke Chain of Evil” – (American) Homeland Security, (American) Insecurity/Intelligence and The (American) Orifice of Attorney General. This evil “chain” has been placed squarely around the Constitution of the United States and invisibly around the necks of its citizens. This evil is not directed at the “terrorists” whom our government tells us we will find under every American bed, but is rather directed at we American citizens. The American people are much more threatened by these abominations than by Sadaam or al Qaida or the Taliban or North Korea or Iran.
We have built the most powerful army the world has ever seen, but without the American taxpayer and his “line of credit” with our foreign investors, this incredible, destructive force would never have been possible nor can it be maintained. So, the support of the common American must be maintained either through his willing cooperation or by force. Presently, this “structure of evil” is being positioned and reinforced to implement the “force” part of this proposition as and when it becomes necessary.
Let’s examine the “links” individually and then try to imagine the force (strength) this chain represents once the links are firmly joined under the watchful eye of our “leader”.
John Negroponte:
Intelligence czar John Negroponte earned his bones (no pun intended) back in the days of the CIA's Phoenix program, which assassinated some 40,000 Vietnamese "subversives." Negroponte was the officer-in-charge for Vietnam at the National Security Council (NSC) under Henry Kissinger, having worked as a "political affairs officer" (read: CIA) at the US Embassy in Saigon starting as early as 19641. In 1981 Reagan appointed Negroponte as Ambassador to Honduras. That appointment gave Reagan a base from which to assist the Contras in Nicaragua. Negroponte became good friends with General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, infamous for his participation in Battalion 3-16 death squad human rights abuses and who was conducting a reign of terror in Honduras at that time. “According to Bush, the ultra-rightist Negroponte has a real grip on today's ‘global intelligence needs.’ Indeed he does. Negroponte's long career in the ‘foreign service’ has equipped him well to fulfill the requirements of global and domestic (my emphasis added) counterinsurgency.” 1
Alberto Gonzalez:
George W. Bush's pick for Attorney General, advised the President and the Pentagon that Bush was above the law concerning torture. This sicko actually said that the President is not just above international law (the Geneva Convention), but that Bush is even above Federal law. 2 (Emphasis mine).
Gonzalez's memo, which told Bush that the nature of the war on terror "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions. 3 Geneva Conventions on torture did not apply to "unlawful combatants" captured during the war on terror." 4
His (Gonzalez’s) office also played a role in an August 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel advising that torturing alleged Al-Qaida terrorists in captivity abroad "may be justified" and that international laws against torture "may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogations" conducted in the U.S. war on terrorism. 2 At least five and up to 28 confirmed deaths of detainees are believed by the Pentagon to have been caused by aggressive policies Gonzales did not define as torture. Remember this when you hear Gonzales', and Bush's, ringing denunciations of torture. 6
Contrast that philosophy to that of the Viet Nam era where every soldier received a plastic pocket card bearing the signature of our commander in chief, Lyndon Baines Johnson. It was headed "The Enemy in Your Hands" and summarized the conventions in simple, clear language.
Item No. 3, "MISTREATMENT OF ANY CAPTIVE IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. EVERY SOLDIER IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENEMY IN HIS HANDS," was followed by this unambiguous guidance: "It is both dishonorable and foolish to mistreat a captive.
It is also a punishable offense. Not even a beaten enemy will surrender if he knows his captors will torture or kill him. He will resist and make his capture more costly. Fair treatment of captives encourages the enemy to surrender." 5
There were, of course, American abuses in the handling of prisoners in Vietnam, as there were in World War II and all other wars. But U.S. soldiers who violated the policy on torture and prisoner abuse in Vietnam knew precisely where the lines were drawn, and they knew that they could not hide behind either an ambiguous Army policy or the defense that they were "just following orders." The Defense Department has established a military environment in Iraq that is more reminiscent of its covert wars than of the overt war in Vietnam.
Chertoff:
Chertoff, as an aggressive proponent of the USA PATRIOT Act, helped set up the newly authorized surveillance networks that need not rely on a targeted individual being suspected of any crime.
Chertoff’s record is one of having shredded the constitution and its protection of civil liberties, but his unquestioned fealty to the president, seems to be his primary qualification for the post of Homeland Security Czar. Virtually every aspect of the War On Terror now features someone who has been promoted for his or her misdeeds. No bad deed goes unrewarded. Chertoff’s round up of Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians after 9-11 was not only a civil liberty atrocity it was wholly ineffective. None of the detainees, held incommunicado and without bond until proven innocent, was ever charged -- let alone convicted -- of any terrorism-related crime. Few if any held any useful intelligence value. 6
Does this information ring a bell, Mr. and Mrs. America? Think back to the investigations following the emergence of the Abu Ghraib scandal. Even the Pentagon reckoned that up to 90 percent of the Abu Ghraib inmates were not guilty of any crime.
Conclusion:
Yes, we Americans have formable foreign enemies (many of them of our own making). But, now that you have met a few of our new “protectors” on the same level as your elected representatives met them and confirmed them to their positions, how safe do you feel, Mr. and Mrs. America? Do you feel safe now that you can see the condition of our constitution as it has been shredded and trampled into the mud by those who want to “protect” us from those “who want to do us harm”? Do you feel safe knowing that the chief law enforcement officer of the United States has placed your president above the law and that our elected representatives installed these commissars to execute his wishes? These people were put in place by OUR elected representatives. These people have been allowed to assume positions of “trust” within our governing structure. Not only are these positions of trust, but these are also positions of control over our lives. If we add to the present “war cabal” in the White House and the Pentagon this collection of tyrants, we Americans have a formidable “axis of evil” germinating in “Pyongyang on the Potomac”.
To the citizens who would trust these commissars with their future and the future of their children, I would like to refer you to the large stock of used bridges that I have for sale in my back yard.
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References:
1. JOHN NEGROPONTE & THE DEATH-SQUAD CONNECTION by Frank Morales.
2. Infowars.com
November 11, 2004.
3. The London Telegraph, June 13, 2004.
4. The London Telegraph, June 16, 2004.
5. Washington Post Monday June 21, 2004 by John Stuart Blackton
6. Common Dreams News Center Published on Saturday, January 15, 2005 by Working for Change
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Nolan K. Anderson is a retired engineer and a veteran of Korea who was once a “conservative” until he found there was nothing left to conserve. (He may be reached at nkanders@bellsouth.net ).
Copyright: Nolan K. Anderson
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