Skip to main content

Guantanamo



Guantanamo - 2008-07-17 12:00


We, the Coalition, got authority from the United Nations to go to Afghanistan and oust the Taliban . Anyone who fought against us was considered an illegal enemy combatant.
Many of them are in Guantanamo, held without charges, without rights.

Reaffirming its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, in particular its resolutions 1378 (2001) of 14 November 2001 and 1383 (2001) of 6 December 2001."Adopted unanimously by the Security Council at its 4443rd meeting, on 20 December 2001
The Security Council

As you may notice , if you check out the link, the resolution doesn't actually say anything about 'illegal enemy combatant,' or make a case against people defending the country they live in. That's all us -- and the way we chose to see it.

This is our new standard for war and the way we treat those who fight against us -- and like any standard, it can and will be used against us in the future. We no longer have the moral high ground to point to as our justification or rationale for anything. The only way we are allowed to complain about how our people are treated in other countries is by the use of force.

What we can do, others can do,-- unless we are bigger than they are and are willing to beat them if they don't cooperate with us.

As a nation we have always believed that might does not make right, rather that it is the force of our ideals and good intentions that made us great -- and democracy, as evidenced by the way we practice it, was always something others should want to emulate.

In a war that can almost by definition never end, perhaps it is time to put away the things of our youth and act like the bad motherfuckers we are. Maybe the problem is we are apologizing too much.

I just hope my grandkids don't have to pay for this, too.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harry

  Everything in his life was a one time purchase. He had no storage, no past, never planned a history for any future. He gave you found things in wrappings of used garbage -he moved these pieces of things in order for you to find them later to make them new again, or, because he favored no dogs in this life, he might of just passed on leaving mysteries.  He gave away memories by the steps left on the places as he walked away, showing by example the wearing down of a life though the constant pounding of an unrepentant pogo stick marking the pace of his unmeasured strides.  He gradually lost each tooth one at a time. The lesson was the watching.  He died alone. I didn't think to return anything of me to him, but he wouldn't have found it if I'd I left it, he wouldn't have looked at all.
1 comment
Read more

Satoshi Nakamoto claim

I met a man claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto outside a building I work at near the SF train station. He asked to talk to me. He was white, 50ish, with a 3 day beard that seemed trim.  He was dressed in high quality, slightly worn Patagonia gear.  He spoke in a quiet voice and didn’t appear obviously crazy after a brief talk with him.  He said that he had worked with people in the building that I’m at, but was confused about the details.  “You ever had amnesia?,” he said, not knowing who he was talking  to. “It’s like that.” Having enjoyed our talk - he then asked if I would do him a favor and,  “get the message out that I’m back in town —that’s all,” he said, “They’ll figure the rest out. “ “marshallmathersfoundation.com,” he added,“ they’ll need to know that. “ He’s wearing bright orange gaiters if interested. He’s probably going to be around for a while.  He’s maybe nutty, but since he didn’t bring up Deuteronomy during our conversation, I’m giving hi...
1 comment
Read more

Free Willy

“…Some say it's just a part of it We've got to fulfill the book.” B. Marley Before I completely run away from the point, the subject of this essay is free will, or, more accurately, the illusion of free will. It will be interesting to see if free will even comes up laterally over the next few hundred words now that I’ve set it up as a specific goal.  The imp of the perverse makes it a sure thing that I won’t – but that surety might also double back and force  me to stay on point. There are no dogs to pick  in this fight and it’s not a fight,  and if I’m right, none of this is anything but documentation for a litigious god that will never see it. Like quantum mechanics, life is about either time or place, never both, and how we choose to pretty up our choices is neither the point, or even a choice – it’s after the fact punctuation we use to justify and make sense of our ontological messiness.  (Science has proven that we decide things with our body b...
Post a Comment
Read more