Are we more secure than we were in the past? Are we more secure now than we were 5 years ago? Politicians have been asking all Americans to answer that question and from the answer we are to determine whom to elect. Republicans and Democrats want all of us to believe that their party can protect us from evils of the world. And so let the bipartisan bickering begin before the elections in November. Where do you fit in the equation of bipartisanship and all the bickering? Are your thoughts and dreams embedded with the Elephant or the Donkey? Are you ready for the onslaught of commercials, billboards, and innuendos of the political regime? Ready or not here it comes
The President made on rare visit to Capitol Hill today to discuss his vision for the future and what did he talk about with his fellow Republicans? Healthcare, Taxes, Jobs? Remembering this was a rare visit, what do you think he discussed? Well unfortunately it was none of the above. The President discussed how to change the Geneva Convention and how to make torture legal. How can the most
powerful country in the world, America, justify its position to the world that we want to change the Geneva Convention to suit our purposes? America, according to President Bush should be able to "Interpret Article III of the Geneva Conventions the way we want and even amend it". Unfortunately some Americans do not know or care about the Geneva Convention or any of its articles, which is very understandable. When and where was it the last time any of us had to study or even used any of the articles of the Geneva Conventions? So why is it so important that any of us care if we follow the President and allow him to change it, amend it, and disregard it? Well ask yourself these two questions and possibly the answer may come to you. Do you know anyone currently in the military and fighting overseas for our freedom here at home and do you care for our men and women in the military? If you answered yes to any of these questions, than you will know why we have to tread lightly here. Article III of the Geneva Conventions states that "Prisoners of war should not be tortured, mistreated, humiliated' and so on. Well you can agree with some and say "These are terrorists" and they deserve no better and we are justified. We are justified as Americans because of what happened to us on 9-11". So we have become like them? You may agree with the President because "THEY", do not follow the rule of law. "They" are savages and bloodthirsty animals that rule by no rule and when it's feasible for THEM, they change, disregard and manipulate the law. Are we becoming like "THEM"? Are we leaders of the free world or we now servants of our hatred for them? We know we are on the brink of allowing our leaders to justify torture as a means of to get information from whom we a deem terrorist. The argument will be that they do it to us or would do it to us, so it's all fair. Just imagine for a moment in the life of our captured solider in the hands of say the Iranians or whoever and have them say to us," We no longer follow the Geneva Convention". Do you want your sons and daughters in that position? We know torture happens but there are countries that abide the rule of law and are we as Leaders of the Free World saying "It's ok to torture enemy
combatants". Will our troops become 'Enemy Combatants" themselves?
Republicans and Democrats will use the outcome of this decision to further their political gains. They will advertise and make political statements of which make them look stronger and tougher on terrorists. Meanwhile, they sit in comfort, eat a hot meal every night and sleep in relatively safety. They do not have to suffer the consequences of their decisions to allow torture to happen.
They will claim they speak for America and know what's best and all the while, our troops who lives have been altered dramatically will be the ones who suffer the most. Will America stand up and agree or disagree with torturing and reckless abandonment of rule of law? Another question we will be asked to answer is, Are we safer?
Safety can be a relative term depending who is being asked. Are we safer? Ask people who lived through Defcon 2 and their answers may be well different than who were too young to remember. Defcon 2 is a military term for possible nuclear confrontation. It's the highest alert the Unites States military has been at. In regards to Defcon 2, it's in regards to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Those who lived through that time might consider we are much safer now than we were than. Ask those who went through the Cold War and their answer might also be different. The Communists were going to fry our asses with their bombs.
