Just Trust Us: a moral catastrophe was inevitable.

[Q]

Published on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 by the New York Times

Just Trust Us

by Paul Krugman

 
Didn't you know, in your gut, that something like Abu Ghraib would eventually come to light? When the world first learned about the abuse of prisoners, President Bush said that it "does not reflect the nature of the American people." He's right, of course: a great majority of Americans are decent and good. But so are a great majority of people everywhere. If America's record is better than that of most countries — and it is — it's because of our system: our tradition of openness, and checks and balances.

Yet Mr. Bush, despite all his talk of good and evil, doesn't believe in that system. From the day his administration took office, its slogan has been "just trust us." No administration since Nixon has been so insistent that it has the right to operate without oversight or accountability, and no administration since Nixon has shown itself to be so little deserving of that trust. Out of a misplaced sense of patriotism, Congress has deferred to the administration's demands. Sooner or later, a moral catastrophe was inevitable.

Just trust us, John Ashcroft said, as he demanded that Congress pass the Patriot Act, no questions asked. After two and a half years, during which he arrested and secretly detained more than a thousand people, Mr. Ashcroft has yet to convict any actual terrorists. (Look at the actual trials of what Dahlia Lithwick of Slate calls "disaffected bozos who watch cheesy training videos," and you'll see what I mean.)

Just trust us, George Bush said, as he insisted that Iraq, which hadn't attacked us and posed no obvious threat, was the place to go in the war on terror. When we got there, we found no weapons of mass destruction and no new evidence of links to Al Qaeda.

--

And finally: Just trust us, Donald Rumsfeld said early in 2002, when he declared that "enemy combatants" — a term that turned out to mean anyone, including American citizens, the administration chose to so designate — don't have rights under the Geneva Convention. Now people around the world talk of an "American gulag," and Seymour Hersh is exposing My Lai all over again.

- Continues: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0511-08.htm

[Bandit]

1. American are proved LIARS ~ History is full of evidence for that statement

Ask the Native Americans with their useless treaties. Ask the Vietnamese people who we swore to aid and then abandoned them to the enemy. Americans are LIARS and it is getting even worse if that is possible.

[Q]

3. George II* was a 'proven liar'...

...so why did Congress and DEMOCRATS trust him to do the right thing? Supporting a known liar is participating in a criminal conspiracy.

- The American people aren't the liars...except for those who show blind support for Bush* and his enablers.

- But isn't CONGRESS just as much to blame as Bush* for our loss of moral direction? Haven't they...both GOPers and Democrats...enabled him to do the things he has done? Haven't they forsaken their oaths of office and betrayed the Constitution?

- Perhaps it's time for the People to look at our government as Americans instead of Democrats or Republicans?

[sundancekid]

2. trust is like an ice cube ... once melted, then what?

when will they ever learn, that it's THE COVER UP, stupid!

Another good read is today's WaPo editorial:

Protecting the System

Wednesday, May 12, 2004; Page A22

THE BUSH administration still seeks to mislead Congress and the public about the policies that contributed to the criminal abuse of prisoners in Iraq. Yesterday's smoke screen was provided by Stephen A. Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Mr. Cambone assured the Senate Armed Services Committee that the administration's policy had always been to strictly observe the Geneva Conventions in Iraq; that all procedures for interrogations in Iraq were sanctioned under the conventions; and that the abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison were consequently the isolated acts of individuals. These assertions are contradicted by International Red Cross and Army investigators, by U.S. generals overseeing the prisoners, and by Mr. Cambone himself.
<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19207-2004May11.html

[Q]

4. Cambone is another liar...or didn't hear Rumsfeld say...

...early in 2002, when he declared that "enemy combatants don't have rights under the Geneva Convention."

[BlueEyedSon]

5. This is a dupe, but Krugman rules!!! *kick*

[Mandate My Ass]

6. They telegraphed their intent to commit war crimes

a long time ago.

Building Gitmo in Cuba.

Calling POWs illegal combatants.

Calling for secret detentions and military tribunals with no appeal.

Sending private contractors to Iraq to interrogate prisoners.

Saying the Geneva Conventions do not apply for the duration of the WOT.