Shame on the 23rd Letter

Shame on the 23rd Letter

We deride him. We call him Shrub, "Bush the Dumber," some of even call him dubya. How sad for the 23rd letter of the alphabet, to now be associated with this horrid individual.

There's a wonderful woman's T-shirt, with a picture of the 23rd letter, and it says BAD BUSH. There's an arrow, pointing to the botom center of the shirt, and just above the arrow, it says GOOD BUSH. How sad for genitalia euphemisms, to now be associated with this horrid individual.

There are people all over the planet, who judge a country and its people by the actions taken by its government. How sad for all of us citizens to now be associated with this horrid individual.

The horrid individual associated with the 23rd letter must go. Let's return the letter W to its rightful place as the first letter in radio station ID call letters east of the Mississippi (and a couple of stations on the other side of the river, just a few).

Is John Kerry the great hope, the salvation? Nope, he is a clothes pin vote, at best (see the link in the blogroll on the right, Alan Blevins on the "clothes pin" vote [1] for Kerry).

But any candidate from the Democratic side is beter than dubya. Even Al Sharpton or Bob Graham. And now, having said that, you know how low an opinion this blogger holds of the current occupant of the Oval Office.

TORTURE

The word itself is troubling. Of course, it is no real news of note that POWs are tortured. This is standard, a part of warfare. To Pacifists it is greater justification for the position.

I am a Pacifist of long standing, but not one given to fooling himself. War is violence; violence at its very root is a violation. Captors seek revenge, they take it out on their prisoners. There is a psychological game of power, and sometimes this is in tandem with strategic intelligence gathering. Is it horrid, a word also used herein to describe the 23rd letter? Yes. But it is part of war.

So torture should come as no surprise.

A WAR BY CHOICE

Dubya chose to throw himself a good old war, ostensibly to rid an enemy of WMDs, but of course by now that is something we just chuckle about.

We chuckle while soldiers from the US and the Coalition countries die every day, as do Iraqis, and as countless combatants get injured, maimed, and tagged with life-changing baggage, for which the 23rd letter will give them no more than a pat on the back, and in the case of US soldiers, whatever compensation to which they might be entitled.

That is, of course, if he hasn't knocked those out of the budget, so he can raise the necessary money required to wage this war and occupation on a country that clearly was not a major threat. But one that now has what they call insurgents (from their own country?! Maybe to the locals in Iraq, they are perceived as Freedom Fighters), and also enemies comprised of many outsiders, there for the ride (Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, et al). who oppose this American campaign of Democracy by Force, Peace through War.

Dubya sought the oil fields and revenue, a strategic base in the Middle east, and the lofty idea of creating (read: forcing on them) a democracy in the Middle East. His desired (fantasy) legacy: to be rich from the oil, strategically secure with a superb country rich with resources and a sophisticated citizenry as the US' main outpost in the region. And in the process he would line the pockets of his buddies' companies, in the name of rebuilding the war-torn country, and also in rewards to defense contractors whose wares are used to crush and destroy the country.

Sure, dubya thought: oust that bad guy Saddam, look like a champ, and won't these Iraqis shower is with "kisses and flowers" for giving them our version of democracy!? Think again, dubya -- tyrant and despot though Saddam may have been, this remains a Theocratic people, of a completely different culture.

This "Democracy by Force" is just another piece of evidence, as they are told repeatedly by Al Jezeera, et al, that the Great Satan is there as part of its plan to rule the world, overturn Islam, and beat their religion down.

What a shame the 23rd letter was forced upon Americans by the partisan Supremes. Obviously a resounding Electoral College win is necessary, this time around.

More about the Electoral College and the power of choice in another blog entry, coming closer to Election Day.

YOU CAN HELP

MoveOn.org [2], in response to the torture allegations, notes that this effects the standing of the US throughout the world. Americans one and all are perceived as the torturers. In an e-mail to their membership mailing list, the MoveOn team asks that Americans loudly and soundly make their voices of revulsion and opposition known, to the world community.

From the e-mail:

To restore America's good name, we've got to support an immediate, full, and impartial investigation into allegations of torture.

If we hope to win the battle for the "hearts and minds" of the citizens of the Middle East, itís imperative that we respond to these charges head on. Join the call from Amnesty International and other groups for an independent, impartial and public investigation into all allegations of torture, at:

http://www.moveon.org/torture/ [3]

According to Amnesty International's website:

"Amnesty International has received frequent reports of torture or other ill-treatment by Coalition Forces during the past year. Detainees have reported being routinely subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest and detention. Many have told Amnesty International that they were tortured and ill-treated by US and UK troops during interrogation. Methods often reported include prolonged sleep deprivation; beatings; prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined with... prolonged hooding... Virtually none of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment has been adequately investigated by the authorities."
Although a few U.S. troops already face punishment for the widely reported abuses, "the theory that these horrific acts were committed by a few renegade soldiers has been undercut by charges that the men and women shown in the pictures were actually working at the direction of military intelligence officers," according to the New York Times.

With anti-American violence exploding in Iraq, and a deadline for handing over Iraqi sovereignty less than 2 months away, we need the support of the world community now more than ever. We especially need to regain the trust of the Iraqi people and their Arab neighbors, as quickly as possible.

We've got to support an immediate, independent, impartial and public investigation into all allegations of torture. To be credible, the investigation should be done by an international body, including representatives of Arab nations.

We've got to get to the bottom of this, and we've got to do it now.

DO WHAT YOU CAN

You can vote the Democratic line in November. You can join in and support the MoveOn campaign in response to the torture allegations.

I forwarded the MoveOn e-mail to a very wide list of friends, colleagues, associates, acquaintances. I feared it would seem like that mild form of Spam, wherein someone uses their own address book to create a mailing list to further some topic, cause, or product. So far, no negative response.

Then again, it only went out a little while ago.

My motivation was to seize the MoveOn campaign as a response to the torture. My goal is to get as much positive, non-combative, non-violent a statement of opposition --to both the torture and the dubyadminsitration-- out there as possible.

You can find the MoveOn campaign link by clicking here [4].

As the Republican National Committee conducts a massive TV campaign of character assasination on Kerry (claiming that those who knew him during his time in the Armed Forces consider him "not fit to be President' -- how low will they stoop?), it is time to take positive action.

You might just say it is time to Move On [2].