Seems President Has No Authority To Say No To Torture
Monday, March 7, 2011, 4:13 AM | Leave Comment
The last few days, news is flying around the Internet that Bradley Manning has been treated as if he is a member of the nudist colony. That would be okay if he was a member of his free will. But news has it that his is forced nudity and it occurs everyday of his existence. It seems torture has many faces which have been shown one by one frequently the last couple of years. If there was torture before in America – of blacks, Japanese concentration camps during the big WW and other instances, folks were mum about it.
Torture Works In Mysterious Ways
Torture has two basic kinds: Physical and Psychological. In many cases, the wrath of torture is on both fronts. Kucinich compares Bradley Manning detention to Abu Ghraib.
Is the President waiting for Congress to give him the authority to say no to torture? Who knows, maybe history would judge differently, that Manning could turn out to be an American hero. Maybe he did right what and when he did. Maybe in the long run, it could turn out to be morally if not politically correct for America.
America lately has seemed to be enjoying a good night sleep every day and night. It has seemingly become a sleeping giant. Maybe WikiLeaks is a blessing in disguise. American conscience needs to wake up for its own good. Maybe America is losing it morally. WikiLeaks may turn out to be a kick in American butt after all.
Is America still the nation of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” as is in the Constitution or it has become for the world “death, shame, and the pursuit of sadness” as is against the Constitution?
Is America promoting torture to control torture in the world? Is America promoting injustices of all kinds to control injustices in the world?
Does America have many faces that it shows the one it feels fit to the environment of the day? Bradley Manning has been subjected to forced nudity. Does no one care anymore or is America too “involved” and busy in shunning, shredding and insulting its own Constitution?
Brig officials confirm to The New York Times that Manning will be forced to be nude for the indefinite future day and night regardless he is inside the cell or outside waiting for morning inspection. The army says it’s for his own protection. He might kill himself with his underwear.
Where are the likes of Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, Harry Reasoner, Howard K. Smith and similar other humans who can raise the conscience of the American people just like Mr. Cronkite did while reporting real life from Vietnam. His true and unbiased reporting was one reason Lyndon Johnson decided not to run for the presidency again.
Democracy in any nation cannot sustain and maintain its strength and it cannot survive with just the name written on its face. Democracy must have its values. It must have its conscience. Democracy must have nourished some of its people who can, on occasions, remind it its own strengths and weaknesses.
It seems that in today’s America everything has to be politically correct. Nothing is right or wrong as long you do politically correct talk even if you believe otherwise. In this kind of environment truth has a chance of getting diminished to the point that a time comes that it’s almost nonexistent.
American media have the basic responsibility to be at the forefront reporting “news-making” around the world, unbiasedly, unashamedly without comments unless the comments are clearly stated as such. The media must not turn out to be the news-maker.
Ted Koppel wrote a necessary and much needed article: Olbermann, O’Reilly and the death of real news. We are not reading and watching news per say. News today is mostly opinions of whoever is talking without letting folks know it is their own opinion. I am glad I stopped watching news more than 10 years ago.
Hillary Clinton Calls Al Jazeera ‘Real News,’ Criticizes U.S. Media. Shame on you, American media. You exist only to make money off of folks’ ignorance. You exist only to promote your own agenda of reporting the news not right or wrong but right and left. You ain’t got no more legitimacy in the world. You must stand up and say something against torture.
In a Nutshell
I better keep quite and mind my own business. However, I must say America needs hard-core, unbiased, unashamed news. No more opinions. Folks are perfectly capable of forming their own opinions once they are given unbiased news.
