Posted by rogerhollander in About George Bush, About Human Rights, About Justice, About Repubicans, Criminal Justice, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Torture.
Tags: Abu Ghraib, Alberto Gonzales, bagram, baltasar garzon, bush administration, CIA torture, david addington, democratic party, Dick Cheney, geneva conventions, George Bush, Guantanamo, Iraq occupation, Iraq war, jay bybee, john yoo, justice department, neo-fascist right, nuremburg, president obama, Rahm Emanuel, renditions, roger hollander, rumsfeld, signing statements, torture memos, warrantless wiretapping, waterboarding
Roger Hollander, www.rogerhollander.com, April 22, 2009
No one is more outraged than I am about the Bush administrations gross violations of domestic and international law and the Obama administration complicity in what amounts to no less than a cover-up. The release of the infamous “torture memos” along with Obama and Rahm Emanuel granting immunity to both the lawyers who wrote the phony justifications for torture or the CIA agents who carried out the acts of barbarism, has us debating which level of subalterns should be held legally accountable.
While there is no doubt given the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg principles that no one who participated in these crimes against humanity should be let off the hook, there is a long tradition in American jurisprudence of convicting lower level criminals while those who had the power to make the decisions go scot free. The Abu Ghraib convictions are a case in point.
While it is impossible not to support initiatives such as the possible indictment of the “Bush Six” by Spanish Justice Baltasar Garzón, the movement to impeach Justice Jay Bybee, and various other proposals for Congressional investigation, Commissions of Inquiry, etc.; if the focus is not on Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the others at the highest level of government, then there is virtually no chance that the kind of justice demanded by the events will be fulfilled.
Realistically speaking, given the strength of the neo- Fascist Right in the country along with the high degree of spinelessness if not outright complicity within the Democratic Party, it is hard to picture a scenario where criminal charges are laid and prosecuted against Bush and Cheney. But I would argue that this is no time for realism, that the war crimes and constitutional violations that were carried out with impunity are too serious to overlook in the name of pragmatism.
As we reel in disbelief and disgust at the perversion of language and morality that are contained in the newly released torture memos, we must not lose sight of the enormity of the overall thrust of the crimes committed by the Bush/Cheney cabal, the warrantless wiretapping, the extraordinary renditons, the politicization of the Justice Department, the signing statements, the intelligence neglect that enabled 9/11, and – above all else – the deceit and lies that were used to justify the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the consequence of which in terms of death and human suffering is beyond comprehension.
There is an old Negro spiritual that we sung during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s: “Keep your eyes on the prize …” The Prize is no less than the indictment and conviction of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. From there we move on to lesser but no less guilty culprits.
Shoe-In
December 15, 2008
Posted by rogerhollander in A: Roger's Original Essays, About George Bush, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tags: bush insult, George Bush, Iraq, Iraq war, Iraqi people, Muntazer al-Zaidi, shoe-in, shoes, U.S. invasion, us occupation
I don’t have the resources to pull this off, but I’m putting the idea out there for anyone who might be so inclined.
SHOE-IN: Ask people to send their old shoes to a central depot for eventual shipping to Iraq, where they would be distributed to Iraqis, who can use them to express their appreciation for the US invasion, occuption, and rape of their country. It might be called the “Muntazer al-Zaidi Shoe-In” in honor of its founder.
Posted by rogerhollander in About Barack Obama, About George Bush, About War, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tags: Afghanistan, ammunition, Bush, Bush Doctrine, christ, christmas, ferlinghetti, foreign policy, hawks, insanity, Iraq, jesus, Obama, peace, permanent war, pre-emptive war, roger hollander, targeted assassination, war, war on drugs, war on terrorism
(“C’est La Guerre,” Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1988)
War on Drugs, War on Terrorism, Pre-emptive War,
Targeted Assassination, the Bush Doctrine:
PERMANENT WAR.
Soon-to-be-President Obama:
“Well, maybe not such a quick withdrawal from Iraq
after all.”
“Send more to kill and die in Afghanistan.”
PEACE ON EARTH GOOD WILL
TOWARDS PEOPLE
roger hollander 
It’s Bush and Cheney, Damn It April 22, 2009
Posted by rogerhollander in About George Bush, About Human Rights, About Justice, About Repubicans, Criminal Justice, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Torture.Tags: Abu Ghraib, Alberto Gonzales, bagram, baltasar garzon, bush administration, CIA torture, david addington, democratic party, Dick Cheney, geneva conventions, George Bush, Guantanamo, Iraq occupation, Iraq war, jay bybee, john yoo, justice department, neo-fascist right, nuremburg, president obama, Rahm Emanuel, renditions, roger hollander, rumsfeld, signing statements, torture memos, warrantless wiretapping, waterboarding
add a comment
Roger Hollander, www.rogerhollander.com, April 22, 2009
No one is more outraged than I am about the Bush administrations gross violations of domestic and international law and the Obama administration complicity in what amounts to no less than a cover-up. The release of the infamous “torture memos” along with Obama and Rahm Emanuel granting immunity to both the lawyers who wrote the phony justifications for torture or the CIA agents who carried out the acts of barbarism, has us debating which level of subalterns should be held legally accountable.
While there is no doubt given the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg principles that no one who participated in these crimes against humanity should be let off the hook, there is a long tradition in American jurisprudence of convicting lower level criminals while those who had the power to make the decisions go scot free. The Abu Ghraib convictions are a case in point.
While it is impossible not to support initiatives such as the possible indictment of the “Bush Six” by Spanish Justice Baltasar Garzón, the movement to impeach Justice Jay Bybee, and various other proposals for Congressional investigation, Commissions of Inquiry, etc.; if the focus is not on Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the others at the highest level of government, then there is virtually no chance that the kind of justice demanded by the events will be fulfilled.
Realistically speaking, given the strength of the neo- Fascist Right in the country along with the high degree of spinelessness if not outright complicity within the Democratic Party, it is hard to picture a scenario where criminal charges are laid and prosecuted against Bush and Cheney. But I would argue that this is no time for realism, that the war crimes and constitutional violations that were carried out with impunity are too serious to overlook in the name of pragmatism.
As we reel in disbelief and disgust at the perversion of language and morality that are contained in the newly released torture memos, we must not lose sight of the enormity of the overall thrust of the crimes committed by the Bush/Cheney cabal, the warrantless wiretapping, the extraordinary renditons, the politicization of the Justice Department, the signing statements, the intelligence neglect that enabled 9/11, and – above all else – the deceit and lies that were used to justify the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the consequence of which in terms of death and human suffering is beyond comprehension.
There is an old Negro spiritual that we sung during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s: “Keep your eyes on the prize …” The Prize is no less than the indictment and conviction of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. From there we move on to lesser but no less guilty culprits.