"Bush commits torture, even those in Vietnam knew water-boarding was torture as they were charged and sent to jail for doing it.
Now N. Korea says why should we tell you anything about those we capture or what we are doing with
them, claiming that we do the same thing. Which we do! Now everyone in the military is at risk, as are civilians, thanks to the policy's of George Bush, which were torture and a violation of international law and the US Constitution. You should know that. You are a constitutional lawyer right?
An independent investigation should be launched into the war crimes committed by the Bush administration. You know, and I know, what was done. The only difference is you know even more than I and yet you do nothing!
The president is not above the law, as you pointed out, and presidents should not be allowed to get away with breaking them. We are not talking about minor issues here, we are talking about the violation of criminal and constitutional law.
And you are not above the law! Being complicit with covering up the acts of George W Bush makes you an accessory and that makes you a violator of criminal law. If we allow one to trample on our rights, you are opening the door for others to trample on them.
I want a criminal investigation into George W. Bush and his administration for criminal acts committed while President of the US. I am not going to rest until you do, and I am going to work against your re-election if you do not! You are not above the law and nether is George Bush! We have a RIGHT to know what happened in OUR name and how far the civil and criminal rights violations went, including the leaking of the name of CIA agent, Valerie Plame!
If you allow a president to get away with what the last one did then you are no better than he is, sad to say. It is unfortunate for me to see you sink as low as Bush, the war criminal!
I am a Vietnam Vet and I know that Bush just put every person in the military at risk for torture. We do it so everyone else can as well. What do we say to them? We don't do it now? I bet we still do! And
if we don't but did, that needs to be addressed in the light of day before THE PEOPLE, not just you deciding you are going to be complicit with Bush! You don't work for him, you work for us, and I am telling you now that many people voted for you because we wanted him stopped and we want him held accoutable for his dictatorship of 6 years!!
justgoodfolk - Somalia Perspective
Correct. Once again the only thing coming out of the right wing echo chamber is absurdity.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
Like usual there's a lot more to this story than poor innocent Americans being harrassed by mean pirates (who hate America for their freedom?)
What is ignored, or deliberately concealed, by both the American political establishment and the media, is Washington’s responsibility for creating the conditions in which piracy has flourished in Somalia. Hillary Clinton talks of a “scourge of piracy,” but the Somali people have for decades been the victims of the scourge of US imperialism.
Today, the country is one of the three poorest nations on the face of the planet. “Somalia is the site of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe,” the aid group Refugees International declared in a recent statement, pointing out that over 240,000 Somalis now live in squalid conditions in Dadaab, Kenya, the largest refugee camp in the world.
“Somalia is a nation in ruins, mired in one of the world’s most brutal armed conflicts,” Human Rights Watch stated. “Two long years of escalating bloodshed and destruction have devastated the country’s people and laid waste to its capital of Mogadishu.”
In a report released at the end of March, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs pointed to a desperate “humanitarian crisis in the country,” exacerbated by a drought that has left millions of people without access to drinkable water. “The water shortage has forced many people to walk long distances—up to 20km—while others are selling the remaining commodities they have to purchase water,” the agency said. Meanwhile, the UN’s appeal for humanitarian aid has been largely ignored by Washington and the other world powers, with only $251 million raised, barely more than a quarter of the $918 million requested.
The immediate cause of this catastrophe is the December 2006 invasion of Somalia organized by the US, using Ethiopian troops as its proxies, in order to overthrow a popular government formed by a movement known as the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) on the basis of unfounded claims that its Islamist views somehow made it an ally of Al Qaeda.
In the ensuing popular resistance to the US-backed Ethiopian occupation, an estimated 16,000 civilians lost their lives, while another 1.2 million were forced from their homes. After Ethiopia pulled its troops out of Somalia last year, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the puppet regime of warlords installed at Washington’s behest, collapsed, and a former leader of the UIC was elected the country’s new president, apparently with the acquiescence of the US government.
This is only the latest episode in the long history of US intervention in Somalia, dating back to the 1970s and its support for the brutal dictatorship of Siad Barre, whom Washington maintained as a counterweight to Soviet influence in neighboring Ethiopia. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Washington no longer needed Barre as a pawn in the Cold War. It withdrew its support, leading to the regime’s collapse and the descent of the country into clan-based civil war. The same pattern was seen in Afghanistan, with equally catastrophic results.
The subsequent US military intervention launched by the Republican administration of George H.W. Bush in 1992 and continued by the Democratic Clinton administration in 1993 under “humanitarian” pretenses only exacerbated these conflicts and deepened the suffering of the Somali people. US troops were forced out in 1993 after their attempt to kill a recalcitrant warlord led to the disastrous “Blackhawk Down” battle that claimed the lives of 18 American soldiers.
Thereafter, Somalia was once again abandoned to its fate, save for the 2006 invasion and sporadic US missile attacks.
While Washington and other major powers bemoan Somalia’s status as a failed state, major European companies have taken advantage of this status and its long, unpatrolled coastline to use the country as a dump for toxic waste for nearly 20 years. According to UN estimates, the cost of dumping these materials off Somalia is only $2.50 per ton, compared to $1,000 per ton for disposing of them in Europe. This waste has included radioactive uranium waste, lead, heavy metals like mercury and cadmium, and other chemical, industrial and medical wastes.
When the Asian tsunami struck in 2004, wave action churned up the waste and washed it as much as six miles inland. The effects on the health of the local population have been described as disastrous.
According to some accounts, the current wave of piracy began with fishermen attempting to stop foreign ships from offloading this deadly cargo.
Source(s):
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr200...
From: justgoodfolk
Subject: Re: Your Answer Detailing Somalia
Message: Yes, sharing knowledge is what it's all about, glad someone liked it. A lot of that answer was copied and pasted from the source (world socialist website) so I'd appreciate it if you give them or the author Bill van Auken the credit
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/soma-a10.shtml
