Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

My brilliant hubby managed to switch out my defective keyboard with one he scavenged from an old laptop and now I am back in business!

I'm sure everyone is sick and tired of talking/reading about the Libby indictment and the Fitzgerald investigation so I'm going to completely leave that one alone for now. There is something weighing very heavy on my heart and I'm in the mood for a bit of a rant.

I was raised to believe that the United States of America is a pretty cool place. As I've grown older I've seen and understood the flaws in our system and I've tried to do my part as a citizen to remedy those flaws. I hold no illusions that the USA is the best country in the world, there are several areas where we fall short and need to strive harder. However, I love my country and I'm happy to be a part of this great social experiment. While I love the rest of our planet and I want to experience and enjoy every inch of it, I don't want to live anywhere else.

Call me a Pollyanna, but there are some myths from my early childhood propaganda experiences that I truly want to believe. I want to believe that while individual human beings might have failings, as a whole we are a noble species. I want to believe that our country is set up in a manner designed to make the most of that nobility while striving to suppress those tendencies which draw us in the other direction.

Like most everyone in the world I was mortified when I first learned that American troops were torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. I was shamed at the thought of the name of the United States being associated with such a thing, I was heartbroken at the thought of our troops (these men and women who are our friends and family) being reduced to such an animalistic level that they would conduct themselves in such a manner. I was terrified of the repercussions which would inevitably be felt by our country, our troops and our citizens as the wrath of our victims manifested itself in revenge.

As I looked into the issue more thoroughly and discovered that Abu Ghraib was merely the tip of the iceberg, my disgust and shame only grew. Here we were on this supposed noble mission of bringing democracy to Iraq yet we were treating our prisoners and "enemy combatants" in a manner so far removed from that nobility of purpose that the entire notion of our actions being justified was rendered not only laughable but pitiable. This was not the United States of America I had been raised to believe in, my country couldn't possibly be guilty of such things.

Then came the investigations and trials. We were handed a scant handful of people and blame was laid entirely at their feet. Janis Karpinski, Lyndie Englund...They were set forth as the those who were to blame. Yet after both women were removed from the situation the abuse continued, reports surfaced from Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and other prisons in Iraq. Citizens of the UK and Canada came forward to tell their stories of mistreatment at the hands of American soldiers. It became plain that Alberto Gonzales and Donald Rumsfeld were not only aware of the torture but were instrumental in making it happen. And still Bush claimed that it was the work of "A few bad apples."

Well, John McCain has attempted to put forth a bill that would make it illegal for anyone acting on the behalf of the United States to mistreat prisoners or detainees in any matter. Basically it makes the Geneva Convention rules into national law. The bill passed with a huge majority of 91 votes. Yet Bush, who has never vetoed a bill in his entire term as president has threatened to veto this one. Dick Cheney went to McCain and said that Bush would sign the bill if an exception were made for the CIA. Basically, the Bush administration (who still insists that we don't torture people) is looking to make a nice little loophole for itself.

Now, the Bush administration is attempting to claim that while it is illegal for us to torture anyone on our own soil, it is okay for us to do so when in other countries (Guantanamo Bay is a prime example.) And still the buck has traveled no higher than Karpinski.

I have written emails and letters and dialed the phone until my fingers are ready to fall off. I'm quite certain that all my elected officials think that this and election reform are the only things I think about. But you know what? These guys have dragged my country through the mud and they continue to do so with every prisoner they mistreat and each time they deny due process to the "enemy combatants." I understand that, for better or worse, we are at war. I know that many of our prisoners would as soon kill us as breath but I refuse to believe that we can accomplish any noble goal while our actions have been reduced to this level.

I think this administration is guilty of crimes against humanity. I am constantly floored by the fact that they still try to claim the moral high ground. I can only hope that the nobility which I know exists in the heart of my country will eventually see justice served.