Rights and Liberties: The Torture Test

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: The Torture Test: "Your questions suggest that you really believe that the US went after Hussein because he was a 'bad man' and he threatened the US with WMD's. Then you have the nerve to ask me about N. Korea. N. Korea has a dictator who actually has nuclear weapons. He also has a country full of people who will actually commit mass suicide for their 'Dear Leader', surely the best army one can hope to have if your going to start a nuclear war. So if it's all about the threat to the US from WMD's, where's all the outrage over Kim Jong Il? Or even Iran for that matter? You mentioned the humanitarian disaster of Rwanda, then asked questions about Hussein, as if being a tyrant is some kind of determinant as to whether the US should attack another country. Again, what about Korea? That's a Stalinist modeled dictatorship and there's every reason to believe that the N. Koreans aren't faring much better under Jong Il. We know of slavery in concentration camps for political prisoners, of torture and of the deliberate starvation of hundreds of thousands.... at least. But that Hussein! He's sure a bad man! And you act as though we only now learned about his crimes anyhow. We've known about him, his attack on the Kurds, as well as his chemical weapons since the 80's. Why the importance now? And what about Idi Amin, Taylor, Somoza and a dozens of other dictators who tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands while the US did nothing. Do you really think the US would attack another country based simply on it's human rights record? LOL. Lemme let you in a little secret. The US, and particularly this government considers a person or a countries worth by what they represent in monetary or strategic value to the US. As such, the Sudanese, the Liberians, the Haitians, etc., have no value in such a worldview. And they are all now dying far away from the attention of the US media. But should they have oil, or pose a threatIsrael or the Saudi Royal family and of course the American economy, that's another whole matter. That's why, once Hussein was no longer playing ball by US rules, suddenly the "poor Iraqi's" are on the front pages." And there's Chalabi, ready and willing to tell all these horror stories (many now known to be BS) to the senate and more importantly to the press. To you. And just like the little nurse who stood in front of congress and told how Iraqi soldiers threw babies out of incubators during the Kuwaiti invasion, it was bullshit. That was the daughter of a Kuwaiti ambassador. But you all bought their crap back then, so I can only suppose that they thought you'd buy it a second time. Now.....Can you possibly imagine the level of disdain these people must have for your intelligence? That you'd fall for it twice? But the kick of it is, they're right! You buy everything they send your way, provided it is sufficiently hyped up. Al Qaeda for instance. They pose no threat whatsoever to the border integrity or economy of the US. 9/11 was spectacular and frightening. But that's all it was. Every ill that has befallen the US since that time has been under the direction and orders of the WH. They took your rights away with the Patriot Act. They sent soldiers to Iraq to get killed. They have smeared the name of the US with the torture and lies. Terrorists existed long before al Qaeda and they will always exist as long as people have grievance's with governments. How did we handle them before then? Why all the hyper-ventilating now? Here's the big answer my friend. PNAC. Look it up. Read it. Look at the authors. Then look at who has been brought into this WH as advisers or key officials of one kind or another. Then look at what has taken place during the Bush administration. If you believe that this could all be a coincidence, well...God bless your soul. Your going to need it should you allow these men proceed any further. Mycos