March 1, 2008

Why I blog

We've been told that what happened at Abu Ghraib wasn't torture.

10 comments:

  1. Yeah we were told that, but they were clearly winking at us.

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  2. This is why I blog...

    To raise awareness about the things the real bad guys are doing, like this, and show people just what we as a global community are up against.

    I see America as a country that has done tremendous good in this world, while you guys tend to think the opposite. That of course, is the biggest difference between you and I.

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  3. C.H.:

    Why are you looking to change the subject? Fact of the matter is, the undeniable good that this country has done in the world in now way excuses it when it commits these undenialble atrocities.

    That's the difference between you and I.

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  4. Fair enough.

    But when you focus on all things negative all the time, its counter-productive and harms the fight against the people I pointed out earlier.

    That's just my opinion, igore it, reject it, or embrace it. It does not matter to me.

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  5. if it does not matter to you then why are you on this blog?

    and as i was taught as a child. two wrongs do not make a right.

    we can not truthfully hold others to a high standard if we can no longer claim a moral high ground. others just laugh at us as hypocrites.

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  6. "Two wrongs do not make a right"

    Of course not. Who would disagree with that?

    I am not in any way defending torture or trying to downplay the abu ghraib incident

    But think about it, is it really right that stories like Abu Ghraib and the acts of a handful of soldiers in Iraq dominate the headlines in a media that is eager to pick them up? All the while, stories like the one I linked to, along with countless others, slide into obscurity and are buried away in the back.

    It just isn't right, and its happening because everyone seems to be looking out for their ideology more so than anything else.

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  7. Selective headlines are the story?

    Not invading the wrong country, on a disingenuous premise?

    Not botching the attempted occupation of Iraq?

    Not taking the eye off the ball in Afghanistan?

    Not failing to find bin Laden?

    Not kidnapping?

    Not torture (home-grown and outsourced)?

    Not warrantless surveillance?

    Not a pattern of unlawful conduct by an administration so obviously not up to the task of getting its job done in the proper manner?

    Sorry, C.H. I don't think that inapt selection of headlines has been the problem in or for the United States lately.

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  8. no one likes reading the bad that we do. but we have to bring it out in the light.

    do we do a lot of good things as a nation and a people? yes, we do, but the things that have gone on, been carried out in OUR name over the past few years, have been things that are NOT what i'd call american!

    it's hard to say "we were wrong"

    hard, but i think we are tough enough to do it and begin to set things right.

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  9. C.H. -

    Glad you do not approve of torture. Seriously, that is heartening.

    "But think about it, is it really right that stories like Abu Ghraib and the acts of a handful of soldiers in Iraq dominate the headlines in a media that is eager to pick them up?"

    No, it was widely known about and approved of all the way up to Rumsfeld and Cheney. Very hard to deny that.

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  10. C.H., your act is wearing thin. The U.S.'s ability to be a leader in the world, to bring about the changes in developing nations you so desperately crave are directly linked to the terrible things being done in this country's names by this current regime... I mean administration... NO, I mean regime.

    And you know it. But you hide behind this little act. Most of us here aren't that stupid to fall for it.

    We're torturing and kidnapping and ignoring - even propping up - dictatorships in the name of national security. And it's a bunch of crap. And the world knows it, and it's why they laugh at George Bush when he uses words like liberty and freedom and dares to criticize other countries' behavior.

    Our house in in serious disarray. Until it gets cleaned up, all of those other problems you claim to care about cannot be addressed, because we don't have the moral authority, and, increasingly, the resources to do it.

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