Proud.... to be an American?

The German newsweekly Stern has reported that Germany's federal police (BKA) and foreign intelligence service (BND) found terrorism suspects are being tortured and beaten in an American concentration camp named "Eagle Base," located in Tuzla, northeastern Bosnia. One suspect, 70 years old, was beaten so savagely in the head with a rifle butt that he needed 20 stitches. The Good American soldier was, according to the German report, "visibly proud" of his actions. I'll bet that 70-year-old man doesn't threaten anyone with his dentures again.

Documents which American soldiers had seized in raids were "extremely blood-smeared" and one of the German agents there compared the actions of American soldiers with those of Serbian war criminals: "The Serbs ended up before the international court in The Hague for this kind of thing." It's not surprising that rather than help in the interrogations, as they were originally sent there to do, they instead informed German’s federal prosecutor. The irony of all of this occurring in Bosnia should be enough to choke a horse.

When did this happen, last week? Last month? No, this was just two weeks after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. American soldiers were torturing and beating suspects - not convicted terrorists, just suspects - almost immediately after the attacks which George W. Bush treats as an excuse to ignore all boundaries of law, morality, and justice. None of this should be surprising and it's not limited to concentration camps set up on foreign soil. Police right here in America will use truncheons, chemical sprays, and projectile weapons against peaceful protesters who are exercising their constitutional rights in a way that is inconvenient to the government’s corporate backers.

Did I say "constitutional rights"? Sorry about that, it's an old habit that's hard to break. Our "rights" are becoming more and more just "privileges" which the government hasn't found a reason to snatch in the middle of the night. Our Constitution, according to our Leader, George W. Bush, is "just a goddamned piece of paper" and, according to Attorny General Alberto Gonzales, an "outdated document." The concept of constitutional rights is no longer an American value under the current regime and it's certainly not one which their collaborators and Kapos among the media elite are willing to openly defend.

Although it appears that the Germans here acted with some dignity and morality, the German government doesn't get off the hook because they've been claiming that they've known nothing about secret American concentration camps except for what they've read in media reports. One Afghan formerly held as a suspect by the Americans has filed a lawsuit alleging that German special forces participated in his interrogations. An intelligence report reveals that the CIA offered German officials access to a German citizen they held if Germany quashed EU protests over secret CIA flights, prisons, and torture. Germany got access to the prisoner and EU protests died down. There is also currently a scandal developing in Germany over photos of German soldiers desecrating a corpse and playing with someone's skull.

Read the whole thing...

Now maybe you can understand why I want to fucking gag every time I read about our "sacred mission," or bringing Freedom, Democracy and Liberty, to the rest of the world.

There was a time when I was SO proud to be an American. I remember right after 9/11 when you couldn't see the walls of the American Embassy here in Costa Rica, for all the flowers that Costa Ricans placed there. I remember strangers approaching me in the street and offering condolences, as if I had personally lost someone in the attacks. Now flash forward to today. The American Flag is burned in the streets, and America is looked at as something akin to The Beast.

I am, still proud to be an American. I am proud because I realize that REAL Americans do not support the things that have been done in our name. Real Americans believe as I do, that no one is above the law, and that America should not stand for torture, should not invade countries that have not attacked us, and should not be about lies and manipulation of the political process for power.

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