Applause – Moon of Alabama

September 21, 2004

Applause

In today’s address to the US General Assembly Bush said:

Both the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the equal value and dignity of every human life. That dignity is honored by the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, protection of private property, free speech, equal justice, and religious tolerance.

Some delegates may have read today’s LA Times: U.S. Probing Alleged Abuse of Afghans

The dead soldier, identified as Jamal Naseer, a member of the Afghan Army III Corps, was severely beaten over a span of at least two weeks, according to a report prepared for the Afghan attorney general. A witness described his battered corpse as being “green and black” with bruises.

Alleged American mistreatment of the detainees included repeated beatings, immersion in cold water, electric shocks, being hung upside down and toenails being torn off, according to Afghan investigators and an internal memorandum prepared by a United Nations delegation that interviewed the surviving soldiers.

Some of the Afghan soldiers were beaten to the point that they could not walk or sit, Afghan doctors and other witnesses said.

Others delegates may have read yesterday’s Guardian: After Abu Ghraib

Like most Iraqi women, Alazawi is reluctant to talk about what she saw but says that her brother Mu’taz was brutally sexually assaulted. Then it was her turn to be interrogated. “The informant and an American officer were both in the room. The informant started talking. He said, ‘You are the lady who funds your brothers to attack the Americans.’ I speak some English so I replied: ‘He is a liar.’ The American officer then hit me on both cheeks. I fell to the ground.

Alazawi says that American guards then made her stand with her face against the wall for 12 hours, from noon until midnight. Afterwards they returned her to her cell. “The cell had no ceiling. It was raining. At midnight they threw something at my sister’s feet. It was my brother Ayad. He was bleeding from his legs, knees and forehead. I told my sister: ‘Find out if he’s still breathing.’ She said: ‘No. Nothing.’ I started crying. The next day they took away his body.”

Kofi Annans Opening remarks (PDF) included the general theme of the rule of law beginning in Mesopotamia.

Much of Hammurabi’s code now seems impossibly harsh. But etched into its tablets are principles of justice that have been recognised, if seldom fully implemented, by almost every human society since his time:

Legal protection for the poor.
Restraints on the strong, so they cannot oppress the weak.
Laws publicly enacted, and known to all.
That code was a landmark in mankind’s struggle to build an order where, instead of might making right, right would make might.
…
Yet today the rule of law is at risk around the world.
…
In Iraq, we see civilians massacred in cold blood, … At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused.
…
I believe we can restore and extend the rule of law throughout the world. But ultimately, that will depend on the hold that the law has on our consciences.

Guess who received warm applause.

Posted by b on September 21, 2004 at 16:49 UTC | Permalink

Comments

I listened to the entire speech on the radio, and had to run to the vomitorium immediately after. One mind-boggling Orwellian phrase after another, along with the appropriate fundie references like “dark valley of death” or something like it. He must have used the phrase “human dignity eight or ten times. How anybody could listen to any of it and not jump up screaming “FUCKING FRAUD!” is a mystery to me.
And now, having reminded myself of it, I must take a hot shower with strong soap. ICK! ICK! ICK!

Posted by: Kate_Storm | Sep 21 2004 17:24 utc | 1

Yep, Kate. It’s a shame to all the nations that no one had the guts to stand up and leave when Bush came with this BS.
That said, Hammurabi code wasn’t bad. It had some very fine ideas, like “If a house crumbles and kills the owner, the architect will be killed. If a house crumbles and kills the owner’s son, the architect’s son will be killed”. It was in essence far better than most of our Western code when it comes to deal with Big Business. If we had such similar laws, there would be far less corporate frauds, or a lot more dead CEOs.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Sep 21 2004 17:30 utc | 2

Question: Every soldier I talk to and that’s my own personal experience, every soldier I talk to or marine say that it’s much more frightening now, it’s tougher now, we’re taking more combat now and the latest reports seem that we have less security now than we did say a year ago.
Rumsfeld: … At some point the Iraqis will get tired of getting killed and we’ll have enough of the Iraqi security forces that they can take over responsibility for governing that country and we’ll be able to pare down the coalition security forces in the country.
Transcript

Posted by: b | Sep 21 2004 18:04 utc | 3

Phil Carter at IntelDump:
Analysis: The LA Times story is quite lengthy, because it combines a lot of reporting from the Crimes of War project with the front-page news story. But read it anyway. I have been told that Abu Ghraib is the tip of the iceberg, and to expect additional detainee abuse reports in the coming weeks and months. None of these will look as deviant as the Abu Ghraib abuses, and most will not have pictures. But in many ways, the abuses are worse, because they were orchestrated as a concerted effort to gather intelligence from detainees, and because they were all but officially sanctioned by the U.S. chain of command. I’m not sure when the Pentagon will release these reports; they need to be vetted and cleared by a number of staffs first. But we have not seen the last of this issue, unfortunately. The incident reported in today’s LA Times is illustrative of what’s to come.
[FWIW: I’ve also been very recently told that Abu Ghraib was the tip of the iceberg, and that what went on elsewhere is more, rather than less, disturbing. With respect to the treatment of PUCs, Lynndie England and Charles Granier will turn out to be two of the kinder, gentler souls in either Iraq or Afghanistan.]

Posted by: Pat | Sep 21 2004 18:40 utc | 4

Bush: Both the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the equal value and dignity of every human life.
Not true. From the Declaration Of Independence:

He [George III] has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Now GWB is said to have a degree in History, in which case he should know that the Declaration parses its words carefully, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” etc…
Slaves and indigenous people, even women for that matter, were not included in that definition as “men.” To group the two documents together as equals, one being a document of a herrenvolk democracy, the other striving for true inclusion of all humankind, is an insult aimed directly at his audience. While Annan is a cultured and respectful dignitary, he would not be out of line to have stood up for the true ideas of the value and dignity of every human life by standing up to and uniting the majority of the member nations against the Great White Bully. What’s it gonna take?

Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2004 19:13 utc | 5

What a sad sad day it is.
Kerry seems determined to lose this election and the shrub mocks the whole world.
Can anyone offer me something positive, tell me that we have hit bottom?
I saw some tape of the americans and brit who are dead or facing execution, poor bastards, were they there only for the money? I want to not feel sorry for them but there was so much fear in their voices and in their movements before being killed. I remind myself of the thousands of Iraqi children who have been blown to bits by remote control and it makes the beheading pale in comparison. It is however still a very brutal act.

Posted by: Dan of Steele | Sep 21 2004 19:48 utc | 6

Every process that we have observed in the universe is cyclic. (The latest dark-energy/dark-matter cosmic ruminations of late would possibly destroy my argument, but…)
As dark and degenerate and disgusting as our un-elected usurpers of power continually become, the more the pressure builds to reverse their direction.
Pendulums always swing back. Everything changes.
Most of the world and at least 50% of the American subjects now realize the criminal-Orwellian-“evil” policy directives issuing forth from GWB and his administration.
The opposition is gaining strength and coherence. Keep the faith and work harder to educate more of the sleeping. Hopefully Kofi & Kerry will eventually get it.
What else do we have to keep us keeping on?
I can’t believe that Kerry is as passively ineffective as we witness. He’s a sleeper and a strong finisher a who knows he’s playing this chess game against the master Rowe. He’s holding his power pieces until he sees the red in their demonic eyes.
Wish my theory good luck.

Posted by: Juannie | Sep 21 2004 23:49 utc | 7

An Islamist website has stated that the second American, Jack Henley, has been beheaded.
Videotape was released yesterday of the beheading of Eugene Armstrong.
God knows how much money going to pay for more than 100,000 U.S. troops ostensibly fighting on “the front line of terror” in Iraq – a country the size of Texas – and we CANNOT LAY HANDS ON THE SINGLE KNOWN TERRORIST LEADER IN IRAQ? WHAT. THE. FUCK.
John F. Kerry, they are making your job so easy. So goddamned easy, pal. Why don’t you tell America that this administration hasn’t a fucking clue and doesn’t especially care? “War president” my ass. MY. ASS. Why don’t you tell the public that our hands have been tied – tied by a White House that cons Americans into believing that they really will do whatever it takes to “find these killers.”
The war on terror is just so much rhetorical bullshit to this administration.

Posted by: Pat | Sep 22 2004 1:08 utc | 8

@Pat:
When I sent my ex-wife an Email regarding the reinstitution of the draft–her son is 26–she mailed back two links about troops getting screwed, and this:
LIFE ~
Is all about ass:
you’re either covering it,
laughing it off,
kicking it,
kissing it,
busting it,
or trying to get a piece of it.
Somewhat relating to your post above.
Kerry needs to KICK SOME ASS!

Posted by: Subotai | Sep 22 2004 1:26 utc | 9

It’s not that they’ve made it easy for Kerry. It’s way more complicated than Iran-Contra & BCCI now. Somebody’s going to have to start asking the pertinent questions, b/c these guys together are taking this country even further adrift into lethal insanity, this time for all of us. Kerry won’t touch the issue of GWB and snake-handler Ashcroft not catching the person(s) who took Anthrax from the Pentagon stash and drove home the “shock & awe” perpetrated on the US public right after 11 Sept 2001, while conveniently tying up the Federal offices for two months. But then Kerry helped push the farce that Saddam was going to use the atom bomb on the USA. The key to understanding all of this is understanding why the Dems would not contest the outright theft of the 2000 presidential election and stick up for their constituents and disenfranchised voters, hell, even the members of the Congressional Black Caucus had their faces rubbed in it by Gore himself. I’m not going to pretend to have the answers, and I’m not expecting them to come from w/i the system, but how much longer are we to put up w/ these criminals? At least get the kids w/ the guns out of Iraq and back here so we can figure this mess out.

Posted by: b real | Sep 22 2004 2:52 utc | 10

@b real
I’m all for bringing the kids home. I was simply pointing out that a year and a half into this operation and one thing we might’ve expected for our money is the apprehension of al-Zarqawi. We hear about him often from the CIA; we hear of him not at all from the White House. I guarantee you there’s no working plan to get him – just uncoordinated, ad hoc efforts on the part of various groups whose flexibility and freedom to act is very, very limited by the administration. Zarqawai isn’t just one guy sawing the heads off Americans in front of a video camera. He’s become the head of a successful conglomerate within Iraq, a local Terror, Inc. Three times before OIF the DoD approached the NSC with plans to take him out in the northern no-fly zone. Three times they were turned down by this administration, which – it cannot be repeated too many times – treats counterterrorism as a kind of optional, extracurricular activity.
Nothing that we actually see has shit to do with a War on Terror. And what we don’t see is just downright frightening in its lack of seriousness and urgency.
Where is OBL? Where is al-Zarqawi?
If it mattered that much to the White House, we would have had them by now. But it doesn’t, and we don’t.
As a simple matter of justice, if nothing else, they must be captured or killed. But the administration is hardly consumed with matters of justice, unless seeking to outrun and evade it themselves.

Posted by: Pat | Sep 22 2004 4:50 utc | 11

Sorry, b real, for my grouchy response.
I don’t have the answers either. Just a lot of angry questions and a truckload of fury, disgust, and frustration.

Posted by: Pat | Sep 22 2004 5:02 utc | 12

From the Rumsfeld transcript–a a mind-boggling attempt at putting a positive spin on the Iraq-mess:
——-snip———
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, our mayor here in Waynesville, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve, is one of the thousand of service members who have been activated for duty in Iraq and that was his first activation in nearly three decades since he was on active duty in Vietnam. Could you comment a little bit on your views on how the reserve and guard components fit into total force picture since it appears there’s not going to be a major expansion of the regular active duty forces? Are we moving toward a model like Israel or other countries that extensively and regularly use reserves?
RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, if you see the mayor tell him thank you for his service we appreciate it. You say it was his first activation or mobilization in 30 years?
QUESTION: (Inaudible) serves in Iraq.
RUMSFELD: He’s there now?
QUESTION: Yes.
RUMSFELD: Well, that’s terrific.
—————–
When was the last time anybody checked to see if rummy has cloven hoofs?

Posted by: koreyel | Sep 22 2004 5:05 utc | 13

Rumsfeld: … “At some point the Iraqis will get tired of getting killed and we’ll have enough of the Iraqi security forces that they can take over responsibility for governing that country and we’ll be able to pare down the coalition security forces in the country
How the hell can an Iraqi or anyone else get “tired” of getting killed?

Posted by: pb | Sep 22 2004 5:45 utc | 14

“What a sad sad day it is.
Kerry seems determined to lose this election and the shrub mocks the whole world.
Can anyone offer me something positive, tell me that we have hit bottom?
Wil this help somewhat?:
Latest Zogby poll:
President Bush 241 electoral votes
Senator Kerry 264 electoral votes
Arkansas 7 possible
Florida 27 possible, Too close to call.
LINK

Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 22 2004 6:09 utc | 15

Well I guess Kerry has finally found out that he can call the cops — KEYSTONE — and the people will laugh.
And it’s about time, after reading the above posts & that link on the open thread, the one about Yusuf Islam ,that known follower of the Muslim faith, founder of the Muslim School in London, and outspoken critic of terrorism, has been denied entry into the United States, you know him, CAT STEVENS….whew that was close.
The nail is begging…….to be POUNDED

Posted by: anna missed | Sep 22 2004 6:48 utc | 16

Inquiries Into Deaths in U.S. Custody

The Army is investigating the deaths of three Iraqis and an Afghan Army recruit who were in American custody or came into contact with American forces, military investigators said Tuesday.
In Baghdad, the First Cavalry Division announced that it had charged two soldiers in connection with the deaths of three Iraqis, Reuters reported, but the Army gave no details about the incident, including whether the Iraqis were detainees.
Separately, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command said Tuesday that it had reopened an inquiry into the death of an 18-year-old Afghan Army recruit…

Posted by: b | Sep 22 2004 7:02 utc | 17

Press reaction to Bush´s UN speech:
NYT EditorialPresident Bush’s Lead Balloon

Mr. Bush delivered an inexplicably defiant campaign speech in which he glossed over the current dire situation in Iraq for an audience acutely aware of the true state of affairs, and scolded them for refusing to endorse the American invasion in the first place.

LA Times Editorial Making Nice at the U.N. …Unfortunately, kind words can’t erase past slurs — or current ones out on the campaign trail — against the U.N. and “Old Europe,” and hope is not enough to change the disaster on the ground.J. Freedland in The Guardian Still no votes in Leipzig

So we ought to hold America to its word. When George Bush spoke to the UN yesterday, he invoked democracy in almost every paragraph, citing America’s declaration of independence which insists on the equal worth of every human being. Well, surely equal worth means an equal say in the decisions that affect the entire human race.
That 1776 declaration is worth rereading. Its very first sentence demands “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind”: isn’t that exactly what the world would like from America today? The document goes on to excoriate the distant emperor George for his recklessness, insisting that authority is only legitimate when it enjoys “the consent of the governed”. As the world’s sole superpower, the US now has global authority. But where is the consent?

Cartoon in the Telegraph

Posted by: b | Sep 22 2004 10:07 utc | 18

@Pat…It is time to focus your anger. Bushco is the enemy, it is the terrorist. AlQaeda is a patsy; Bushco has never intended to apprehend “him” as he is an essential part of the global scam. Etc.
Get real here. It is way too late to hang your hopes on a solution crafted/executed by the USA. We have been compromised beyond salvation (as b real pointed out, Kerry is simply another puppet to step in when it becomes too hot for the Dub) so time to back off on the struggle. I am reminded of a diver who loses his orientation due to pressure and nitrogen narcosis and dives deeper in his effort to escape. Fruitless and lethal.

Posted by: rapt | Sep 22 2004 14:13 utc | 19

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