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Abu Ghraib of Our Dreams by Bolivar I
dreamt of Abu Ghraib and the house of horrors committed by our armed
forces. I saw in the night those barbarous acts under the direction of our
commander-in-chief. I considered the responsibility of the White House for
such grotesque acts because I remember that a commander is responsible for
the actions of his troops. Far from being a singular act of violence and
humiliation, I see nothing but a program of systematic torture and abuse
spread throughout the string of prisons around the globe, manned by our
boys and girls in uniform. I
have also seen our American Government take control over the lives and
destinies of hapless Iraqis and Afghans who were born with the same
God-given rights to freedom of speech, association and self-governance.
Our Government boastfully screams from her beastly lungs that we must stop
Terror at all costs, and in so doing terrorize others in the process. This
is just another state program based on an insidious state answer, costing
us our wealth and freedom. I
have heard over and over from nationalistic Americans that I must either
love Loving
Do
I love The
American flag is a majestic piece of cloth carried into battle too many
times to count--most often for the service of Conquest than the privilege
of How
difficult it must have been for peasants and millworkers, farmers and
store clerks to take up muskets and destroy the very flag that was their
heritage, their Old Glory and their Empire! They too realized the Union
Jack was just a flag. It now stood for the diabolical machinations of
tyranny, not the protection or the advocacy of English rights. But
I have dreamt a dark storm brewing on the horizon of my children’s
political future. It is a frightening, most disturbing prospect as I see
the beast of American Government bear her fangs, showing her true nature.
She would claim no master and easily take down countrymen who stood in her
path. It matters little whether a neoconservative or liberal takes the
helm of that For
those who think it could not happen – for those who thought they could
play with the fire of government power, wielding their wishes, opinions,
fundings and moral values upon others with brute force – now they have
come to taste the dark blood of our father’s sins. Well, drink deep and
see to what low depths you have fallen, O mighty The
truth is that we lost the Second World War. All the armies of Hitler and
Stalin destroyed equaled no comparison to the collectivist upheaval of our
country. We lost the Cold War. The Kruschevs and the Gorbachevs gutted our
natural desire for self-governance and replaced it with the perestroika of
domination. Everything that we supposedly opposed, we have become. All the
terrors and propaganda fed to American taxpayers have wound up in our
hearths and homes. No army marched on We
attack the French and Germans and call them cowards for not joining us in
the rape of But
we have the flag! The red, white and blue flies high over the masts of our
hearts and covers all the atrocities, the napalm, the atomic bombs and the
bomblets blowing children’s limbs off. Yes, we must wrap ourselves tight
in our blood-stained banner, for it no longer waves over the land of the
free and the home of the brave – but it cocoons us from our own evils
and the murder of human beings made in the image of God. For
a short time, my fellow Americans also saw my dream and had their eyes
opened to the evil of the sexual humiliation behind prison walls, the
physical torture of human beings. They saw the pictures in the Washington
Post, splashed over the screens of CBS. Electric wires attached to
genitals. Dark hoods covering the faces of men turned into animals.
American uniforms and muscles proudly bearing the flag that took taxi
drivers and shop merchants into dark cells – having been drafted into a
sadomasochistic theatre of false imprisonment and tortuous molestation. But
that dream did not last. It dissipated like smoke from the guns of our
carriers when the untimely appearance of the Berg beheading took over our
concentration. The anger and the shock of Americans seeing our
schoolchildren and Sunday School kids growing up to be Nazi henchmen and
torturers made us toss our cookies. But the video distraction, that took
our eyes away from the reality we did not want, made us justify and
rationalize the horrors we had committed. Rush
Limbaugh and Sean Hannity equate the sexual abuse of Arab plebeians as
nothing less than a fraternity prank and our brave soldiers blowing off
steam. Perhaps, these neoconservatives who so readily wrap themselves in
the Constitution would remember that abusing anyone’s rights is a
terrible injustice, whether a beheading, hazing or rape. Although
the Arab world condemned the beheading of Nick Berg, the American media
machine and the politicos in clown suits screamed bloody murder and
pointed the finger at Al-Qaeda. The rumors started flying around that even
Saddam’s own nephew was involved in the murder. All this from the
trained eye of CIA officials and newsroom lackeys who now can spot an
Iraqi under any turban. Never mind that the horribly edited and choppy
video shows Berg on a white chair, in an orange jumpsuit in front of a
cream colored wall--items eerily similar to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
prisons. The
timing was impeccable. Senators had just reviewed hundreds of additional
photos, only hinting at even further grotesque acts committed upon poor
souls. Forced masturbation by women soldiers. Sodomy on prisoners using
batons. Trained dogs forced upon prisoners. Stress positions hours on end.
Near drownings to psych the sub-humans. Never
in my dreams did I ever imagine that the America of G.I. Joe and Rocky IV,
of Ronald Reagan and Bruce Springsteen would become the nightmare we had
sought to end. Instead of learning from the ex-soldier we knew as Rambo,
we instead became like the VietCong torturers who racked his body and
soul. We
no longer have a distinguished voice to speak to the world community about
freedom and democracy. The sham has been revealed. The lies are now
exposed. The neoconservative dream is nothing but raw imperialism,
resource control and population decimation. If this is the flag of The
Roman emperors now heave and toss beneath their ancient graves desiring
the wealth and power of the American Government. The potential to become
even a greater totalitarian Super-State than But
I cannot salute the system and regime of men and princes who build their
brothel of lies upon the blood of innocents. Not while they force our
young boys into unwanted battles and fund their campaigns with our sweat
and our toil. It
is Hail
Freedom! |
