Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Gulag
"If this were a dictatorship, things would be a heck of a lot easier -- just so long as I'm the dictator." -- George W. Bush
A shocking story in the Washington Post, released today, details an extensive CIA system of secret prisons throughout the world, operating without any oversight or regulation (link here). The prison system, which has prisons in a number of eastern European states, was established after 9/11 by the Bush administration. The locations of the prisons are only known to the president and a few regional officials, since the operations are not subject to any form congressional oversight. With the exception of a handful of high-level government officials, no one knows how many people are in these prisons, who they are, what they are alleged to have done, or how they are being treated. Such a system of secret prisons can only be established through a presidential authorization of covert action. In this case, Bush signed the necessary covert action "finding" only six days after the September 11th attacks.
When Human Rights Watch came out with their report calling Guantanamo Bay a "gulag," it was clear that they really didn't know what a gulag is. There were some terrible things in Guantanamo, and I would love to see it shut down, but calling it a gulag was obvious hyperbole. Gulags are secretive. You don't know who goes in and what happens inside them. In gulags, innocent people can be "disappeared" and never heard from again. There is no congressional oversight in a gulag. In short, the prison system described in the Washington Post is a great example of a gulag.
The entire secretive system is built around keeping Americans in the dark and contravening the American court system. Since when is our court system something to be avoided? Since when do we allow our government to circumvent their constitutional obligations by exploiting cute legal loopholes? The legal acrobatics of Bush and his team in excusing these terrible things is akin to the annoying sibling with a hovering finger, joyfully saying, "I'm not touching you!" Similar, except that because of Bush's foolish legal contortions, people are dying, people are being tortured, and lives are being ruined.
This also sheds some light on why Cheney was pushing for a CIA exception to the new anti-torture bill in Congress. What would a gulag be without torture? Bush and Cheney, despite the obviously horrible nature of these prisons, are very careful to maintain a thin veneer of legality in their secret prisons and torture chambers.
I suppose one should be careful with their criticism of this secret prison system, since any government in the business of building gulags might not hesitate to use them against its own citizens. What is to keep them from scooping Americans in the abyss of these prisons? There would be no way to prove that anything happened. Once confined to a black hole in the ground on the other side of the globe, you would no doubt find it exceedingly difficult to challenge the legality of your detention. Just another Holloway-esque disappearance, except if you aren't an attractive white girl, no one will look for you.
To those who so blindly trust our government, all I can say is that it is naive to think that despite these totalitarian measures, we will all be fine. Government always uses its power to its full extent, and if they claim the power to jail people secretly, they will use the hell out of that power, human rights be damned. Even if they don't come after you, what kind of free country supports such an evil, anti-freedom system as this?
There can no longer be any doubt. Bush is an evil, evil man with aspirations of totalitarianism. He must be removed from power.
A shocking story in the Washington Post, released today, details an extensive CIA system of secret prisons throughout the world, operating without any oversight or regulation (link here). The prison system, which has prisons in a number of eastern European states, was established after 9/11 by the Bush administration. The locations of the prisons are only known to the president and a few regional officials, since the operations are not subject to any form congressional oversight. With the exception of a handful of high-level government officials, no one knows how many people are in these prisons, who they are, what they are alleged to have done, or how they are being treated. Such a system of secret prisons can only be established through a presidential authorization of covert action. In this case, Bush signed the necessary covert action "finding" only six days after the September 11th attacks.
When Human Rights Watch came out with their report calling Guantanamo Bay a "gulag," it was clear that they really didn't know what a gulag is. There were some terrible things in Guantanamo, and I would love to see it shut down, but calling it a gulag was obvious hyperbole. Gulags are secretive. You don't know who goes in and what happens inside them. In gulags, innocent people can be "disappeared" and never heard from again. There is no congressional oversight in a gulag. In short, the prison system described in the Washington Post is a great example of a gulag.
The entire secretive system is built around keeping Americans in the dark and contravening the American court system. Since when is our court system something to be avoided? Since when do we allow our government to circumvent their constitutional obligations by exploiting cute legal loopholes? The legal acrobatics of Bush and his team in excusing these terrible things is akin to the annoying sibling with a hovering finger, joyfully saying, "I'm not touching you!" Similar, except that because of Bush's foolish legal contortions, people are dying, people are being tortured, and lives are being ruined.
This also sheds some light on why Cheney was pushing for a CIA exception to the new anti-torture bill in Congress. What would a gulag be without torture? Bush and Cheney, despite the obviously horrible nature of these prisons, are very careful to maintain a thin veneer of legality in their secret prisons and torture chambers.
I suppose one should be careful with their criticism of this secret prison system, since any government in the business of building gulags might not hesitate to use them against its own citizens. What is to keep them from scooping Americans in the abyss of these prisons? There would be no way to prove that anything happened. Once confined to a black hole in the ground on the other side of the globe, you would no doubt find it exceedingly difficult to challenge the legality of your detention. Just another Holloway-esque disappearance, except if you aren't an attractive white girl, no one will look for you.
To those who so blindly trust our government, all I can say is that it is naive to think that despite these totalitarian measures, we will all be fine. Government always uses its power to its full extent, and if they claim the power to jail people secretly, they will use the hell out of that power, human rights be damned. Even if they don't come after you, what kind of free country supports such an evil, anti-freedom system as this?
There can no longer be any doubt. Bush is an evil, evil man with aspirations of totalitarianism. He must be removed from power.
posted by Dan at 3:32 PM
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