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September 22, 2006

They don't hate our freedom. They hate our hypocrisy.

There are an estimated 14,000 detainees throughout the Bush prison system, world wide. Let's take one example:

Baghdad shopkeeper Amjad Qassim al-Aliyawi was released uncharged last month from an unnamed Bush prison (presumably Abu Ghraib). He had been held for nearly two years. Without charge. Without trial. Without explanation.

Bush keeps telling us that "they hate our freedom." What freedom? The freedom to imprison and torture at will and without recourse and for as long as we like??? That's not a "freedom" that can be found anywhere in American jurisprudence. It most certainly is starkly at odds with the inalienable rights which underpin American notions of "freedom" and "justice." Our ancestors rebelled against British rule for far, far less egregious injustices!

In responding to a question about General Colin Powell's questioning the moral basis of his pathological obsession with torture, President Bush tried to sweep the issue aside by retorting:

BUSH: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic

Really?

So the actions of the UnaBomber, Jeffrey Dahmer or Timothy McVeigh were compassionate and decent enough to warrant their being granted fundamental, inalienable rights that those terrible Islamofacists need to be denied? Even those innocent Muslims who eventually get released without charge, explanation or apology?

Can there be any doubt that President Bush is the kind of demagogue that H.L. Mencken was thinking of when he said, "the demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots"?

But then again... this is the same George W. Bush who smirkingly mocked Karla Faye Tucker's plea for clemency. So perhaps he's not a demagogue. Maybe he's just lacking any personal moral compass. How else do we reconcile the mocking of the condemned with this fixation with torturing the innocent and guilty alike?

While you are pondering that, take a minute to peruse this fascinating post: The Pentagon on why they hate us. It seems that Rumsfeld's civilian ideological minders let some honesty slip through.

Posted by Kevin at September 22, 2006 07:35 AM