Lesson Number One

As a proud citizen of this country, the recent actions of the leader of this great land have nearly pushed me to the brink. It was one thing when Bush & Company stole the election, kept unquestioned power by using fear to produce complacency, but when he recently tried to talk lawmakers into giving the thumbs up for torture, then that was the straw that broke the Gitmo prisoner’s back. Lesson Number One: in a country that preaches democracy through justice and serves as a beacon of all that is Western, civilized culture, you don’t use torture!

When I think of torture, all I can see is the Sigourney Weaver-Ben Kingsley movie, Death and the Maiden. As a young revolutionary in a South American country, Sigourney’s character is kidnapped in broad daylight and brutally tortured by Ben Kingsley’s character. The story begins when her husband brings home a stranded motorist who happens to be Kingsley, and the movie progresses on with her confronting him about her torture until he finally admits he was the guy who did it. I saw this movie in college and breathed a sigh of relief that I lived in a free country, and torture was something that happened to people living under oppressive dictatorships or were employed by Naomi Campbell.

Fast forward to now, where I sit puzzled as I watch this idiot attempt to justify and rationalize methods of torture as a form of “enhanced interrogation.” Bush wants his boys to be able to waterboard at will without any repercussions. This coming from the guy who couldn’t say enough about Saddam’s rape rooms. Although water torture and rape are two different things, the fact is that they are both inhumane, and should never be used against a prisoner of war.

Thankfully, Colin Powell, John McCain and a few other Republicans finally broke through the Karl Rove mind control force field and spoke out against Bush and the Boys. The irony of this whole situation is that men like McCain who experienced torture and Powell who has seen torture were the ones speaking out against it while the guy who couldn’t even show up for National Guard duty on a regular basis was gung ho.

What I wonder now is how this president can get up in front of world leaders and call another nation’s government corrupt and unjust when he admitted shortly before the anniversary of the September 11th attacks (good timing on his part) that the CIA has secret prisons in other countries.

I realize terrorism is a very real threat, and that those who hate this country are hell bent at destroying it at all costs. However, we cannot justify using an un-American means to achieve an end. After 9/11, my husband and I made a flight to South America despite warnings and grief from some friends and family. In my mind, not going on this trip out of fear that my plane would be attacked meant that the terrorists had accomplished their mission, and I was not about to let them win. If we sink to their level by giving the green light to torture, then we have lost the very thing that makes this land a nation of laws and justice, and they have won.

You cannot strap a guy to a board and pour water over his face to let him think he’s drowning, you cannot turn German Shepherds loose on frightened people then pull them back before they bite, and you cannot continue making the good citizens of this land watch reality shows created by Mark Burnett. I’m serious, we are totally sick of this guy and his reality freaks.

They are calling the hullabaloo against Bush an “uprising”, but only time will tell. I hope it is, because it is about time reasonable people took over and told this administration that they can’t do whatever they want no matter how much they kick, scream, and throw their toddler-like tantrums.

If we are to live up to the expectations that our founders wanted us to be, then we can’t let Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Ann Coulter, or any other culture crushing extremist steer our democracy in a direction that wouldn’t be tolerated by any reasonable, thinking person. We are a great nation, because we uphold justice and democracy while trying to live up to our potential. We are a land of prosperity where anyone can come from anywhere for a better life. We obey a code of law, and don’t make people form a pyramid dressed in women’s underwear unless they are pledging a frat, then the humiliation is, at least, consensual.