At once disgusted and ashamed…

[osodecanela]

If you know me well, you know that I am very clear in my identity as the child of immigrants. Yes, my parents were both born here, but while they both learned English as children, it was a second language for both of them. Why did my forbearers come to this country? Two words: opportunity & safety. Given the number of our relatives that remain behind in the 'old world' that subsequently perished in the Holocaust, safety in my mind, may well have been the higher priority.

Seeing now, what was done in our name by this country after 9/11, allegedly in our defense, literally is leaving me nauseated. Thanks to the efforts of Diane Feinstein and John McCain in revealing to what extent this country committed torture, we & the remaining world world now know what depraved acts our country is responsible for. It is so profoundly disturbing to me that I am angry, ashamed, & tearful, and yet at the same time feeling impotent to affect any meaningful change to ensure this never happens again.

We tortured people. Repeatedly. Not only did we torture people, but those that did so, did it with impunity and with the approval of the people we elected. Will anyone pay a price for what they did? I'm horrified the likely answer is no.

As the days draw to an end, both of the year and this current Congress, seeing the swing to the right this country has taken in it's last election and the one prior, both nationally and across the country on state levels, I'm mortified that not only will nothing be done, but that this miscarriage of justice will be repeated yet again. Have we learned nothing as a society? How can we not recognize the words "The higher-ups said this was legal", is a very short departure from "I was only following orders."

Comments

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

It's a low point in our history for sure. But we can take some solace in the fact that people are upset over. Read the wikipedia entry on waterboarding - you'll see that it's nothing new for the US.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Frankly, as much as I appreciate that John McCain got up and said what he did about torture in front of the Senate - it just illustrates the Republicans' utter lack of empathy; most of them only care about things that have personally affected them. McCain's the only one in the Senate who's been subjected to torture - and he's the only R who cares about it, really. Most of the R's who see gay folks as fellow human beings have them as children or other close family... and so on.

Frankly - if I had access to science-fiction tech, Bush, Cheney and all the rest of that crew would suddenly find themselves in a European country that would just love to prosecute them for war crimes.

[trulygrateful.livejournal.com]

As I've been watching "The West Wing" series from start to finish recently, I can tell in the series when torture was happening IRL. It came out on the show in a few episodes, where, in one instance, a foreign diplomat tells the President, something like "how can you expect us to stand by and wait when your people are doing things to others just to get information?"

Very eye-opening, and it makes this situation (or rather the light being shone on it) even more hurting!