There was a
frightening report on NPR today about the abuse detainees awaiting deportation out of the United States by employees of the department of homeland security. If you haven't read this article or listened to this piece, you must. Not only have detainees been severely beaten,
they have also been attacked by dogs.
Sound familiar?
So far, the Bush administration has shown little regard for rights of non-US citizens: the abuses at Abu Ghirab have been treated as the misconduct of a "few bad apples". The questionable shooting of a wounded insurgent in Fallujah has been excused - and even lauded - by the likes of Bill O'Reilly and similar mouthpieces of "conservative values", while groups like Human Rights Watch have been dismissed because they are "funded by liberals". Indeed, our entire unplanned, unnecessary war in Iraq has been justified by these same propagandists because somehow we've saved Iraqi lives. They don't mention the fact that estimated Iraqi casualties stand between 15,000 - 100,000 dead.
Have we heard any expressions of concern from the White House? Has our benevolent Commander-in-Chief cited the need for wide-ranging reform to stop our now-tarnished human rights record from getting worse?
Indeed, the biggest statement Bush has made about his concern for human rights was to nominate Alberto Gonzales, chief architect of the administration's legal strategy to dismiss the Geneva Convention, to the post of Attorney General.
Shame on them.
If congressional Democrats don't speak out about this unacceptable situation soon, shame on them, too.
And if we as a community don't insist on immediate human rights reforms right now, shame on us.
A great way to pressure congress to stop Gonzales' nomination is to sign the petition at www.donotconfirm.com, a site started by a fellow Kossak. Let's insist that basic human rights are respected by employees of the federal government at all levels, before it's too late.