Radicalizing the Middle East

Following OhioDem1's well argued Covservatism = Radicalism I was challenged by someone holding an opposing point of view to get "Conyers and his ilk to promote whistleblowers in Hizbollah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran."

I found this to be an interesting little exercise. Following is my response.

Hezbollah and Hamas are not nation states or multi-national corporations. They are militant organizations that have been given mixed reviews over the years from their respective populations. When successful, they have managed to win the hearts and minds of their Shiite and the Palestinians by combining their military wing with a humanitarian approach of delivering food and medical aid to impoverished populations.

The U.S. backed Israeli military has helped the Hezbollah and Hamas recruiting efforts by an indiscriminate use of force that has resulted in much collateral damage over the years. Having said this, both organizations are ruthless in their determination to inflict damage (the old biblical "eye for an eye" retribution) on Israel. Hezballah and Hamas have heavily relied on suicide bomber since the 1980's. This is a brutal and barbaric practice. The blind devotion of their adherents is born of hopelessness and a twisted sense of religion. So, just who in these organizations would be a likely whistleblower?

Regarding Syria and Iran, brutal dictators used to be some of America's best friends in the region. After all Iran did have a democratically elected government before the CIA helped overthrow it and installed the Shah. Once again, a misguided foreign policy came back to bite us in the ass.

Syria has a history of brutally quashing any dissent. I suspect most potential whistleblowers have left the country of choose to keep quite in the current atmosphere.

There are several whistleblowers and friends of freedom in Iran. Unfortunately, they are not in charge right now. By isolating Iran and encouraging Israel to "have at it," we have given the hard-line stronger support and greater rationale for clamping down on dissent.

Still In Iraq

Twenty-One Military Leaders Speak Out Against Torture

It took a Supreme Court decision for the Bush Administration & its Department of Defense to grudgingly send a memo to the professional military to remind them that aspects of the Geneva Conventions apply to our treatment of prisoners.

Ironically, it is most likely we would not have known about the Bush torture policy if it wasn't for a few prison guards taking nasty pictures that turned up on the internet. This was really degrading and perverted stuff. As usual, those in power have found a way to pin the crimes they encouraged on the little people who did the dirty work. The upper level loyalists all got promoted. That is what they call accountability in the executive branch.

Now Bush has nominated William J. Haynes, II to the second highest court in the land. Haynes is the General Counsel for the Department of Defense and is on record as arguing for the legality of inhumane treatment of prisoners. The policies he helped craft lead directly to Abu Gharab, abuses at Quantanimo, secret renditions, etc. Yet, instead of being censored for this abuse of power, he gets promoted. And so it goes.

This unaccountability and radical departure from the rules of war have prompted 21 retired senior military officers to speak up. One Generals, two Lieutenant Generals, two Vice Admirals, four Major Generals, two Rear Admirals, seven Brigadier Generals, one Colonlel, and one Ambassador/former Vietnam POW sent a letter on July 7, 2006 addressed to Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy in which they argue against Haynes appointment on operational and moral grounds.

"Today, it is clear that these policies, which rejected long-standing military law grounded in decades of operational expertise, have fostered animosity toward the United States, undermined rather than enhanced our intelligence gathering efforts, and added significantly to the risk facing our troops serving around the world."

Will this letter and the apparent widespread unease with this nominee in the Senate signal that the Bush Administration has finally reached the outer limits of its power grab? Will America and its congress heed the advise of professional military men and women? Can we fight a "war on terror" by terrorizing other people?

QuestionItNow - Still In Iraq