For years there have been rumours that Stephen Harper knew that some of our soldiers in Afghanistan were torturing the prisoners they captured. Or did nothing to stop others torturing them. But didn't do anything about it, because he just didn't care, and always enjoyed the pain of others. And the truth about what happened was covered up, or lost in the fog of war. But now at last that scandal may be coming back to haunt him.
I wrote my first post on Omar Khadr eight years ago, and called it The Guantanamo Kid and Canada's Shame. And nothing that has happened since has ever changed my view. For what was done to that child soldier has been one of the most shameful episodes in modern Canadian history, and an absolute travesty of justice. So you can imagine how happy I felt today when I saw that picture of Omar walking free in his own country at last. Or read these words.
We have all read the horrifying stories about the CIA's torture campaign. The systematic brutality, the mechanical cruelty, the monstrous depravity. And a lot of Americans are finally understanding how they got from 911 to Ferguson. When hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an empty Pennsylvania field in 2001 everyone knew that the United States was changed forever. We had no idea, though, that what we are told are our essential values would be surrendered. Now thirteen years on we are left with a legacy of wars, deceit, torture and a massive erosion of our basic liberties. But I wonder how many Canadians understand how far down the road to torture and depravity Stephen Harper has taken this country.
They have tortured him for almost a year. They want to sentence him to death, just for telling the truth. But for the war criminals at the Pentagon, even that is not enough.
Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking government files to WikiLeaks, will be stripped of his clothing every night as a “precautionary measure” to prevent him from injuring himself, an official at the Marine brig at Quantico, Va., said on Friday.
Now they must humiliate him.
There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning,” he wrote. “This treatment is even more degrading considering that Pfc. Manning is being monitored — both by direct observation and by video — at all times.”
Let's review Manning's detention over the last nine straight months: 23-hour/day solitary confinement; barred even from exercising in his cell; one hour total outside his cell per day where he's allowed to walk around in circles in a room alone while shackled, and is returned to his cell the minute he stops walking; forced to respond to guards' inquiries literally every 5 minutes, all day, everyday; and awakened at night each time he is curled up in the corner of his bed or otherwise outside the guards' full view. Is there anyone who doubts that these measures -- and especially this prolonged forced nudity -- are punitive and designed to further erode his mental health, physical health and will?
And why is this happening? Because the Obama administration is conducting the biggest crackdown on whistleblowers since the days of Richard Nixon.
So much for the human rights champion.
So much for Yes We Can...
Oh boy, when I see what's happening all I can think of is how could we have left Omar Khadr, a Canadian kid, in the hands of those Pentagon bastards?
When I think of what they're doing to Bradley Manning, stripping him naked to try to break him. And I know that they're doing that because he's gay.
I always knew this mission would end badly. We never had enough troops to do what we said we wanted to do. And the longer an occupation goes on the more it corrupts.
But I never imagined that a Canadian government would refuse to hold a public inquiry into allegations of mass torture.
Claim it didn't know anything about this atrocity...when it obviously did. And would attack the one Canadian who refused to be corrupted, and did the right and decent thing, in this foul manner.
MacKay painted Colvin as having been duped by the Taliban and said Canadians are being asked to accept the word of prisoners "who throw acid in the face of schoolgirls."
When by continuing this cover-up, these immoral Cons are corrupting the reputation of our army, dishonouring the dead, branding us as a Torture Nation in the eyes of the world, and making a mockery out of our mission.
Canada has had an image as a liberal Eden since Thomas Edison did his light-bulb thing. The image is not yet undone. One need only look at the big-spending, deficit-building spree of today's government. But the old conception of Canada is at risk, threatened by an emerging conservative consensus that no one 10 years ago could have foreseen.
Our old voice of moderation – on the Suez crisis, on Vietnam, the arms race, the Cold War, on peacekeeping – is no longer much in evidence. And Canadians don't seem to mind.
Quebec remains a bastion of traditional Canadian values, but everywhere else they are dying. Stephen Harper doesn't even have a majority yet, but I feel I'm already living in a country I don't recognize.
And worse than that....on days like today when I hear analysts on TV say that this torture scandal won't hurt the Cons...I think of that scene in Lord of the Flies.
When that other Simon stares at the pig's head, and asks who is The Monster who is scaring the boys? And turning them into savages.
And the pig says the monster is THEM.
Progressive Canadians really need to get their act together. We need to explore new ideas. We need to create a mighty coalition to clean out these corrupt alien Cons. Because our country is slipping away. Time is running out.
