by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
President Obama has turned out to be George W. Bush’s imperial twin, largely identical on “war on terror” policies – as the recently release Wikileaks files on Guantanamo attest. Both presidents rate as hypocrites and liars. “The Obama administration remains committed to continuing the Bush era military tribunals, using hearsay and evidence acquired under torture as evidence.”
Freedom Rider: The Guantanamo Files
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“The president publicly stated that Manning has no presumption of innocence.”
It is difficult to keep writing about the perfidy inflicted on this country and the world by the United States government. The list of outrages is a very long one and keeps getting longer. One risks repeating ones self endlessly in attempting to expose all that should be brought to light. It is also difficult to keep writing about the role played by Barack Obama in upholding the nation’s history of institutionalized criminality. His historic win, his well marketed campaign which depicted him as an agent of change, allow him to get away with wrongdoing that would have merited some degree of criticism for his predecessor George W. Bush. However, if the truth isn’t told, there will be no record of opposition to America’s corruption, and that would only magnify the enormity of the crimes.
The latest Wikileaks revelations about the prison camp at Guantanamo bring all the horror to light. The horror began with Bush, and candidate Obama pledged to end it. He obviously had no intention of every doing so, because two years into his term, the prison is still functioning, and outside of the norms of civilized behavior and accepted international laws which the United States often claims to follow.
“Obama, like Bush has claimed that the laws don’t apply to him.”
Once again, the truly civilized world owes a great debt of thanks to the Wikileaks team. In revealing the extent of mistreatment and torture they have reminded us that once again that the United States may pay lip service to the rule of law, but in fact wants nothing to do with that concept.
President Obama told the world as much in his comments about Bradley Manning, the soldier charged with making documents available to Wikileaks and who has been detained in conditions that can also be described as torture. The president, who is given great kudos for having taught constitutional law, publicly stated that Manning has no presumption of innocence. “We’re a nation of laws. We don’t let individuals make their own decision about how the laws operate. He broke the law.”
“The United States may pay lip service to the rule of law, but in fact wants nothing to do with that concept.”
Apparently this law professor didn’t get the memo which says that there is a presumption of innocence in American jurisprudence. He also knows nothing about the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which bars the use of pre-trial detention as a means of imposing punishment. In addition, Obama, like Bush has claimed that the laws don’t apply to him. He is a hypocrite and a liar, too.
He lied about closing Guantanamo. He lied about this country being law abiding, and as commander in chief of the armed forces, he lied about doing what is right and wrong according to the dictates of the office he holds.
According to the released documents, the military held children as young as 14 and seniors suffering from dementia who were as old as 89. An al-Jazeera reporter, Sami Al-Hajj was held for six years not because he was suspected of any terrorist activities, but because the government wanted to spy on al-Jazeera and its news gathering capabilities.
“The military held children as young as 14 and seniors suffering from dementia who were as old as 89.”
The only response the government has is to keep spreading falsehoods in order to defend itself and to condemn the release of the information. The Obama administration remains committed to continuing the Bush era military tribunals, using hearsay and evidence acquired under torture as evidence. In 2009 the administration announced with great fanfare that it would conduct its own assessments of the cases against the remaining prisoners. Those assessments have not been released, and if the intention to continue with tribunals is an indication, they won’t be worth the paper they are written on if they are ever made public.
The release of these documents proves without a doubt that the highest office in this land is reserved only for those people who promise to allow this system to continue without the slightest hint of substantive change. Anyone who might possible rock the boat will never be allowed to get within the reach of the White House and that fact cannot be forgotten as another presidential election gets underway.
The lies and the torture will continue with Obama in this term, in his next term, and with whomever should follow him to the oval office. The understandable desire for hope and change should never be confused with the awful realities of the American empire.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.com.
Community Control of Police is the Best Remedy Chicago leads the nation in moving towards community control of the police, with a majority of the city’s board of aldermen in favor.
Efia Nwangaza, director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination in Greenville, South Carolina, is trying to unite the member organizations of the South Carolina Reparations Coalition behind
The US seizure of the Iranian news site Press TV shows that Washington “will continue to operate as a rogue state as long as it can get away with it,” said Ajamu Baraka, national o
Wherever the Left has risen up in Latin America, rightwing oligarchs backed by the United States have responded with violence and political chicanery.
The corporate media claim that President Biden went easy on Vladimir Putin outside the G7 meeting, but that’s only because Biden preferred to sic the imperial press hounds on the Russian president
