Of Gulags And Two-by-Fours

[struggle4progress]

By leonard fein

Old saw: If you want to get a mule's attention, hit him on the head with a two-by-four.

So: Think of "gulag" as a two-by-four; and pick your own favorite mule. All the world's press covered the flap that resulted from Amnesty International's use of the word "gulag" to describe the American prison camp in Guantanomo Bay. If you type "amnesty" and "gulag" into Google, you come up with about 397,000 entries. Here in America, every network and every major newspaper covered it, most often quite critically. Every right-wing blog had a field day with it; even a number of critics of America's detention policies thought the analogy a mistake. <snip>

But the truth is that we are in Durbin's debt, for it was he who reminded us of what the Supreme Court had to say to then-president Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus: "The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions could be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism."

Gulag? No. Two-by-four? Yes, indeed.

http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=fein20050622606

[bunkerbuster1]

1. We'll know if polling shows a change over what Rassmusen found...

don't know if it's been discussed elsewhere, but I found this sickening, from http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2005/Gitmo.htm

June 22, 2005--A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 20% of Americans believe prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been treated unfairly. Seven-out-of-ten adults believe the prisoners are being treated "better than they deserve" (36%) or "about right" (34%).

The survey also found that just 14% agree with people who say that prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay is similar to Nazi tactics. Sixty-nine percent disagree with that comparison. This helps explain why Illinois Senator Dick Durbin apologized for making such a comparison.

Partisan differences concerning prisoner treatment are huge. Only 7% of Republicans believe Guantanamo prisoners are treated unfairly. Thirty percent (30%) of Democrats hold that view along with 22% of those not affiliated with either major party.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Republicans say the prisoners are treated better than they deserve. That view is shared by 28% of Democrats.

Ugh. But maybe this is due to change, soon.