When you think of America, do you think of torture

[gottaB]

Poll question: When you think of America, do you think of torture

I do. I hear the words that Ameen Sa'eed Al-Sheikh reported.

Do you believe in anything.

I believe in Allah

But I believe in torture, and I will torture you.

As Al Gore said recently about the tortures, "This was done in our name. This changes for many in the world the meaning of America, the image of America."

War Crimes President George W. Bush* has disgraced us. I feel it viscerally.

:mad:

[Lucky Luciano]

1. When I think of America

I think of the natural beauty the country has and all the wonderful cities I have known......but of course i also think of how important it is that we rid ourselves of b*sh so that we may get our good name back. I refuse to think of ourselves as torturers when the majority of us are not - only those under the control of b*sh, ch**ey, and our secretary of OFFENSE, r***feld.

[Piperay]

2. Same here...

I honestly don't think of torture when I think of America, I think of torture when I think of chimp or rummy. :mad:

[TexasMexican]

3. No more than any other country...

Torture goes on in prisons all around the world.

We arent any better.

[gottaB]

4. We aren't any better?

Color me diminished.

[RC]

5. Actually, we are worse.

Just take a look at how many we have locked up in our jails and prisons. Look at the percentage of our population we have locked up. We lead the world. And our crime rate is also among the worlds highest. Our prisons for the most part are being run by the those with same mentality as those running our government. That thought alone should keep most people law abiding. But the citizens of this country are among the worlds most ignorant when it comes to applying rational reality to most any situation.

Cause and effect are very loosely coupled in most peoples minds. Notice the way too high number of people who still support bu$h and his policies. They are still clueless and forever will be.

* * * * * * *
"According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, the U.S. currently has the largest documented prison population in the world, both in absolute and proportional terms. We've got roughly 2.03 million people behind bars, or 701 per 100,000 population. China has the second-largest number of prisoners (1.51 million, for a rate of 117 per 100,000), and Russia has the second-highest rate (606 per 100,000, for a total of 865,000). Russia had the highest rate for years, but has released hundreds of thousands of prisoners since 1998; meanwhile the U.S. prison population has grown by even more. Rounding out the top ten, with rates from 554 to 437, are Belarus, Bermuda (UK), Kazakhstan, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), the Cayman Islands (UK), Turkmenistan, Belize, and Suriname, which you'll have to agree puts America in interesting company. South Africa, a longtime star performer on the list, has dropped to 15th place (402) since the dismantling of apartheid."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040206.html

[gottaB]

8. Even my blues have the blues n/t

[punpirate]

6. Other....

I think of America at its best, not what it has become, under this administration, its worst.

I plead for us to rid ourselves of these poseurs to power, I cry for us to return to the time when our best face is presented to the world, when all the honesty and decency of our ordinary citizens is what the world sees of us. No more, no less.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. When I think of Bush, I think of torture

When I think of America, I think of the rights and responsibilities given us by the Constitution-that same sacred document that Bush has trampled upon. Bush should be impeached and then shipped off to the Hague to be tried for war crimes, imho.

[dbt]

9. I'm Frayed So

I think of torture now when I think of America. And huge, slavering police dogs. And jackboots. And the knock on the door in the middle of the night.

I think of a government being sold out to the corporations in broad-open daylight with the collusion of the highest court in the country.

I think of people being arrested and disappearing because they dared to speak against the policies of bu$hco and were labeled as traitors.

I think of a print and broadcast propaganda machine that gives Goebbels a hardon in hell.

But mostly I think of Germany in September of 1939, when that country invaded Poland just for material gain.

How are we any different?

:freak:
dbt

[Disturbed]

11. I hope we can be different.

BushCo has disgraced America. Congress has allowed BushCo to disgrace America. Will Congress keep allowing BushCo to keep disgracing America?Will The Supreme Court give the Executive the power to violate the Constitution of the USA?

[Solon]

12. We have not changed one iota...

Look at post ten, what difference is today from the past 'American Century'? This country never had honor to begin with, only window dressing, to cover the shit underneath.

[Solon]

10. It isn't new....

when we crushed the Philipines, we killed all boys from the age of 10 and up, raped the women, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians for Empire. The same could be said for the farce that was the Spanish American war, Nicaragua, Haiti (3-4 times), Panama, Cuba, and many more Central American Republics for the past 100 years. Not to mention the open fascists that to this day infect almost all levels of government, particularly the CIA and FBI, how many people died to their actions, somewhere around close to 10 million now? I forget.

[Kanary]

13. When I think of the US, I think of a country in DEEP trouble

The torture is part of it, but there is soooo much more. It's a very visible symptom of the deeper problem.

What other countries are seeing is a corporatocracy gone mad. Other countries can't understand how we have allowed industry to rule our nation. Other countries are dumbfounded at the way we treat our poor.

We're in very deep sununu here, and it's so much deeper than replacing bushwa.

Kanary

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. This has been going on in our own jails

for decades. Instead of torture, they call it police brutality.

[kodi]

15. i do now and i never thought it would happen in my lifetime

and may the good lord damn george w bush to eternal hellfire for it.

[Hobo]

16. When I think of Iraq I think of torture..When

I think of Mr.Bush, I think of torture not only against Iraqis but against all of my fellow country men when I hear Mr. Bush's voice. It grates on me that much. It is torture for me to hear him speak.


Peace

Hobo

[gottaB]

18. Every time I see * on the tube he is wrapped in the flag

Maybe on the Fourth I will see ordinary people waving flags and all that and I won't think of the horrors of Abu Ghraib. Maybe not.

[Skittles]

17. I do now

Thanks, Dubya.

[Nadienne]

19. I think of freeways jammed with cars

during rush hour...

Cars with sleepy people, concerned primarily with themselves, their lives, their money, how they appear to their peers...

There may be a bunch of individuals who are not this way. I don't think of them as Americans; I think of them as Patriots.

[gottaB]

26. ain't that America

[Jose Diablo]

20. Not sure of the question

But I don't think torture has any place in the USA whatsoever. I don't think of torture when I think of this is something that should be done or that we should be known for, ever in any form.

Thus I voted no.

[gottaB]

21. an attempt to clarify

I don't think any patriot in any country *wants* to associate their love of country with torture. However, it's the kind of thing honest people will face up to. Ask an honest Nigerian (not to pick on Nigeria, just an example), What do you think of your country? The honest person will say something like, "Well, it's a wonderful country, but, you know...."

An exercise. Clear your mind of thoughts of torture and violence. Think of a blue sky. When your mind is clear, think of America. What does America mean? If torture is among the associations that spring to mind, then choose yes. If you have no thoughts of torture, choose no.

[Jose Diablo]

28. Thank you for the clarity

When I clear my mind, I think of the beauty of our land.

Laying down as a child in Kansas looking up into an endless night sky. Chasing fireflies in a summer evening with friends, without any thought of the future. Fishing in Michigan at a river (East Jordan) with water as clear as a swimming pool. Watching a sunset in Marquette, MI with the sky a fire red. Looking westward at Jackson Hole, WY. at the Grand Teuton mountains. My sons playing at the Arches National Park in Utah. Walking barefoot on a beach with the hot white sand between my toes at Destin, FL. Flying in to Newark, NJ. and looking at New York City out the window on a overcast evening. The city bathed in emerald colored light reflected in the clouds. Watching the laser light show at Stone Mountain, GA. A feeling of pride and belonging swelling-up within as the national anthem is played. Standing at the Wall in DC touching the names of those I knew chiseled in the black marble, remembering them and silently weeping.

These are but a small sample of the memories I have within me.

When I think of America, I do not think of torture.

As for the torture, war is obscene. Those that called for this war have no idea whatsoever what war really means. I am outraged and hold in contempt those in Washington that prosecuted this war for the money, for their lies that convinced people the war was needed. I question if these people really understand what America is about.

[arthaby]

22. when i think of torture

how about this question...when you think of fundamentalist muslims do you think of mass murder

[arthaby]

23. when i think of islam i think of torture

[gottaB]

24. do tell

[DoYouEverWonder]

29. And what pray tell

do you think of Christianity?

[MrSlayer]

25. No, I do not.

[foreigncorrespondent]

27. Not at all...

...when I think of America, I think of a wonderful country with great beaches, great food, great wine, great people, etc. Now on the other hand, when I think of Bush* and his band of thugs, I think of torture.