Herbert: Extraordinary rendition is antithetical to everything Americans..

[understandinglife]

...are supposed to believe in.

"It violates American law. It violates international law. And it is a profound violation of our own most fundamental moral imperative - that there are limits to the way we treat other human beings, even in a time of war and great fear."

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/opinion/18herbert.html?hp

I have communicated to Mr Herbert my posts, here and at VR, "Gonzales is Bush's 'Watergate on Steroids":

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=316454

http://velvetrevolution.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=145&sid=5aa12679a3659766a73e7b8e0920ec6c

I am so impressed with the fact that Mr. Herbert remains focused on this unprecedented criminal activity on the part of the United States: structured by Mr Gonzales, approved by the President and implemented by both our military and by, evidently, a variety of rogue 'contractors.'

Now, surprise surprise, we have Mr Honduran Death Squads being proposed as lord and master of all US domestic intelligence matters.

WAKE UP AMERICA.


DO YOU ENJOY BEING A CITIZEN OF THE ROGUE SUPER_POWER?"

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Extraordinary posts understandinglife. Thank you so very much.

I heard the story of Mr. Arar 2 years ago, when it was broken on Democracy Now, and it went totally unnoticed in MSN. The implications of what was done to him was another one of those wake-up calls to me, and I thank Bob Herbert for finally getting the story out there. Or to be frank, attempting to. This is just going to go under the rug swept as so many of these instances do. BTW... last time I heard, Mr. Arar is suing the US, and the US is trying to get it dismissed based upon "Extraordinary Rendition" jeopardizes National Security.

Here are chronological links to Democracy Now's coverage.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0312228&mode=thread&tid=33
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/07/1512227&mode=thread&tid=25
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/15/157218&mode=thread&tid=25
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/28/1521259&mode=thread&tid=25

As to Gonzalez being Watergate on Steroids, that is like most of the flagrant disregard for the laws of this land that this sociopathic administration has been responsible for. Gonzales is just another notch in the belt. This administration makes Nixon's band of thieves look like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

And yes, I won't forget those 10 senators, and I will never forget all the ones that voted to confirm Rice. She is guilty of mass murder in my book. She fed lies to the American public to drum up support for a war that was not only illegal, immoral, but has led to the death of over 100,000 human lives.

[H2O Man]

2. This administration

is the distilled criminal element of the Nixon, Reagan, & Bush 1 administrations. There is no better example to prove that there is no "balance of powers" in the federal government, than that the congress allows the executive to appoint the most immoral of human beings to the highest positions of authority.

[understandinglife]

9. Indeed. Now the only question is do we truly make history and, ...

...do "We The People..." purge the Bu$h theocratic, neoCON, criminal regime.

That is THE question.

We ARE the ones who must answer it.

Peace.


TBO;24/7

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Oh yes. And Gonzales would be the most powerful of all

with his total control of secret projects, espionage, and ability to set aside any inconvenient laws, national or world. NO ONE should have such total power. To give it to a monster like Gonzales is to take the nightmare that this country has entered to an exponentially darker and more hopeless level.

As you and I have discussed, there needs to be a DU Group with a goal of optimizing the effectiveness of getting our message out to the media, the Congress and the public. Lately I have been working on another Group formation project on preserving internet freedom -- also essential -- but BOTH centers of attention are needed desperately.

The "preserving internet freedom" thread is here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x18717

[KayLaw]

3. Almost indescribably evil

Only a few Americans will know this, though, because we have to listen to the trials and tribulations of a tiny handful of American men, all African American, btw: Bryant, Jackson, and now, Cosby.

We are not an informed people.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. Which makes MSM an aider and abettor in the criminal activities

that are alive and well in our government.

They give pablum to the public to keep them appeased, while our government has now been totally stolen away. The Gannon scandal is trivial compared to most everything these maniacs have wrought, and yet, with the mind conditioning that the public has had, might just be the final straw.

My jaw dropped yesterday when I heard that Negroponte was being appointed to be the "Intelligence Czar". The blood will continue to flow, and it sickens me.

[understandinglife]

8. Precisely. And their lawlessness was most efficiently certified to...

....the international community (the PMs, the Foreign Secretaries, the Foreign Service professionals, and the like) by nominating Mr "Honduran death squads" for intelligence king-pin.

We must stop these folk; time for focused, intensive efforts to impeach, indict, and prosecute all of them.


"DO YOU ENJOY BEING A CITIZEN OF THE ROGUE SUPER_POWER?"

[bear425]

5. Thanks Understandinglife.

This misadministration continues to appall me with each and every day. How on earth are we going to stop them? No checks and balances, a complicit media and a populace of ostriches.

I guess WE are going to do it - day by day.

[moggie12]

6. Excellent editorial - thank you for posting n/t

[LynnTheDem]

7. ESPECIALLY in a time of war and great fear.

It's EASY doing the right thing when there's no reason not to do the right thing. It's IMPERATIVE to do the right thing when it's not so easy.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. This is extremely important. We must make more people LISTEN.

Thanks for the headsup, UL, I would have missed this article otherwise.

We MUST oppose these criminals and get the truth out. The silence on Gonzales is similar to the silence on "Gannon." Here is what Leonard Pitts Jr says of the latter in his article in the Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/pitts18e_20050218.htm):

.... The thing is, a government that is not scrutinized by an energetic and adversarial press is a government that is not accountable for its actions. A government that is allowed to create its own reality is a government that can get away with anything.

So where is our outrage?

Frankly, the only thing more galling than the brazenness with which the White House abrogates the public's right to know is the sheep-like docility with which we accept it.

When the history of this era is written, people will wonder why we didn't challenge its excesses, why we didn't know the things we should have. If you're still around, remember the uproar you do not hear right this moment and tell them the truth.

Ignorance was easier.

(The Pitts article was cited and discussed in this DU thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1608243 )