Torturing the Soul of the Democratic Party

[Warren Stupidity]

"Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria in 1970, came to Canada in 1987. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering, Arar worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.


Arar with his daughter (file photo)
On a stopover in New York as he was returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002, U.S. officials detained Arar, claiming he has links to al-Qaeda, and deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport.

When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that they practice torture."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

When the Straussian liars make the claim, as they invariably will, that a vote against the legalization of torture, the establishment of star chamber secret tribunals, the suspension of habeas corpus and the back dating of these brave new laws to protect crimes already committed, legislation that is in effect a unilateral withdrawal of the United States from prohibitions against these practices in the Geneva Convention, that such a vote is evidence that the voter is 'soft on terror' the case of Maher Arar illustrates just how depraved the political discourse in this country has become.

Torture, secret tribunals of dubious legal merit, secret detentions, rendition to police states (who we publicly denounce for the services they provide us) are not American values. There is no clever strategy here that the Democratic Party should pursue to maximize their political advantage. There is instead a simple matter of principle. There is instead an issue here of fundamental human rights, an issue of the core values on which this nation was founded.

The ruling party is beyond redemption. They find the constitution, the bill of rights, and the founding principles of the declaration of independence only useful when it comes to protecting their campaign donors business interests and restricting individual freedom. They are well on their way to establishing a one party tyranny within the shell of the republic, and have no problem with the use of fraud and deception to achieve their goals.

The opposition party, on the other hand, has reached a critical point, another make or break moment in its sorry history of struggling to find itself in its opposition role. The cards are on the table face up for this hand. Rove has dealt his election campaign surprise and it is the torture bill. From the pathetic Miami Terra Plot to the ludicrous British hair gel bombers, they have been making their soft on terra case. Both incidents are background, set up for the case at hand which is the torture bill.

The Democratic Party congressional leader have, so far, deferred to McCain and others in the ruling party to carry the water against this legislation. True to form, as we have seen this before, the 'rebels' within the ruling party offer only token opposition, a meaningless compromise is reached, and the crap legislation is put to the floor with the cover that the 'rebels' have blessed it. That game is now over, the cover is gone and the Democratic caucus has to now take a stand.

There is the opinion that our party should avoid taking a stand against this legislation this close to the election. That opinion appears to be based on the theory that if our party stands against torture we will be nailed as soft on terror and we will then lose the election. Following this advice, the criminals who ordered the torture of innocents such as Maher Arar will be let off the hook. Following this advice, the United States will have unilaterally walked away from the Geneva Conventions. Our soldiers and citizens will be placed at risk in order to avoid an unpleasant political battle at home, on the theory that opposing torture will cost our party votes.

The soul of the Democratic Party is being detained and tortured by those of its leaders who cannot see or will not understand the clear principle that is at stake here.