Torture – Official US policy 3-31-2005

31, March 2005                                 Torture – Official US policy

It is gratifying that more and more Americans are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the failed policies of the Bush Administration. Bush's approval rating has plummeted following the social security 'dog and pony' show which exposed the ill-conceived scheme of 'private accounts'. It is also gratifying to witness the courts stiffening their collective spines and resisting unwelcome interference from the White House and Congress in their unanimous decision to allow Terri Schiabo's feeding tube to be disconnected. Mercifully, the judicial branch of government seems to be functioning, while the executive and legislative branches of government have morphed into a plutocracy, beholden to the special interests of their benefactors who dispatch their powerful lobbyists who stalk the corridors of power and demand their 'quoits' after donating their 'quids'.

The Pentagon, the Justice Department and the White House are desperately trying to distance themselves from the growing scandal of prisoner abuse. Detainees have been killed, tortured, sexually humiliated in a systematic pattern of abuse. Courageous judges have admonished the Administration and the Department of Justice and ruled that such detainees must be afforded due process. Attempts to evade the watchful eyes of the courts, have resulted in the system of rendition whereby targeted individuals are kidnaped 'mafia' style and sent to countries such as Egypt and Syria to be interrogated and often tortured.

The smoking gun, linking prisoner abuse to the policy makers in the White House and the Pentagon, has now been exposed by the ACLU who obtained a copy of September 2003 memo by Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez who approved the use of guard dogs to scare detainees in an effort to exploit what Sanchez described as the "Arab fear of dogs." Sanchez also permitted interrogators to put prisoners in potentially painful bodily positions to try to force them to talk. Sanchez was the top commander in Iraq at the time U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib.

This should dispel any lingering doubts that torture is official US policy.

I urge Indo-Americans to contact their elected representatives and demand an immediate halt to the abuse of detainees and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate these gross violations of international law and the Geneva Convention.

Media reporting of the Iraq war 3-19-2005

19, March 2005                           Media reporting of the Iraq war

Wanted 'Courageous reporter willing to travel to war zones to gather raw, unvarnished news to the American public. Urgently need material to serve as a counter-spin to imbedded reporting and VNR's. High risk, low pay!'

How many brave hearts would respond to such a tantalizing offer?   Sadly, It seems like an iron curtain has descended on independent media reporting. This trend threatens the very democracy that we all claim to cherish and for which wars were fought and tyrannical rulers overthrown. The anonymity of reporters' sources is also under grave threat. Consider the case of New York Times a Pulitzer prize reporter, Judith Miller, who is facing a jail term for refusing to reveal her news source in the Valerie Plame expose' as a CIA undercover operative. Ironically the real villains in this sad episode were reporter, Robert Novak who blew Ms. Plame's cover and an unnamed source (guess who?) from the White House. Many reporters are now loathe to criticize the US Administration lest they meet the same fate as Dan Rather, whose illustrious career was tarnished by a forged document allegedly planted by the same 'Darth Vader' of the White House.

Reports from Iraq, dispatched by 'imbedded reporters' are often edited, embellished versions of power-point presentations given by the PR field commanders, who invariably offer a sunny and rosy picture of the war. A carefully crafted lexicon of terms, such as 'Iraqi Freedom, democratization of Iraq' convey a false picture of US intentions. If the stated goals of withdrawing coalition forces from Iraq are to be believed why would the US build the largest embassy in the world and why are so many US bases being built with such haste, while the civilian population continues to suffer from lack of basic amenities such as electricity, clean water and security?

Our democracy and unimpeded access to reliable TV network news has been further compromised by the advent of pre-packaged TV segments that has been masquerading as real news on our local stations. These Video News Releases (VNR's) have been prepared by Public Relations Firms under contract with major federal agencies to put a positive spin on government policy decisions - all paid for by our tax dollars. It is appalling that the major TV networks are willing participants to this charade to mislead the American people.

At least 20 federal agencies, including the departments of Transportation and the Pentagon have used VNR's to advance their agenda and blunt any opposition to their policies. These pervasive actions by the government must be vigorously opposed by the American people. Failure to do so will be the death knell of a free, independent and reliable source of news. I urge readers to call their local TV stations and their elected representatives and demand a halt to this insidious, crude form of covert propaganda. Finally, I urge Indo-Americans to resist the siren song of 'wonderful career opportunities' espoused by the aggressive ROTC sharks lurking in hallways of college campuses.

Get a copy of Harper's magazine which details the utter dehumanizing, merciless abuse of Iraqi prisoners and dramatic increase of US soldiers going AWOL.   

Terri Schiavo – a wakeup call for Indo-Americans 3-7-2005

7, March 2005                    Terri Schiavo – a wakeup call for Indo-Americans

Media attention on the fading life of Terri Schiavo should be a wake-up call for many Indo-Americans who have not yet prepared and signed a "Living Will" or "Health Care Directive" to make their last wishes known to their loved ones. A number of Web-based services, such as Legal-Zoom, makes it relatively easy to create your own online documents. If Ms. Schiavo had prepared such a document, she could have died with dignity and away from the media spotlight.

Sadly, the Republicans are capitalizing on the raw human emotions surrounding the tragedy of Terri Schiavo's to advance their political agenda and pander to the religious right. This is reminiscent of the exploitation of the human tragedy of 9/11 to justify the disastrous, unlawful attack on Iraq.

These intrusions in the private life of Terri Schiavo are driven by ideological dogma and not humanitarian concerns. These same lawmakers did not hesitate to send 1500 plus US soldiers to their graves and thousands more condemned to a life of pain from physical and psychological war injuries. Over 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi victims civilian have perished and many more continue to languish in prisons or have been brutally treated or killed by sadistic prison guards. It is cruelly ironic that the bio-ethics committee that made the decision to withdraw Tern's feeding tube were following the 'right-to-die' law Bush signed as Texas governor!

President Bush has now reversed his earlier position to demonstrate his 'reverence to the preservation of life' once again placing political expediency over principle, the hallmark of this administration. Forgotten also, are the 152 inmates who were executed during Bush's tenure as governor of Texas. The following memo uncovered by ABC sent to Republican Senators - "The pro-life base will be excited...this is a great political issue...this is a tough issue for Democrats" - should dispel any lingering doubts of the real agenda of Bush, DeLay, Frisk and others. It is gratifying to see Bush's approval rating plummet as more and more Americans witness the shameless policies of this Administration. Even the most ardent Indo-Americans Republicans supporters are perplexed and outraged over the recent announcement of the sale of F16 fighters to Pakistan, a plane capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Pakistan is now being rewarded for selling nuclear bomb making secrets to nations who have a disdain for the international rule of law and democracy. Apparently, the financial health and profits of Lockheed Marietta is more important than the security of India.