- Few people on Capitol Hill, or in our so-called free
press, protested the Shock and Awe, pre-emtive air strike against Iraq
more than a year ago. When I wrote
- No More Flyboy Foreign Policy over a
year ago, I thought for a moment I may have been a bit harsh on the Secretary
of Defense. No more. With Seymour Hersh's bombshell revalation of Rumsfeld's Secret
Ops at Abu Ghraib, we see clearly how far up the chain of command the
policy of repression has gone.
-
- "The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie
not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists," wrote
Hersh in The New Yorker magazine, "but in a decision, approved last
year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret
operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation
of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeldís decision embittered the American
intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of Èlite combat
units, and hurt Americaís prospects in the war on terror."
-
- Sooner, rather than later, Donald Rumsfeld must resign.
-
- Should Rumsfeld and the Bush administration refuse, should
they turn a deaf ear to the prison torture scandal, should they instead
continue the present disastrous course, the House should begin Impeachment procedure
promptly.
-
- If the Secretary of Defense resists the House--providing
this worthy body possesses the courage to do their duty--he should be forcibly
removed and criminal charges brought under the Geneva Convention.
-
- The provisions that the United States signed at the Nuremberg
War Crimes Trial of Nazi villains should pertain to us equally. We
must not consider ourselves exempt as a nation. Nor should we consider
our leaders exempt while holding underlings responsible. The invalid defense
of "I was only following orders," must pertain to prison guards
and cabinet officials equally now, just at it did for the Nazis leaders
and Gestapo prison torturers some sixty years ago.
-
- Should we persist, however, with the status quo, the
increasingly damaged credibility of the USA will continue to erode. Donald
Rumsfeld must resign and charges considered. For too long this administration
has appeared to reward incompetence (Norad-911) while holding no one responsible.
Now is not the time to shirk responsibility for criminal incompetence;
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
-
- Donald Rumsfeld, please step down and accept responsibility
like a man, like the American patriot you claim to be. If not, let those
who have the power of impeachment and the courage to act--like Congresswoman
Diana DeGette (D-CO)--speak clearly for the rest of America and say: "Rumsfeld
must resign"
|
