Not much of the mainstream media has gotten around to this yet, but it's in progressive rags and homeland security publications, so I bet it'll be in the MSM within a couple of days. Apparently the Homeland Security Department has been collecting information about student anti-war protests in California. What's even worse: they've also been sharing that information with the Pentagon. So not only are you a terrorist if you don't like America's phallic foreign policy, but you're also a potential threat to America's military complex. Wonderful.
In other awful news, there's an ongoing debate in the House about human rights. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who I normally can mostly agree with, had this to say in an article from Newsday:
"I prefer we adopt legislation ratifying the president's commissions now. I don't see how you can apply the Geneva Convention to illegal combatants," said King, who is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. "This is a new type of war. They shouldn't get the same type of rights American soldiers get. As far as the guys at Guantanamo , I say treat them humanely, but wouldn't give them the same rights as Americans."There's a very disturbing trend in what Rep. King says here. Rather than rethink the president's resolution (which the Supreme Court found to be in conflict with both U.S. and international law), he seems to want to get on board with the problematic plan, even though it shows a troubling disregard for international standards of prisoner treatment.
More troubling still is the underlying assumption here that American troops are somehow superior to enemy combatants simply because they are supported by an "official" government rather than by underground organizations. Essentially, this is saying that "unlawful" troops are less worthy of receiving human rights than U.S. soldiers are.
So much for no more politics. Grr.
No comments:
Post a Comment