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June 5, 2008 - 3:02pm.
TBR News June 2nd edition asserts that the US rendition program is alive and well, even though President Bush has claimed to have ended the program back in 2006. 31,082 is the current total detainees as of May 19, 2008. That is roughly the population of Afghanistan with TB! (LOL thank you Ted!) Some 22 Navy ships are said to be holding prisoners in various locations around the world away from prying eyes. It comes as no surprise that the Bush Administration is capable of such a thing. The President has proven time and again that he will do whatever it takes, legal or not, moral or not, to do what he thinks is correct, even if it isn't correct nor acceptable to a majority of Americans, or in direct contradiction with our Constitution. But it's hard to believe that Americans in the land of the free and home of the brave, are so afraid of terrorism that they would condone locking up over 30,000 people in secret and torturing them, sometimes to death. What has happened to the once great United States that we would adopt tactics similar to the worst dictators history can provide? Stalin would be proud! Pol Pot is smiling at us! The only difference is these rulers did such things to their own citizens. President Bush claims he can do such things to anyone, at any place, at any time he deems it necessary. God hasn't blessed America these last seven years. Only Ole' Scratch and his minions could be pleased by such indifference and acceptance of torture. Where is the outrage? Where is the protest? Where are we headed as a nation if we accept torture and illegal detention along with our apple pie? I don't have the answers. It sickens me to think about it. It shouldn't be happening, and yet here it is, another Bush legacy to hang around our collective necks. We gave no sympathy to Germans that did not speak out or oppose the Nazi's. Don't expect any sympathy if the world decides they have had enough of our duplicity and hypocrisy.
Capitol Hill Blue's columnists, blogs and reader comments Capitol Hill Blue is an independent, non-partisan news site that belongs to no political party and subscribes to no political or philosophical point-of-view. Our columnists are welcome to their opinions but readers should understand that their views do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies of this web site. We also welcome comments to selected opinion columns and in our popular ReaderRant discussion forum. Please remember, however, that we believe in civility on this web site and comments may be reviewed, moderated or removed if we feel they contain obscenities, racism, bigotry, anti-Semitic remarks or attack other posters. Our goal is reasoned discussion on issues facing this nation and we do not feel that goal is served by personal attacks and by seeing how many cute adjectives you can attach to an elected official or politician's name. Copyright © 2008 Capitol Hill Blue
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You believe that
Submitted by Ted Remington on June 5, 2008 - 7:00pm.You believe that source?
Here is what they say elsewhere:
"Honor the more than 8,000 U.S. Military who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and the over 25,000 young soldiers that have been seriously wounded, many crippled for life. The current Administration wants wounded soldiers in American hospitals to pay for their own food!"
1. The number of dead is about half that, still far more than the zero it should have been, but....
2. Most Americans don't understand the military pay system, particularly that part of it that has to do with paying for meals for the troops. Officers get a flat monthly rate, while enlisted get a daily rate. For all of American history, the military has either provided food for enlisted or has "commuted" their obligation by paying the enlisted person a daily rate for meals; oddly, the payment is called commuted rations or comrats. When meals are available, such as in a hospital, the practice is to stop the comrats, since the purpose of paying the comrats is to reimburse the member for the cost of buying his or her own meals. Since no one in the House or Senate really understands this, probably only a handful ever having served in enlisted ranks, they got all upset about making the members pay for their meals. Of course that means that members are now being given free meals and tax-free money to buy meals when they are not strictly entitled to the comrats.
If your "news source" cannot got those facts right, how the heck can you expect them to get anything else right.
As to the ships holding prisoners, that's utter hogwash in my opinion. It may very well be that some other agency has contracted for some ships to hold people, but the chances of the ships' being US Navy vessels is, as my mother used to say, "Somewhere between Slim and None, and Slim just left for the mountains." How long do you think they could keep such a huge project secret? A day, three at the most? As of May 20, 2008, the Naval Ship Register listed 244 ships under commission. Do you really think they could take almost ten percent of these ships and turn them into prison ships?
3. The population of Afghanistan is not 32,000, it is actually 32 million.
Ted
What I believe is what I
Submitted by woody188 on June 6, 2008 - 2:03am.What I believe is what I believe.
1. The number of dead is about half that, still far more than the zero it should have been, but....
As far as I know TBR has been more truthful than the Pentagon.
As of May 20, 2008, the Naval Ship Register listed 244 ships under commission. Do you really think they could take almost ten percent of these ships and turn them into prison ships?
It's 9 percent but supposedly 10 are leased so now you are down to 5% which is probably do-able. Since the invention of the aircraft carrier and U-boats, most other Navy vessels are obsolete so there should be ample supply.
If I wanted to keep my secret detention program a secret I probably wouldn't list my ships on the Naval Ship Register. I would lease or use recently retired or schedule some to be retired for my secret use. Or I'd just ask a contractor to build one to my specs.
I screwed up on the Afghan number. Thought that was too small. LOL! I just glanced at http://www.emro.who.int/STB/pdf/CountryProfile-afg... and saw the POP number but I guess that's the number of TB cases in Afghanistan. So yay! We are as much of a problem as TB!