then they came for me...
May. 24th, 2005 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonSo first we (that's us, the "good guys") set things up so that foreign "terrorists" have no rights, can be invisibly handed over to other governments with the implicit expectation of their torture. Or, if we choose, the "terrorists" can be detained indefinitely on American soil or off of it, without access to counsel or any kind of outside contact, without oversight, and with frequent and explicit use of various forms of psychological and physical abuse and, if we can get away with it, torture, by us (the "good guys.")
But that is okay, because they are simply "terrorists" or "unlawful enemy combatants," so not subject to the Geneva Convention provisions, or, for that matter, being treated as if they had any kind of basic "human rights" whatsoever. Or at least we think that a few of them might be terrorists, or know terrorists, or perhaps have a family member who might know a terrorist, so it's all good. Once we decide you're a "terrorist," we (that's us, the "good guys") get to throw you in a hole forever, where we can do whatever the hell we want to you, and you never, ever, come out again, unless we decide that you can. Once you are a "terrorist," you are no longer a human being, and you have no human rights. Period. Might makes right, the ends justify the means, and don't fuck with the Chosen People.
But if you're an American (that's us, the "good guys"), you have certain rights, no matter what. Even if you're arrested or otherwise held in some ungodly foreign country, you have a powerful government whose duty is to go to bat for you, use State Department resources to pull strings and apply diplomatic pressure, and do their best to get information about you to your family, get you counsel, see that you're not abused, and so on. Right?
Wrong. If this story is true, it's another very chilling development, because you know this is not just an isolated case. Once you're a "terrorist," or even suspected of having some kind of contacts with "terrorists," even if you're a U.S. citizen, you are a non-person, you have no rights, and the U.S. government will not only fail to come to your aid, they'll help to interrogate you.
If you're a "terrorist" and a non-U.S. citizen, you have no rights. If you're a "terrorist," and you're a U.S. citizen overseas, you have no rights. Now U.S. citizens in this country have fewer and fewer rights every day. And the definition of "terrorist" grows broader all the time...
"O brave new world, that hath such people in it." But...if you're not one of "the people" (and that definition grows more narrow every day, exactly as the defintion of "terrorist" expands, thanks to those currently in power), there's no place for you in this brave new world...except, perhaps, in a locked kennel on Guantanemo, or a foetid foreign cell somewhere getting whipped and the shit kicked out of you by foreign "intelligence services" (aided by the FBI) and hoping that the shackles you are forced to wear 24/7 aren't yet giving you fatal gangrene.
At the risk of repeating some classic prose that gets trotted out far too frequently, but is still full of truth:
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
--attributed to Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
But that is okay, because they are simply "terrorists" or "unlawful enemy combatants," so not subject to the Geneva Convention provisions, or, for that matter, being treated as if they had any kind of basic "human rights" whatsoever. Or at least we think that a few of them might be terrorists, or know terrorists, or perhaps have a family member who might know a terrorist, so it's all good. Once we decide you're a "terrorist," we (that's us, the "good guys") get to throw you in a hole forever, where we can do whatever the hell we want to you, and you never, ever, come out again, unless we decide that you can. Once you are a "terrorist," you are no longer a human being, and you have no human rights. Period. Might makes right, the ends justify the means, and don't fuck with the Chosen People.
But if you're an American (that's us, the "good guys"), you have certain rights, no matter what. Even if you're arrested or otherwise held in some ungodly foreign country, you have a powerful government whose duty is to go to bat for you, use State Department resources to pull strings and apply diplomatic pressure, and do their best to get information about you to your family, get you counsel, see that you're not abused, and so on. Right?
Wrong. If this story is true, it's another very chilling development, because you know this is not just an isolated case. Once you're a "terrorist," or even suspected of having some kind of contacts with "terrorists," even if you're a U.S. citizen, you are a non-person, you have no rights, and the U.S. government will not only fail to come to your aid, they'll help to interrogate you.
If you're a "terrorist" and a non-U.S. citizen, you have no rights. If you're a "terrorist," and you're a U.S. citizen overseas, you have no rights. Now U.S. citizens in this country have fewer and fewer rights every day. And the definition of "terrorist" grows broader all the time...
"O brave new world, that hath such people in it." But...if you're not one of "the people" (and that definition grows more narrow every day, exactly as the defintion of "terrorist" expands, thanks to those currently in power), there's no place for you in this brave new world...except, perhaps, in a locked kennel on Guantanemo, or a foetid foreign cell somewhere getting whipped and the shit kicked out of you by foreign "intelligence services" (aided by the FBI) and hoping that the shackles you are forced to wear 24/7 aren't yet giving you fatal gangrene.
At the risk of repeating some classic prose that gets trotted out far too frequently, but is still full of truth:
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
--attributed to Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
