Welcome to Wayne's World
"Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all."
There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern.
U.S. President George W. Bush
I've just been paid a compliment. Well, you know, the sort of compliment I get off on. Wayne Wides, a right-wing fascist, journeyman boxer, former mercenary and notorious wife beater residing in Cape Town, writes up YBLOG ZA thus:
I then pondered adding (a link to) Yblog ZA, but the writings are a bit too radical and, my goodness, I am not reading all of that. My suggestion to the author is if nothing else, to simply cut down on the quantity written.
To which I answer:
Go play with yourself, Wayne. Alternatively, try Laurence.
I do hope Wayne takes my compliment with the lightheartedness with which it is given. I merely suggest (rather than command, order or instruct) that he may find it immensely enjoyable indulging in harmless, playful, simulated sex of the type vicariously indulged in by the forces of all that is right, good, just and blameless on this blighted planet of ours. It might loosen him up a little. It is, of course, his democratic right to ignore my suggestion or return it with interest. He is, after all, a blogger and a professional to boot. Beyond his nuanced appreciation of South African society (commentary.co.za reads like a racial HTML colour chart), Wayne shares insights with his American bretheren (no doubt all of the same lineage and living in the same trailer park).
How's this as a response to the global U.S. torture franchise stretching from New York through Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Camp Cropper, Baghram and beyond:
In case any of our American readers are curious, the Iraqi torture / interrogation / sexual humiliation story is playing out in the local media in a big way. The US government needs to do something about this, and fast. They need to find out exactly who was responsible, and come down on them swiftly and hard. If there's any hint that they're trying to sweep this under the rug, the Americans will do incalculable damage to their reputation abroad, and the war effort in Iraq itself. This war was supposed to demonstrate the superiority of Western values; those on the American side who have betrayed those values, and endangered the war effort, deserve to be punished.
Oh my, my. I can tell, from a million miles away, where this boy's coming from. This ain't no story, Wayne. Try this link. It's real and incalculable damage has already been done. Quite what the U.S. government is going to do (fast) about this barbarism playing out in our local media is beyond me. Try something like the '76 Angolan invasion perhaps? That the responsibility for these crimes against humanity lies with the system perpetrating them appears to be beyond our intrepid local analyst. That cover-ups of, for example, planning, foreknowledge, solicitation, outsourcing, encouragement and gatekeeping are well documented says little for wall-plug blogging and those practising it. But the bit about the superiority of Western values really tickles me. Wayne, Western values are getting their arse kicked from Mosul to Kandahar. Face it, Bubba, these things, i.e. Western values are what we in the real world call oxymorons (we're less polite to those believing in them).
To use language you might understand, your terrorists, i.e. their freedom fighters, have taken the moral high ground. Why? Because it seems that those most inclined to profess an abhorrence of torture are those most willing to excuse it. It might run empires, but hypocrisy certainly doesn't win wars. Consistency, a suspension of standards we'd never use in everyday life, and a willingness to sacrifice, do. And that is why the United States will eventually lose the Middle East. Hypocrisy, double standards, the trashing of internationally accepted rules of war and an unwillingness to sacrifice everything to a cause (Crusade, resource war, whatever) not yet honestly explained, puts the U.S. on to a hiding to nothing. Weaponry will and can sustain it for a while but, ultimately, backwards is the way it will continue to go.
Either way though, Wayne, put whoever you like on your blog roll but don't presume to dictate to others how they should structure and populate their blog entries (see long, rambling post below). It can be dangerous and, believe me, it can get ugly. You have, when all is said and done, gone to the blogs. Anyway, now that we've established our credentials and exchanged compliments, I've included Wayne's site, commentary.co.za (for all those who miss the good ol' SABC of the early 80s) on my blog roll. I do so in the hope that Wayne will one day share a whiskey and some of his extensive knowledge of the niceties of sane, sensible, socially responsible, imperiously superior Western blogging with me.
I guess I am too radical. Thanks for pointing it out to me, Wayne. Fucking ragheads... who gives a shit about them and their inferior culture? "Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all."
"There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist," Rumsfeld testified before Congress. "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse. That's just a fact." The unreleased images show American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys, according to NBC News. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the scandal is "going to get worse" and warned that the most "disturbing" revelations haven't yet been made public.
Boston Herald
Links
M. Shahid Alam Is the Game Over? A Comic Apology
Robert Fiske An Illegal and Immoral War
Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba US Army Report on Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners
George W. Bush It Starts at the Top. Hooah.
Donald Rumsfeld Testimony before Senate and House Armed Services Committees
On the upside...
David Weinberger Making America Our Own Again
