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As Gore Vidal said once, “we are the United States of Amnesia.” We are. We don’t read. We don’t know other languages. We don’t study our own history. Our history is the history of an idea – an imperfect idea.

Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines hosted a fantastic debate of various experts discussing the Bush legacy of torture.

The panel includes:

Michael Scheuer – Former CIA Analyst
Jumana Musa – Human Rights Lawyer
Larry Wilkerson – former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell
Jim Moran – US Congressman

While the discussion does cover many of the things covered in the media, some of comments made by the panelists are fantastic, including Wilkerson’s explanation in response to an audience question about the implications of not doing anything:

They’re serious in terms of diminishment of our real power in the world, because our real power is as much wrapped around an idea as it is around the military, nuclear weapons or whatever. We’re unique in that  respect in the world and so many Americans seem not realize that, because they don’t know our history.

As Gore Vidal said once, “we are the United States of Amnesia.” We are. We don’t read. We don’t know other languages. We don’t study our own history. Our history is the history of an idea – an imperfect idea. Our constitution made people like you slaves, made them three fifths of a person. Our constitution has changed.

We’ve grown. We’ve moved towards that more perfect union. We ain’t there yet. We never will be there. But that idea is our most powerful weapon in the world and we have done consequential damage to that idea in the world. Our power has been diminished by doing that.

Or Michael Scheuer: Read the rest of this entry »

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Bloomberg is reporting that a deal is in the works that will move the prisoners from Gitmo to Australia on a case-by-case basis, said a spokeswoman for acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Amanda Lampe, spokeswoman for acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said that the US had approached Australia and about 100 other countries in regards to resettling the detainees, but was clear to point out that each individual would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Lampe went on to say that “for anyone to be accepted, they would have to meet Australia’s strict legal requirements and go through normal rigorous assessment processes.”

This all comes on the heels of President-elect Barack Obama’s promise to shut down Gitmo when elected president. Obviously, the world view was that Gitmo would be shut down and the detainees transferred into the US judicial system where prosecutions would be continued. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that will be the case.

According to the article at Bloomberg.com, Australia joined Germany and Portugal in voicing a willingness to take some Gitmo detainees, making it easier for Obama to fulfill his campaign pledge.

David Hicks, an Australian who trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and 5 years at Gitmo, was the first so-called enemy combatant to be convicted by the US “military commission” and allowed to spend some of his prison term in his home country of Australia. Hicks was released into Australia’s population on the 21st of December.

According to reports, there are about 250 detainees at Gitmo, which the US military prosecutors categorize as:

• 80 that will be charged with war crimes
• 60 are deemed eligible for resettlement
• 100+ pose security risks too serious to be released and cannot be tried on war-crimes charges

80 will be charged with war crimes and over 100 are such serious security risks that they can never be released into public life, but the can also never be charged with war crimes.

That is over 100 people that will never see the freedom again because of the perceived “risk they pose” to society. 

Do you ever wonder if maybe, just maybe, we need to re-asses our terminology and understanding of what a terrorist really is?

Is it the person that reacts to years of injustice violently? Or is it the person that causes the years of injustice to cause the violent reaction?

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