loosie: words: Clanton's Rant

Clanton's Rant

Duck, duck, gulag: The Bush administration continues its plummet from the moral high ground.

by Clanton McNeese | 2005.06.02

The Iraq attack Fab Five is fighting back. Stung by Amnesty International’s comparison of the Guantanamo Bay holding tank to prisons of the Soviet gulag, the president, the vice president, the Secretaries of Defense and State, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have embarked on one of those concerted smear campaigns that have worked so well for this administration in the past.

The strategy behind their synchronized statements is simple: shift the attention from the issue itself to the language employed by the critics. Thus, America becomes the unjustly accused, while an organization devoted to worldwide political freedom becomes but one more member of that growing band of dupes who unwittingly aid terrorism.

Let’s take it from the top.

According to Bush, “It is an absurd report.” To further prove his case, he added, “It just is.” Sensing the need for more evidence, the president offered, “It’s just an absurd allegation. In terms of, you know, the detainees, we’ve had thousands of people detained. We’ve investigated every single complaint against the detainees.” Had Bush truly misunderstood who was doing the complaining? Perhaps sensing that confusion had now gained the upper hand, the president elaborated: “It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of and the allegations by people that were held in detention, people who hate America, people that have been trained in some instances to disassemble.” No doubt noting the quizzical expressions on the faces of the reporters at his use of the word “disassemble,” Bush offered a helpful vocabulary hint, “that means not tell the truth.” Perhaps the president should have known that “disassemble” means “to take apart,” and that “dissemble” was the word he meant. But then he wouldn’t be the stunningly inept speaker we’ve come to enjoy.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ever eager to support her boss/imaginary husband, explained to interviewers that the Amnesty International charges were “absurd.”

Opting for one of his grannyisms, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went with “outlandish” as his adjective of the occasion, then swiftly backed it up with “reprehensible,” letting listeners know that the AI group was deserving of all the comdemnation flying their way.

General Richard Myers weighed in with “absolutely irresponsible,” then offered the additional endorsement of Guantanamo as “essentially a model facility.”

But it was left to Dick “Fuck Yourself” Cheney to put a human side on the anguish caused by Amnesty International’s criticism. “Frankly, I was offended by it,” the vice president confided to Larry “Oldest Man on Earth” King, acknowledged master of the suck-up interview. The veep’s pain was palpable as he asserted that Guantanamo detainees “have been well treated, treated humanely and decently.”

Has the administration’s assault on AI been a success? Well, it takes very little to persuade some citizens that America is never wrong. But this same administration has previously spoken approvingly of this same AI’s descriptions of inhumane treatment of political prisoners in other nations. In addition, while AI may give off a whiff of Euro liberalism, it is headquartered in Tony Blair’s London.

Although Myers says that all is well at Guantanamo, it’s tough to place credence in any evaluation of the armed forces done by the armed forces. The military prefers the style of justice that hangs Lynndie England and lets the officers walk.

Obsessing over the gulag reference, the civilian Bushites deliberately avoid AI’s main point: America’s refusal to extend Geneva Convention rights to suspected terrorists has inspired other nations to violate human rights. For Bush, so publicly troubled by the morality of gay marriages and stem cell research, the invasion of Iraq and all the rest of the activities lumped under anti-terrorism are justified despite the opinions of the rest of the world.

But Bush is not America, and his presidency may someday be seen as no more than an ugly and embarrassing chapter in U.S. history. Today, however, as the cries resound from Abu Ghraib in Iraq to Bagram in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, one is left to wonder, on what moral high ground can America now stand?