Jeremiad against the Purblind

Posted on May 4, 2004 in Accountability Appeals and Goodwill Occupation of Iraq Rage & Annoyance

It’s politics Tuesday!

An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their [own] power; And My people love [to have it] so. But what will you do in the end?
  –Jeremiah 5:30-31

The photos of men made to form a human pyramid for the amusement of their captors came right out of the 1980s. Except that instead of this happening in South Africa or Guatemala or El Salvador, this happened in Iraq and American troops were directly involved.

I’ve seen the impulses towards cruelty go for unchecked for too long. It was only a matter of time before the apologias for regimes of torture became the basis for asking our citizens to look the other way when our own troops were caught in the act. Today, those who wrote letters asking for respect for freedom of conscience in the Eastern Block must pick up the pen again and write to the President to demand an independent investigation — not by a military tribunal, but by a civilian committee — into reports of torture.

Defenders of Bush mock the UN Human Rights Committee, from which we were turned away after George W. Bush stole the 2000 election. Instead of rising to a higher ground than nations such as Sudan, we have followed in their tracks. We have become the most powerful despotic nation on the planet in our campaigns to enrich the few.

Look out your window. I see an argentine sky, an ochre mountain. Mourning doves perch on the red clay roof across the way. This peace that I see is dearly bought by others. And it has been a principle of humanity from the dawn of morals and ethics that no peace should be given those who bring hell to others by their acts or by their failure to act.

It’s not just the people of Iraq who suffer. Amnesty International recently identified Iraq as the most dangerous place in the world if you are a journalist:

Of twelve journalists listed as killed since the beginning of the year by Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF — Reporters Without Borders), five of them have been killed in Iraq. According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 38 media workers — journalists, cameramen, photographers and translators — have been killed since the beginning of the war.

The circumstances surrounding these deaths have highlighted worrying trends in US policy towards journalists. The US Army has publicly stated that it prefers embedded journalists, journalists who travel with troops receiving greater access to information and protection from the army. However, these journalists are usually restricted in the kinds of stories they can cover, as they are barred from leaving the unit and are rarely given access to people outside.

Journalists who reject the option of “embedding”, preferring to try and do their job freely, have said that they are increasingly afraid that they are being deliberately targeted by the coalition forces as well as armed groups. A lack of proper investigation of incidents by the US forces has done nothing to dispel this view, despite denials by US spokespeople.

It is important that you blog about this. It is important that you share the links I have provided. It is important for the women of Iraq, for the men, for the journalists who are being killed for doing their job.

America is under Siege. Now is the time to man the barricades, to declaim at every flagshirt that by their blind support of a usurper, they are betraying what is most dear. Proclaim the message to Christians, Jews, Muslims. Invoke the Wrath of God against the simonists in the warehouse churches. Deny them your ears and your money. Blog about it, blog about it, blog about it and do not give up.

Register to vote, especially if you live in a swing state, and bring the message to Kansas, Texas and the Dakotas, that this is America’s true heartland crying out. Cry out against tyranny in our name. End the reign of George the Third. Think not of your comfortable life because this is what Jesus meant by the Sword that he brings: You must turn it on yourself and use it to excise that selfishness which has allowed our unfettered military and an unelected Administration to kill and maim and breed ill will in our name.

They are false prophets who obstruct an investigation into the doings of the military in Iraq. They chant evil they who belittle and denounce those of us calling for the Truth to be unfolded and Justice to be done.

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Here are links to read and consider:

• Moveon Petition
  
• A Letter from Human Rights Watch to Dr. Rice
  
• Secret U.S. Prisons
  
• AFSC Correspondents Move out of Iraq
  
• Contribute to Iraq Relief Efforts
  
• Lynn’s roundup of Iraq News and Peace Efforts
  
• Brian Kane speaks out