August 28, 2004- Exceeding Standards

This past week saw a milestone in American history start to unfold as the first trials of some of the POW's being held at Guantanamo Bay Cuba began. These dudes that were on trail were the dudes that were unlucky enough to be captured by American forces in (mostly) Afghanistan back in the early days of the War On Terror, and who have been held as the dreaded "enemy combatants" by the USA ever since. Washington had promised that these people would receive their day in court ever since the beginning of this, and these last few days saw the start of that promise becoming reality. The main problem according to Washington was that America has not done anything like this in a very long time, since right after World War 2 to be exact, and in that case, America was not acting alone as a prosecutor, but rather as just one of several prosecutors as they tried various Nazi leaders for war crimes and all that shit. Washington reminded everyone that this was a long time ago when this went on, so America was kind of rusty at this whole thing, and that meant that it was going to take some time to get it all started. Plus, there were really no set guidelines for America to follow, nothing that was relevant in today's world anyway, so that meant that the framework of these proceedings had to be hammered out as well. This brought the entire international community into it all, since they were the ones that had to set the guidelines that America had to follow, as America could not set these standards themselves, since they had a very vested interest in it all. So, the international community went about setting standards and guidelines that they said America had to follow in prosecuting these people, and America accepted, albeit rather reluctantly. Washington felt that this was nobody else's Business except America's, but the rest of the world said no way to that shit, so they set the standards that Washington was expected to follow in these trials. Well, after the first week of the trials, Washington is all full of itself as usual, this time saying that they have not only met the requirements, but exceeded them in these trials. They brag about how the defendants are represented by military counsel for free, and that they can opt for a civilian attorney if they can afford one. Washington also brags about the standards that they are held to in these trials, like the fact that the prosecution is held to the same standards that they would be in a military court-martial or an American civilian trial, that being that the accused in assumed innocent until the prosecution proves him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a fair and just proceeding. Washington even goes beyond that and says how they are trying to fix various issues that have come up during the trials, like the translation factor. They say that they are making a great effort to make sure that there is adequate translation available to the defendants, most of whom speak little or no English, but rather an Arab language instead. The Pentagon says that it has instructed its people to speak slowly and clearly so that the translators can translate everything properly, as it is very hard to translate things from English (or any Latin based language for that matter) into an Arabic one, and Washington is making sure that it makes the utmost effort to do that in these trials. They also brag about how they are trying to get more attorneys for the defense of these detainees so that they can speed along the process a bit and conduct more trials simultaneously. According to Washington, they are doing everything that they were required to do and them some, and they are exceeding all standards set for them. The Pentagon says that this all shows the greatness and superiority of America and why they are the unquestioned leader of the world.

That is all well and good for propaganda purposes, like most everything that the Pentagon says, but like everything else, the reality is another thing altogether. Take this shit about the counsel for the detainees. Giving them a lawyer culled from either the Army, Navy, or Air Force is just giving them a lawyer that works for the prosecution and is part of them, and that prosecution is made up of an organization that is at war Against these detainees,and regards them as mortal enemies. So how anyone thinks that a lawyer that comes out of this system can fairly represent these detainees is beyond me totally. These military lawyers are high-ranking Pentagon people that have been in the American military a long time, and who are there to protect American servicemembers accused of crimes within the American military, not represent the enemies that this military fights against accused of crimes while fighting against America in times of war, so they are not really that qualified to help these dudes like Washington says. Yes, there is the option for the defendants to hire themselves civilian lawyers, but where the fuck are they supposed to get any money to do that? These cats have been locked up for as long as three years, so they have not been working any, and since most of them are these guys that were living in abject poverty before they joined up with (or were conscripted into) the enemy,they never had any money to begin with, so there is no way that they ever hope to find any now to hire themselves civilian attorneys. Besides, these would be American attorneys, who, like their military counterparts, specialize in representing people that get caught up in the American system of jurisprudence from within that system, not representing enemy soldiers in times of war, so they would be in over their heads anyway, no matter who they were and how much money they cost. So that means that these detainees have no real representation at all, just token shit that looks good in the propaganda machine. That translation shit is another part of all of this. Yes, Washington is making their people speak slowly and clearly to aid in translation, but, as I said before, latin based languages and Arabic based ones are so different that it is impossible to translate everything properly, especially legal jargon, which these trials are going to be full of. Even if things are translated properly from English to Arabic, the meanings of those statements in English are very likely to have quite different meanings in Arabic, and that does not serve the defendants well at all. When you toss in the fact that these statements are being made in a legal proceeding that is also very different from anything in the Arab world, you increase the chance for mis-translations many times. Considering what's at stake here and how important all this is, you just cannot afford to have that possibility, but in these tribunals it is not just a possibility, but a reality. Once you factor this shit into everything, it looks a whole lot different than what the Pentagon says that it is, and there is a reason for that. Like everything with the Pentagon Pigs, what they say is never really what they mean or want, it is just what sounds best and what won't piss the people off the most.

For America has no intention of being fair or just with these defendants in these tribunals, because that has zero value for them, while just pretending that they do has all the value in the world. The intentions of Washington in these cases goes back to that fateful day of September 11th, 2001. Many in that town took the events of that day very personally, not just because they might have known people that were injured or killed, but because they were outraged at the audacity of it all, that someone would dare attack America on its own turf like that. Their immense egos were hurt and their selfish pride stung big time. So, they decided that they had to have revenge, and to make examples out of someone so that this outrage would never happen again. That's where these Guantanamo Bay detainees come into things. They were unfortunate enough to be caught up in the American blitzkrieg that Washington unleashed in late 2001 over Afghanistan way and caputured as POWs. America was ecstatic over this, as they now had their examples. That was why they rushed them over to Guantanamo Bay so fast and made such a big deal out of it all, publishing those pictures of the prisoners in sensory deprivation suits and "stress positions" and the like. They wanted to send the message to the world loud and clear, that nobody fucks with America and gets away with it. It's difficult to believe that Washington ever really wanted to hold trials for these dudes, they just wanted to lock their Arab asses up for good and that was that. Only the continued pressure of that international community changed that at all, they were the ones that insisted that Washington live up to its promises and give these people trials. So, washington dragged their feet and made excuses and shit, and stalled this as long as they could, which was almost three years in some cases. Now, we have the legal process set in motion, and as everyone knows, the American legal process moves at a glacial pace most times. These cases are sure to drag on well into 2005 and even into 2006 in some instances, keeping these dudes locked up all that time. America also has zero intention of letting much of any of these people go at all, they want them all locked up, but that won't look good if every single one of the defendants are found guilty and sentenced to long terms. So, Washington has to figure out exactly which detainees that they will let go eventually to make it all look good. Since most of these guys are not much more than kids that got caught up in this shit, that won't be too hard to do. If you look at things from that perspective, most of the detainees should be set free, since that' what they are, just kids being used by others, but that won't llook good, so only select ones will be let go, while others in the same type of situations will not be. Even with that, by the time any of these dudes are let go, they will have been in American custody for three or four years, which is the same as giving them a sentence of that length just for nothing except hating America. Since they should only release less that five percent of the detainees anyway, this is another way for Washington to send a message to the world and tell them that you can indeed do time just for hating America and listening to those who do. Add to that the fact that most of those released will not be Arab dudes, but fuckers from America, Australia, England, and other Western countries that converted to Islam and went over to the Muslim world to live and who rejected Western values and the like. Even though they sided with the enemy, they are still Westerners and (mostly) white, so that is going to figure into everything a lot. A great percentage of those released through this tribunal system will be expatriate Westerners rather than Arabs. So when you look closely at it, these tribunals are really going to accomplish nothing,just like the Nuremberg tribunals accomplished nothing after World War 2 except for the victors in that war to lord over those that lost.

All that Washington really wants out of these tribunals is to show the rest of the world that they should never cross America no matter what, because they will pay a price. For the crimes that these poor detainees are being accused of are nothing more than the same things that the American military that is putting them on trial is doing against them. These guys are just good soldiers following orders just as the American GI's do the same. The only thing is that they have been captured by the Americans, and that fact alone has made their actions criminal. The reality of it all is that everyone involved in a war is a criminal and that everything they do is a war crime. These detainees are being tried for the fact that they were trying to kill Americans, while the Americans were also actively trying to kill them, as that is the objective of war. However, America is saying that some lives lost are worth far more than others, for while these luckless Muslim soldiers are having to go on trial for killing Americans, Washington is pinning medals on its soldiers that have killed Muslim soldiers and calling them heroes. The only American soldiers that are going on trial are the stupid ones that took pictures of the shit that they were doing to the POW's in Iraq, and that's only because it embarrassed Washington so when it came out. America has zero right to try anyone for any war atrocities when they are committing these same atrocities themselves, yet they do. They do so because they want to deflect attention away from the fact that they are also committing these same atrocities by loudly and publicly accusing others of the same thing. That attitude is also why the majority of these defendants have to be found guilty, to make it look as if they did something unspeakably horrible, when those that accused them of that are guilty of the same thing. America just wants to make itself look invincibly supreme to the rest of the world again, if they ever were looked at in that way in the first place, but Washington seems to think they were, so they are holding these silly tribunals to make that point to one and all. These detainees are nothing more than examples for Washington to make to everyone, just poor kids for them to use at will. The saddest things about this is the fact that these poor kids were nothing more than objects for someone to use back home, for some Islamic zealot to use as soldiers to support his mad cause, as once these kids were captured by America, these Muslim Holy fucks were nowhere to be found to support them at all. Now that they have been captured, they are going to be used by America as propaganda tools, to show the world that America is still the baddest in the world and all that macho shit. These poor kids lose either way, no matter who has control over their lives, they get used and abused and totally fucked over one way or another. That is a crime that should be tried, but it won't be, as the lives of these people means zero to those that like war, they see them as expendable objects to be used as they see fit and them discarded afterwards.Those that are always behind a war never go on trial, that always falls to the unfortunate and luckless that get caught up in the shit that they start. These poor folks always take the fall, while the fuckers that are behind it all always get away with everything and profit off of it as they wanted while the lives of others are destroyed. That is the shit that should stand trial in wartime, for eliminating it would go a very long way towards eliminating the scourge of warfare from the earth.

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