Has God finally given us what we truly deserve?
Lord have mercy
by George Lewandowski, YellowTimes.org Content Director
(YellowTimes.org) – Am I the only American sitting
bolt upright in bed tonight, in a cold sweat, thinking about the crime that has just
landed top dead center on the front page of every newspaper in the country? The news
that robs me of my sleep is the arrest of Abdullah al Muhajir, who is accused of
Lord knows what. The official spin on this story is changing by the minute.
Incidentally, the arrest took place over a month ago but it didn't come to light,
for some reason, until our newspapers were full of inconveniently embarrassing stories
about ignored intelligence warnings and tales of obvious incompetence at the highest
levels of our security apparatus.
A few timid members of Congress had even begun to think about asking, ever so politely,
if they could "pretty please, possibly convene a hearing to pose some, er well,
some gentle questions" about what the administration knew in advance of "hitting
the trifecta," as Bush puts it.
The crime that has me sitting on the edge of my bed tonight, wide awake at midnight,
is not the cobbled and goobered-up half-retracted story of a possible plan by persons
unknown to maybe, somehow, commit some sort of nasty terrorist bombing using a "dirty
bomb." No, that is not the crime that has me losing sleep, for no one, not even
Ashcroft asserts that the crime actually took place, that the bomb was detonated,
that the bomb was built, nor that the defendant had begun assembling the materials
for making such a bomb.
In fact, the most recent reports don't even assert that the defendant had obtained
any blueprints for this wonderful tyrants' toy, a devilish device that, according
to today's NPR report, had previously been perfected and tested by our own Pentagon
for use against populations outside the U.S., that is, for proper and morally righteous
disposal of people who aren't us. No, that bomb is not the criminally inspired catastrophe
that haunts my nocturnal peace, and robs me of my sleep.
In fact, the latest CBS coverage admits "U.S. officials are backing away from
assertions that a man arrested last month in Chicago was plotting a 'dirty' bomb
attack on the United States, CBS Correspondent Jim Stewart reports U.S. officials
now admit they're not sure what American-born Abdullah al Muhajir's plans were when
he returned to the U.S. last month."
No, I am dosing my insomnia with NyQuil tonight, trying to forget the crime that
actually DID happen. It took place right in front of millions of American TV viewers
and newspaper readers.
The crime that frightens me was not committed by the defendant, a native born United
States citizen. It was committed by his accusers, my rulers. It was committed against
that defendant, and by implication, against all of us who want to be free of tyranny.
The defendant was summarily stripped of his civil rights and he has been condemned
to suffer the indignity of a "military tribunal."
This tribunal is a politically efficient form of rough justice, carried out by military
officers who answer through their chain of command to the same Commander in Chief
who created this new venue and who formally accused the defendant in the first place.
The tribunal travesty was hastily concocted by photo-op politicians to replace a
full and fair civilian trial. Real trials, fair trials, impose uncooperative rules
of jurisprudence on the accusers, rules that have been worked out through more than
two hundred years of judicial experience, on at least two continents.
The carefully constructed rules of evidence, the entitlement to a jury of peers,
the right to a defense attorney, the right of appeal to a Supreme Court, a court
that is subordinate to the U.S. Constitution, even the right to be released from
jail if not convicted, are all being denied this defendant by the politicians who
now seem to rule us at their pleasure.
These politicians, the same men who saw fit to order thousands of dollars worth of
draperies to hide the shame of one offending tin booby, in the hall of justice, have
now ruled that any defendant, any person whom they choose to accuse, may be locked
up for the rest of their life, with no trial and no real avenue of appeal. The only
appeal open to Mr. Muhajir is to the tender mercies of the same simple-minded ruler
who made the quiet decision a month ago to lock him up and throw away the key.
This absurdity gets worse. The reason given for this total disregard of proven methods
of impartial investigation is that this defendant is accused of a crime so special
in its evil intent that it doesn't really matter if he is guilty or not.
Mr. Muhajir, who may indeed be a very dangerous and evil person, is simply a person
who has been accused of thinking about doing an evil deed. The alleged deed, a plan
to detonate a "dirty bomb," is so nasty that our rulers have decided to
dispense with the rule of law and with the carefully crafted judicial process that
has proven, over the centuries, to be more reliable than tribal politics for sorting
out the truth.
Apparently, that truth is secondary to the need to punish someone, anyone. We may
never know what Mr. Muhajir has, or has not done, for our rulers have decided that
it is more important to punish someone than to spend the time and energy necessary
to gather enough evidence sufficient to convict.
This tribunal will jump straight to the sentencing phase, dispensing "justice"
without any need to construct the kind of formal proof that would stand up in a real
court, the kind of proof that would assure the rest of us that the real culprit has
indeed been caught, that our Keystone Kops in Washington D.C. have actually hanged
the guilty man instead of merely lynching a conveniently dark skinned scapegoat.
Suddenly, two centuries of checks and balances, carefully constructed rules of evidence,
and logical frameworks for legal arguments, have all been abandoned in favor of the
Salem dunking stool.
This means two things: 1) That any citizen whom the President elects to toss into
jail, or to execute, can be legally dispatched by the mere application of a convenient
accusation, and 2) that we citizens are no longer entitled to expect a formal and
logical proof of guilt.
The President has given himself the right to set aside two centuries of western thought
and political reforms, for the sake of his political necessities.
Most Americans felt that this judicial joke, the "tribunal," when first
unveiled several months ago, was a handy device for hanging aliens, an appropriate
way for disposing of those who were undesirables born without God's blessing, without
proper U.S. citizenship. Now it turns out that the tribunal is also to be the blunt
instrument for dispatching the rest of us cattle.
Only Americans who are "logic challenged" will feel safer tonight. Their
TVs will tell them to close their eyes and relax, secure in the knowledge that finally
someone is going to be severely punished, in retribution for a crime which might
take place sometime in the future. How comforting.
Using this logic, perhaps the royal monarch will see fit to toss the Senate Majority
Leader and a few uncooperative journalists into a vat of boiling oil, for the murder
of some poor damsel who has not yet turned up missing. Surely someone should pay
for such a heinous crime, especially if it ever happens. Why wait until it's too
late? Light the fires now!
American foreign policy has, for generations, supported and subsidized this ludicrous
brand of quick and dirty justice for the victims of third world despots. The monster
of our own making has finally crawled home to club us with our own nasty weapons.
It is hard to argue that we deserve better.
We have allowed our rulers to act without principles or mercy around the globe. How
can we now expect those same rulers to respect our human rights? Why should they
even pretend? What makes us so different from other victims of U.S. arrogance? With
a wave of the emperor's hand and a reading of the royal decree we have just been
alienated from our "inalienable rights."
The Bush administration has finally spun a story sufficiently horrifying to push
the stories of its security scandals and bureaucratic blunders off of the front pages.
This will silence the critics for as long as His Majesty chooses to keep Mr. Muhajir
in the public spotlight, dangling at the end of a rope, twisting in the wind.
I think I need another dose of that cold medicine. My throat suddenly feels constricted.
George Lewandowski is the Content Director for YellowTimes.org. He lives in the
United States.
George Lewandowski encourages your comments: glewandowski@YellowTimes.org
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