Incumbent Republican U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Richard "Dick" Cheney delivers a speech from the podium during a last minute campaign stop on the 2004 presidential election trail.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
Former Republican U.S. Vice President Richard "Dick" Cheney is back in the news. He said recently that incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba without charges saved "hundreds of thousands of lives."
George W. Bush set a record for unpopularity as he had a 19 percent approval rating during his last year in office.
Although Cheney's approval rating was lower than that of Bush, he should be able to say anything that’s on his mind since that's a right he's guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. If he believes that the Bush administration's actions at "Gitmo" saved the world and wants to remind us once in awhile, or every day, it's up to him.
Another way to look at these actions during the Bush era is to say that holding these suspected terrorists without charges actually put hundreds of thousands of people around the world at great risk.
Since America perceives itself as the world's moral compass, other nations keep watchful eyes on the direction in which the U.S. is marching.
If the American government can determine who receives the courtesy of being told what they are accused of and who doesn't, why should any nation act differently?
In Burma (Myamar) two thousand "political prisoners" are incarcerated and about two years ago, 500,000 people signed a pro- democracy petition at great risk to themselves. Rounding up a few hundred truckloads of monks and other junta critics and holding them without charges is probably an easy matter in a country cloaked in secrecy.
In southern Thailand a few years ago, over 2000 suspected drug traffickers were murdered by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's administration before they were even given the courtesy of being hauled off to jail.
In China, the government asked Microsoft the block certain functionality related to the search terms available to Chinese citizens on the internet. Apparently, the government didn't want them to find terms such as "political prisoners in China" etc. Microsoft caved in to the government and reconfigured their program to meet Chinese governmental demands. Poof! No more political prisoners exist in China!
Now I'm not saying that Dick Cheney doesn't know a thing or two about keeping the world safe. As the former CEO of Halliburton Inc., the oil-services giant, he was in charge of a subsidiary company known as Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), that secured multi-million dollar contracts to build and operate Middle Eastern military bases for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
KBR builds and maintains warships for the Navy. Its Threat Analysis Office monitors satellite and other intelligence for all the three-letter national-security agencies. It provides security for NASA installations, Air Force bases, and US embassies abroad.
KBR built the holding cells for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo. It built and managed a prison camp for Iraqi POWs in Taszar, Hungary as well.
Perhaps Mr. Cheney would be persuaded by the thesis that setting an example regarding human rights issues that the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia, could follow would be a more economical way of ensuring the safety and security of people everywhere. Sure satellites, warships and prisons are nice, but nations such as Burma can only afford the later.
So what do you say Mr. Cheney? Sure your wallet will be tens of millions of dollars lighter but think of how safe you could keep the other 6.8 billion of us?
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
Former Republican U.S. Vice President Richard "Dick" Cheney is back in the news. He said recently that incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba without charges saved "hundreds of thousands of lives."
George W. Bush set a record for unpopularity as he had a 19 percent approval rating during his last year in office.
Although Cheney's approval rating was lower than that of Bush, he should be able to say anything that’s on his mind since that's a right he's guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. If he believes that the Bush administration's actions at "Gitmo" saved the world and wants to remind us once in awhile, or every day, it's up to him.
Another way to look at these actions during the Bush era is to say that holding these suspected terrorists without charges actually put hundreds of thousands of people around the world at great risk.
Since America perceives itself as the world's moral compass, other nations keep watchful eyes on the direction in which the U.S. is marching.
If the American government can determine who receives the courtesy of being told what they are accused of and who doesn't, why should any nation act differently?
In Burma (Myamar) two thousand "political prisoners" are incarcerated and about two years ago, 500,000 people signed a pro- democracy petition at great risk to themselves. Rounding up a few hundred truckloads of monks and other junta critics and holding them without charges is probably an easy matter in a country cloaked in secrecy.
In southern Thailand a few years ago, over 2000 suspected drug traffickers were murdered by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's administration before they were even given the courtesy of being hauled off to jail.
In China, the government asked Microsoft the block certain functionality related to the search terms available to Chinese citizens on the internet. Apparently, the government didn't want them to find terms such as "political prisoners in China" etc. Microsoft caved in to the government and reconfigured their program to meet Chinese governmental demands. Poof! No more political prisoners exist in China!
Now I'm not saying that Dick Cheney doesn't know a thing or two about keeping the world safe. As the former CEO of Halliburton Inc., the oil-services giant, he was in charge of a subsidiary company known as Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), that secured multi-million dollar contracts to build and operate Middle Eastern military bases for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
KBR builds and maintains warships for the Navy. Its Threat Analysis Office monitors satellite and other intelligence for all the three-letter national-security agencies. It provides security for NASA installations, Air Force bases, and US embassies abroad.
KBR built the holding cells for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo. It built and managed a prison camp for Iraqi POWs in Taszar, Hungary as well.
Perhaps Mr. Cheney would be persuaded by the thesis that setting an example regarding human rights issues that the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia, could follow would be a more economical way of ensuring the safety and security of people everywhere. Sure satellites, warships and prisons are nice, but nations such as Burma can only afford the later.
So what do you say Mr. Cheney? Sure your wallet will be tens of millions of dollars lighter but think of how safe you could keep the other 6.8 billion of us?
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
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