The Tesseract Archipelago...
---I AM ANGRY---
The Bush administration has indeed accomplished a mission, intended or not, to recreate the United States into a super-power demon, a super-power monster, a super-power consuming itself and everything around it. A country that has secret prisons within secret prisons built on an island belonging to the very type of government we claim to be the opposite of is not a democracy.
For the commie fearing right-wingers, their collective silence about US funding of communist Cuba through a business arrangement in which they give us land to house our concentration camps on is astounding. It is, however, no surprise that nationalists see human rights abuses as a necessary fall-out of war. After all, Christian extremists, like their Muslim counterparts see war as a tool of God, and they see God in a single man giving them orders, not in anything divine:
'"You will go with General Boykin and Green Beret instructors to places where no civilians and few soldiers ever go," the Rev. Bobby Welch told pastors in a letter inviting them to attend the two-day Super FAITH Force Multiplier session. "We must find a group of men who are warriors of FAITH, pastors who have the guts to lead this nation to Christ and revival!" Welch, a friend of Boykin's, told the invitees they would see Boykin's headquarters, a demonstration of "today's war-fighting weapons" and how "Special Forces attack the enemy inside buildings (live fire/real bullets)" as well as hear a speech and get "informal time" with Boykin."
Or as Boykin -- one of the architects of the Abu Ghraib concentration camp model, which was based on the Gitmo model -- once said about George W. Bush:
"Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." (NYT, 10-17-2003)
Never mind that one has to first have a soul in order to have a conscience through which something like real faith can be processed. Nationalists, religious or otherwise, don't have a soul. They have a flag and some other trinkets and they have bitter hate mixed with mortal fear of something out in the ether. Boykin has his uniform, his cross, and his torture chamber to help him justify the horrors of his actions as somehow all-American and Christian.
That is all Boykin has to measure his love of country by, his love of humanity by, if such obscene nationalism and need for supremacy can ever be measured by something as clean and selfless as love.
---WHY AM I ANGRY?---
Because I woke up to this:
"Somewhere amid the cactus-studded hills on this sprawling Navy base, separate from the cells where hundreds of men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban have been locked up for years, is a place even more closely guarded -- a jailhouse so protected that its very location is top secret.
For the first time, the top commander of detention operations at Guantanamo has confirmed the existence of the mysterious Camp 7. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rear Adm. Mark Buzby also provided a few details about the maximum-security lockup.
Guantanamo commanders said Camp 7 is for key alleged al-Qaida members, who must be kept apart from other prisoners to prevent them from retaliating against long-term detainees who have talked to interrogators. They also want the location kept secret for fear of terrorist attack."
---YOU SEE WHY I AM ANGRY?---
A concentration camp within a concentration camp that we pay a Communist nation to host. Sounds so simple, does it not? The problem is that there were never that many al Qaeda members to justify Gitmo's larger prison to begin with.
At their peak, before 9/11, al Qaeda numbered under 200. So just who is being hosted at Camp 7 and why is it so secret that no one knows -- until now -- that it even existed? Osama bin Laden, if I recall is vacationing in Pakistan, along with his major commanders. They too have guns and God, always a potent mixture. The Taliban's most dangerous leaders are mostly back in Afghanistan and some are along with bin Laden on vacation in Pakistan, also in possession of guns, justified by their God.
We have secret prisons all over the world, where secret "al Qaeda" and secret "Taliban" prisoners are being held. We have the larger camps at Gitmo too, where "al Qaeda" and "Taliban" secret prisoners are secretly being held. So I ask again, just who the hell -- and how many -- prisoners are being held at Camp 7? More importantly, what kind of prisoners would a man like Boykin select? That, my friends, is what scares me the most.
I know, the right-wing nationalists will argue something about security and something about 9/11, again to justify war on behalf of God or something of the sort. Nationalists always argue for an unseen, unheard, unreal threat existing somewhere in the shadows. Come to think of it, an unseen, unheard, unreal threat existing in the shadows sounds like their description of God. Interesting, is it not, that religious nationalists such as these define God the same way they define their enemy? And what of their followers, the lower rungs of the symbol-loving faithful?
You just need to look through the annals of history if you want examples of how the mindless drone swallows whole the lie of a threat and defends to the death that lie no matter all the evidence to the contrary.
Aside from the security propaganda and its flag-waving boot-marchers, however, I want a legitimate explanation as to why we need this many camps, this many secret camps within camps, and just who the hell is being held there in secret and why in secret. I demand this as a US citizen. Because if we have people secretly boxed within secret boxes, which house even more secret boxes filled with even more secret people, then we cannot continue calling ourselves a democracy.
---WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY?---
Perhaps we can call ourselves a secret democracy, encased in a tesseract and planted on an island owned by a declared enemy, but that would be too long a description when there is a far shorter and more direct way to say what we are becoming: a fascist nation.
Follow Larisa Alexandrovna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/larisa_a
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Hi Larisa,
I'm pretty sure I never saw your post except for a link someone posed on an almost related topic, though I _do_ go through the daily posts on Huf Po using the /yyyy/mm/dd method.
However, I might not have read your post based upon its title - a bit too "cute" for me to know what it was about. For me, it brought up mathematics and geography, not lawlessness in America. After I read that it was about a prison inside a prison, I got the reference, though it's worth noting that a tesseract isn't a cube inside a cube, but when projected into a three dimensions or onto a two dimensional surface it does appear that way.
Nomatter; Now that I've read your profile, I've signed up as a fan of yours. You are my first Blogger to whom I've signed up... Thanks for writing.
Regards, RTIII
I'll have to do it more often. ;-)
Wonderfully said, Larisa, unfortunately until voters quit drinking and awaken from their kool-aid in mass, so that 'sort of close' election and poll results can no longer seem to be so easily fixed, the powerful multi-national corporations and their votes owned through campaign contributions will continue to rule the day.
I sort of think the economic stimulus tax rebates this year are an effort, by BOTH sides of the isle, to BUY voters back that might otherwise think it's time for 'serious' changes in OUR country.
And, ...it likely WILL work.
How can leaders of a Democratic nation, who
say they are christian, who claim they believe
in the sanctity of life, use waterboarding or
other torture? How can they continue to support
war without a clear reason, and one that relates
directly to the safety of the US? How can this
government look for ways to start other wars
in countries that have or seek to get nuclear
capabilities, all the while giving them to
countries like China, who either have Dictators
or a Communist form of government?
How does this govenment expect to put Democracy
into areas that have no history or idea of what
that is? Especially when the one country that
was founded "for the people, by the people"
for democratic government, now is slowly
removing all rights given to those people?
There is a lot to be angry about. And we, as
Americans, have the responsibility to remind
our government, that they work for us.
Yet again, Larisa is off the Home page, off the Politics page, off the Featured Politics Posts list, and off the *nominally* All Blog Posts list.
Posted 9:46 AM. Time now 3:48 PM.
Not even a six-hour shelf life. Heck, mayonnaise in the noonday sun at Camp 7 lasts longer than that, and with more exposure!
You'd have to dig down to the "All the Blog Posts" AND THEN HIT THE "All posts from 02/07/08" button, as illogical as it is to have to parse the word "all" that way.
It ain't right. It's LEFT OUT.
(L, please feel free to fwd to Arianna.)
See Larisa Alexandrovna's Profile
I have done this a few times already. I can only assume that I am disappeared because I lack the celebrity bona fides of some of my fellow bloggers here. My emails won't make a difference. Your emails might. Thanks for going to bat for my pen. L
It's almost 5pm in Los Angeles. I just read your post and was reviewing the comments about how this topic is already "off the front page," when all of a sudden, there's a news bulletin on 1150 AM talk radio: Guess what? There's a secret prison-wit
Guys, on the Home page, right-hand side, there is a link that says "all the blog posts", follow it, scroll to the bottom, you will find the link there for "all posts(for today's date)" and a link for yesterdays posts, which is handy for after-midnight reading. This way you can see who has posted and never miss your favorites.
I'm your biggest fan. Keep articulating truth. Everyone I've shown you to agrees with me.
L,
I have previously emailed every combination of alphanumerics followed by huffington
Will be happy to send out another barrage.
It's just a crime to see your stuff go down the "memory hole" in less than SIX HOURS.
Best.
I think of A.I.Solzhe
It's time for someone to write the current rendition of a day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch.
"When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Things I believe:
I believe a sound ENERGY policy is more vital to our national security than WEAPONS SYSTEMS.
I believe a responsible BUDGET is more vital to our national security than burdening our grandkids with INSURMOUNTABLE DEBT.
I believe that teaching our children SCIENCE is more vital to our national security than teaching them RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.
I believe that JUSTICE is more vital to our national security than STRENGTH.
I believe that FAIRNESS in our tax code is more vital to our national security than TAX RATES.
I believe that HEALTH CARE is more vital to our national security than the INSURANCE INDUSTRY.
I believe that ACCOUNTABILITY is more vital to our national security than a UNITARY EXECUTIVE.
I believe that the United States CONSTITUTION is more vital to our national security than SIGNING STATEMENTS.
These things I do believe.
Excellently put, Reason.
larisa's post and your reply was a breath of fresh air. I'm feeling a little better. thank you.
Thank you, Reason.
See Larisa Alexandrovna's Profile
Well said:)
Johnathan Swift would love this column.
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Great last sentence.
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If memory serves, the "rent" on Guantanamo is nominal, a few thousand dollars per year, and Castro has always refused to cash the check.
Guantanamo was in Cuba before the tyrant took over. Are we supposed to give up a *military base* because rest of the the country unfortunately fell to an enemy? What possible sense does that make?
So are you saying these prisons are ok because the rent is "nominal"?
You're ok with imprisonment without benefit of legal recourse, torture, holding prisoners with no notification to family as to whereabouts, health condition, etc.? You oppose the Geneva Convention too?
"Are we supposed to give up a *military base* because rest of the the country unfortunately fell to an enemy?"
----------
Cuba is a sovereign country. There's NO EXCUSE why ANY other country should have even a hairpin on their land, never mind bases or "secret" torture prisons.
Castro is not an enemy of Cuba or the Cuban people -- He was born there and he loves his country.
The Cubans that don't love Cuba are now mostly living in Florida --- (Elitist insatiable pigs that were whoring out their country for the sake of getting their share).
Castro prevented the U.S. from turning Cuba into another Puerto Rico, mostly from strength of will alone; yet, he's not got the strength of arms -- (and never did, even with the myth of Russia pretending to back him up) -- to attack the U.S.
Who the fuck are we to have bases on that country's land --- or anywhere else for that matter?! How obnoxiously arrogant to assume we're entitled!
Hey! Florida's a stone's throw away from Cuba: why not just pack Gitmo up, and move it there!--..
Bunch of bullshit.
This last year of Bush/Cheney will be an unimaginable collection of dramas. They have only nine months left to further push their agenda into the depths.
Where have we put our collective conscience? How many wrongs make a right?
Watched "V for Vendetta" again last night.
http://www
Are we approaching a day when we too must cue up the "1812 Overture" -- and forment a revolution?
On a parallel string today, it turns out the CIA destroyed interrogation (torture?) videos while aware a judge had requested them. And Hayden LIED about it.
http://www
"What else is there to say?"
Sadly, not a damn thing. We've quietly entered the twilight of the American ideal, and my two-month old daughter will live in a world where the U.S. is not lauded or emulated, but feared, hated, and derided.
And it's completely our own fault. We allowed this to happen.
I guess we did allow this to happen, but our judgement was clouded by the smoke and mirrors and the many and horrible lies we were fed by Bush and the compliant media (corporate owned, like Bush himself). I was personally against the extension of the war to Iraq, as well as the whole idea of "war on terror", seemed another debacle like "war on drugs", but even worse since this one was using our whole military. We should have taken out a few hundred Al Quaeda with relative ease if we had not diverted most of our efforts to stealing Iraqi oil in the guise of stopping WMDs which didn't exist. We can change this if we citizens really stand up this time and say no more. Vote out those who will not do the public will, demand term limits for representatives and senators, demand a return to the equal time doctrine, and get involved and educated about the issues.
"Whaddya mean 'we?' whiteman?"
Tonto to The Lone Ranger
.
I obviously can't speak for YOU, but _I_ have been fighting this tyranny my entire life. ...I've got some financial things to get in order first, but expect that in a few weeks I'll be starting a new Protest Campaign for Impeachment. My present idea is that I'll be there _every_day_ in the same prominent spot with a picket sign, hoping against hope to get others to file in along side and get a real wave of in-the-streets activism going.
Care to join me?
Follow you're nose to email me if you care to...
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