Torture Or What We Really Need To Worry About

Amidst the looming and interweaving topics clouding American judgment on what we really should be dealing with, let's dispose of the torture situation.

We cannot rule torture completely out in all situations.

We cannot make it standard operating procedure. If torture is going to be used, a clear line of responsibility should be drawn. Bush did know and approve of torture. It was 'legalized' by a series of letters by military lawyers, Rumsfeld, and Rice. Bradbury and Bybee are the patsies so everyone higher could keep their names out of the fire. This is the greatest political legacy Bush left, the Domino Demagoguery. Every ill the Bush Administration faces is simply the work of some dynamic undersecretary or demi-God official that got all of Bushie's good intention turned around. We remind you not out of spite, but because we should all be aware when governments at the state and locals levels echo this strategery.

We cannot torture out of emotion and without just cause. The biggest problem with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay torture techniques was that it was done not only by CIA officials but also by untrained US soldiers, and privately funded, independent security forces. This loose approach to the collection of information lead to lots of bad intel. We stormed into innocent homes and friendly villages, bombed country sides and empty bunkers because our detainees wanted the torture to stop.

We are fighting a war without borders, without generals, and without a long term objective. It is a fallacy to believe "We are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." That is true only to the extent that our deployed soldiers and overseas citizens provide closer targets. What the US needs most is the spread of our most basic conviction: That America is good. Not every citizen is brave enough or equipped to play ambassador in the Middle East. So we should be damn grateful to soldiers that both learn the significance of Muslim and Arab; but also teach, by example, the valor and honor of being American. Indeed, they must be better than a large number of us. Counter-insurgency implemented by Gen. Petraeus will prove to be ineffective in the short term but possibly the solution to permanently shifting developed Islamic countries over to the side of religious tolerance and vigorous trade. Iraq will no doubt erupt once US forces leave. It will be short-lived however, as the majority of Iraqis want to return some semblance of regular life. Seeds have been planted, and they see the next obstacle as standing shoulder to should with nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Gen Petraeus' problem is now recruiting soldiers who can jive with the mixed-in, ambassadorial, counter-insurgency strategy that puts US soldiers in direct contact with local populations in order to shift their allegiances from Taliban to us, the Peacekeepers.


Now, What We Should Really Be Worrying About. The Threatdown for Obama's Administration and the forseeable future.

1. Right-wing Agit-prop
2. Iranian Nuclear Weapons
3. The Budget and Banking Pitfalls
4. Left-wing Agit-prop
5. Russian Military politicking
6. Taliban operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
7. UK Conservative party and Chinese financiers sabotage
8. Unstable countries such as Pakistan and Somalia

How We Are Hungry

Dear David Plouffe,

I want you to send out a list of general goals as part of an annual or biannual agenda. I already see that a large amount of blame is going around on Capitol Hill. Before we can even get started, the people who are supposed to be giving this country direction are trying to take as little blame for the failures of government while assigning as much as they can to former colleagues. We cannot stomach any more of this domino demagoguery.

You asked us for money. You asked us for sweat and for faith and for our talents. You helped President Obama run one of the most exciting and proficient campaigns this country has ever seen. You inspired many of us not to respond to naysayers with insults and ire but with a method of information and finesse. The nation is forgetting this lesson too soon.

The time for gloating and conspiring and fear-mongering must be set aside until a real and advisable direction is set. Firing and having officials resign doesn't get rid of the problem. It just advances the news cycle. We are hungry for more of the good political discourse and real connections we made within our surrounding communities. If the people we've elected need reminding that they work for us whether we voted for them or not, we can show them how little effective they are when they put themselves above their station and their constituency.

I believe that what we need to do in this country is teach our leaders how to talk to us, the People. We have a task not easily achieved or that expects uniform results, but I see Republicans trying to blame a Democratic Congress while Democrats are blaming a Republican filibustering minority. They are trying to expose hypocrisy when most of those points are frame-up jobs part of the daily Congressional agenda. This machinery of politics goes unnoticed because many Americans lead very busy and crowded lives. The over three million people who gave to Obama's campaign are telling you that we can make room for a little more.

Set a national agenda for those cities and towns where grassroots organizations meaning to continue making politics real can all work in tandem. We can be strong locally, but if all our local work is being done in unison, we can effect a more permanent progress in American citizenship and strength. We both need and accept as many brilliant and talented Republican, Independent, Libertarian, and unaffiliated compatriots who do not share our politics to make this journey with us.

Website of the Office of the President of the United States, Change.gov


out of the desert,
Dan Duque