An innocent man loses 5 years of his life at Guantanamo Bay
By SilentPatriot Sunday Mar 30, 2008 11:00amThis is what George Bush and his band of cronies have turned America into. This is on all of our hands, whether we accept it or not.
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CBS:
At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America's shadow prison system in the war on terror. He was from Germany, traveling in Pakistan, and was picked up three months after 9/11. But there seemed to be ample evidence that Kurnaz was an innocent man with no connection to terrorism. The FBI thought so, U.S. intelligence thought so, and German intelligence agreed. But once he was picked up, Kurnaz found himself in a prison system that required no evidence and answered to no one.
The story Kurnaz told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley is a rare look inside that clandestine system of justice, where the government's own secret files reveal that an innocent man lost his liberty, his dignity, his identity, and ultimately five years of his life.
There's Dick Cheney's One Percent Doctrine in action for ya. Mother Jones has a profile of Murat Kurnaz as well as a timeline of his experiences.
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yep! that's who we are!
It's not who I am but it is who the people who represent me are.
god i love living in a terrorist country.
thanks everyone!
do we blame you or your parents?
Hooray for America! We're number 1! (at completely abdicating any fealty to our espoused morals and national character). Guess what Righties, this is not a hate America statement. I just said we're abandoning the things that made America a place to be proud of!! Bring on the trolls to call me and America-hater and to tell me about how much more of this other countries have done (and how much worse it is than what America has done, so it's ok that we did it) in 3...2...1...
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
Multiply this story by a few hundred and you have what is happening.
What is bad is something perhaps not seen within the US and that is how the US is viewed now by the rest of the world, a few years back peoples eyes would light up when I mentioned I was from the US, now the usually say they are sorry for what is happening to my country and give me a sad look. And this (Thailand ) is a friendly country to the US, down the peninsula aways they openly hate us. Down in Australia we are scorned, Europe is pretty much totally against us now with few exceptions.
Bush's Legacy ... a Failed State.
This is sickening.
This whole scenario was EXACTLY what the Constitution was written to prevent!!!
Bushco should all receive a fair trial in the real court system. Assuming they are found guilty, they should be tossed into the jails that they deem fit to hold 1% of all Americans (much higher % if you're black) to rot.
But didn't Bush look just FABULOUS at the baseball game last night?!
It is so unbelievable to me what these assholes have turned this country into. From "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" to "be afraid, be very afraid". These shitheads have screwed up this country worse than anybody in the history of mankind. We are so much different than we used to be. In a bad bad way.
Bud @ 8:
wish I could have been there to add MY booing scream with the others.
I loved the dejected look on his face as he walked off the mound, thanks C&L for putting that up this day for me to see. Made my day.
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
♣Bangkok Bob♠ @ 6:
Out of the many things Bush deserves a kick in the nads, the one I'm thinking about now is how much harder it's going to be with the ladies when I get to Japan. I have this feeling that, for them, the bloom is off the rose when it comes to American men.
I hope I'm wrong.
These are crimes against humanity and war crimes. Everybody who participated in this, civilian and military, needs to be brought to justice and punished. America is no longer a ciivilized nation. this makes me ashamed of my citizenship.
If the situation were reversed and Venezuela or Iran(or some other country with resources we covet) did this to an American citizen the bombers would already be in the air.
The war on terror is about revenge plain and simple. Torture is just a by product, there is no right or wrong
But at least 40% of Americans will vote Republicon in November again. This country is in serious need of electro-schock therapy, oh I guess after we are done with those people in Quantanamo, we can start on ourselves.
The right is counting on the ignorant 30% or so of middle and South of America to vote against their own interests again. Go ahead hillbillies, give America over to the top 1% again, they are laughing at you stupid retards!
Our Congress needs to address this issue. America should not be doing these kind of things to human beings. The rest of the world knows about America's crimes, and to set things right, we need to have hearings and make the administration accountable.
It seems that in our zeal to combat terrorism, WE have become the terrorizers.
The war on terrorism is bogus, these are PNAC agressions of choice, something that they've wanted for a long time since it existed pre-9/11.
Gitmo by numbers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeralyn-merritt/guantanamo-by-the-numbers_...
CoIntelPro - against Divisive Democrats @ 1:
No, I am not part of that "we". IT is what these Republicans are. I sincerely hope these motherfuckers end up in jail.
it’s like they’re just making it up as they go along....
Remembering the real recent stories...
U.S. Air Force Colonel: Gitmo Trials Rigged
Pentagon General Counsel Resigns
Army Official: Torture Breaks International Law
Centom Commander Resigns
US General: Stop Bush Now
Eight months ago, Dr. Frank and Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity (VIPS) collaborated on an article we called “Dangers of a Cornered Bush.”
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/033108a.html
Dead-Eye Dicky responded with, "So?"
Eric Hussein Almighty @ 12:
Dude...I think the bloom is off the rose for Americans everywhere for a long time... or at least until just after november...
Unfortunately, the relationship between one man’s experience and the underlying moral equivalency of his experience to the beliefs we as a Nation purport to abide by are lost on those who support this Administration. Pragmatism overrules conscience as long as bad things are happening to strangers, no matter their guilt. One only needs to read comment #1 for confirmation.
if Clinton were smart, she would start talking up the fact that she would pursue Bush and Cheney with vigor and urgency....once elected....
we don't hear obama or clinton touching this, and i suppose it's understandable why....
but clinton could put a wedge in here and force a discussion on a difficult topic, and see if obama has the courage to make such promises...
i am an obama guy, but i wish both candidates would talk about justice to bush and cheney, and killing bin laden....that should be 1,2 and 3...(in reverse order)
If they can imprison and torture Mr. Kumaz, they can do the same thing to us.
Just sayin'.
Hey, no evidence needed here...just jail em...they're brown skin and they're not American...no one will care
One of the keys to starting to make this unravel is to find the Doctor that participated in this.
He can have his MD yanked for this. Find him and start the process and we can get to the bottom of this.
What a sad story. The damage to the USA reputation is immense.
Republicans and Lieberman's' democrats, should be hanged for thess crimes.
YouCantHandleDaTruth @ 26:
this guy wasn't brown skin, he was a typical white guy...
but he had a funny beard....
Unforgivable. This is what the Bush administration has done to this country. Who knows at this point how far and deep the damage reaches. How many more are out there like this man? I can't even imagine how angry I would be. I certainly don't think I could forgive.
yep, that is the lesson, they are going to do it to us,
in the words of Revernd Wright "God Damn America"
meanwhile, the rhetoric on the right is "The system works, for an innocent man was set free"
meh...
We'll all be there soon enough.
ohio progressive (typical non-typical white person) @ 29:
a funny beard, AND a non-Murkan accent...
Sieg Heil!
But at least gays can't marry.
I wonder if Mcasshole is going to propose a gay marriage amedment.
if it weren't for all the the doughy bread and circuses, this would never have been allowed to take place.
Spicegal @ 30:
No shit! This kinda shit will undoubtedly create more terrorists out of normal folks who just happen to fit whatever profile at the time...
These people MUST be stopped!
I watched "Rendition" over the weekend. Art imitating life in BushWorld.
ohio progressive (typical non-typical white person) @ 24:
I agree with this. I would like to see someone ask all the presidential candidates if they would promise limit presidential power and bring transparency back to government. This is a HUGE issue that no one talks about.
They hate us for our freedom!
This is what happens when the people allow a group of amoral assholes to put into office another bunch of amoral assholes!
republicans don't have the intellect the honesty or the integrity to do the right thing for all concerned.
republicans will let greed override all the needs of the people as long as they are allright they could not give a shit about you. they are only responsible for themselves in retoric but hypocrites in actuality!
"an innocent man lost his liberty, his dignity, his identity, and ultimately five years of his life."
i think i just heard cheney yawn
Samson- @ 41:
And then he said "So?!"
God Damn bushs Amercia ,
because it sure the hell isnt mine ! .
So sad, and so wrong.
...wait, that guy's not even brown skinned...hell, just throw air-body in jail then
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 36:
not only "will undoubtedly" create more terrorists, it HAS created more "terrorists."
there are two irrefutable aspects of the iraq war and the so-called war on "terror": increased acts of terrorism, and increased "terror" organization recruitment.
ohio progressive (typical non-typical white person) @ 29:
...that's scary, ...if the US is doing this to Europeans what are they doing to ME\Asian people...
I pray for grace to be given to America, we need it.....bad
Samson- @ 46:
1950s. Dad, Why does everyone hate red china? Well son they have a goverment that does not believe in freedom like our country does. their goverment controls every part of their lives and they have no rights or freedoms. China can throw their people in jail for no reason, they spy on them, they use the army to search their homes or stop them from speaking out, They tell them what church to go to and if the people protest they are sent to prison or killed. The goverment controls all of the tv and radio stations so they never hear the truth and they have road blocks and fences to stop people from going to another country. Gee dad were so lucky to live here in america! Thats right son and don't ever forget it! WE ARE THE COUNTRY OUR PARENTS WARNED US ABOUT!!!
If someone did this to my son I would dedicate the rest of my life to getting the responsible parties.
Samson- @ 41:
lol
or was that an orgasmic yelp i heard, as he zipped up his pants....
wasn't his boyfriend rummy into all that s&m abhu ghrab stuff
i think this torture thing gets these guys off in some wierd way....
galmud @ 39:
They hate us for our president.
And years after Nazi Germany was destroyed, you couldn't find anyone who supported Hitler.... I suppose it will be the same after this dark era of our history is past. Nobody supported the ass in the White House, but nobody did anything to stop it either.
Samson- @ 46:
Yes good points Samson...but, I ask, not just you, but anyone...how do we stop them before they come for us...it's just a matter of time.
Let me qualify...by "us" I mean those that dissent against this administration, and it's criminal activity around the world.
i think that the first order of business for the next administration is to see to it that the law is enforced and to hold those who have broken the law accountable. that would show the rest of the world that we mean business when we say we want to restore our moral standing and credibility in the world.
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds
-Robert Oppenheimer
It's even worse that the Dems let them get away with it!
If this had been a Dem. President, he would be send to the Hague long time ago!
Hulk @ 53:
Problem is all his Nazi collaborators came to the U.S. to work for us.
Just following the money and jobs I suppose.
The sad thing is we can say, "That's not my America," but it is increasingly how the world sees and thinks of us.
It won't matter to the terrorists. If they were to take a hostage, and it was a conservative, they'd gladly kill them. If it were one of us, they'd still kill us - because the propaganda value of 'See? They don't even care about their own people!' would play even better.
The war on terror can get messy thats for sure......
CEO,citizens,eyes,open @ 49:
good observation
the "funny" thing about that is the reason why china did clamp down on its people versus why america has clamped down on its.
china's authoritarianism had its roots in being the chew toy for the imperialistic regimes of the late 19th early 20th centuries. after the brits forcing opium on them, and the japanese devastating so many chinese people the peasants said enuff z'nuff and the start of the communist rev.
and in the US... ? hmmm, we ARE the imperial power. our govt is not reacting to outside imperial powers trying to dominate us, it is based instead on the struggle between democracy and corporatocracy. guess who is winning.
chris @ 60:
Sure wars certainly solved everyones problems. 99% of all wars are fought with the purpose of ending war.
So much for that concept-idea.
"At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America’s shadow prison system in the war on terror."
The Bush Administration got this idea from Stalin. They used to call it a gulag.
rusty b. shakleford @ 55:
I am a hardcore obama guy, and for the most part i think clinton is a slimeball.
but if she promised to make the prosecution of cheney and bush, and all their corrupt cronies from gonzalez to jackson, an urgent priority of her administration, and obama did not echo that promise, (and her commitment was authentic), I'd vote for her.
Even if the dems turn our country around, the notion that cheney bush, gonzalez, rove, jackson, all these guys, could just walk away without repurcussions, keeping the spoils of their corrupt tenure....that's rather disspiriting....
Have to keep the guys in the weapons and defense industries in business.
If Peace was the norm such industries wouldn't even exist.
Face it wars are created by nasty people.
we're the evil empire
Which candidate will promise to try, convict [Deleted. Don't advocate violence on this site-Sitemonitor] Bush & Cheney?
Satellite pay-per-view fees [Ibid] would pay off the USA's national debt.
Fuck you George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Geoffrey Miller, Jay Bybee, William Haynes, Ricardo Sanchez, Clarke Paulus, and anyone else involved.
May your names, and the names of all who assisted you, be forever associated with the terrible shame you cast on this country.
You are scum. You are scum. You are scum.
The "torture chambers and rape rooms" didn't leave with Saddam. The faces just changed, and they're operated under an American flag.
Chuckling Canuck @ 67:
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
So if Iran, North Korea and Syria are the axis of evil, what does this make us?
A government that does this to innocent people will not give up their power for an election. Get ready for martial law...
Thomas Jefferson said "An informed citizenary will act responsible" The enablers are the ones who do not use the internet. They listen to Fox and CNN, So our society is actually split right in the middle. We have entire familes divided. Lets get on with the next civil war, I can barely stand to be around arrogant dim wits.
chris @ 70:
i didn't see any leaders in Chuckling Canuck's post... not sure who/what you are referring to
to sampson says@61 You are right on the money sir, as to whose winning, lets go buy some cheap crap we don't need. We both seem to hear those voices from our childhood, We heard them, where is everybody else?
No. 44 @ 68:
Let's not forget:
John Ashcroft
Condoleezza Rice
Stephen Hadley
Lewis 'Scooter' Libby
David Addington
Tom Ridge
Michael Chertoff
Hopefully Murat will not utter the words "God Damn America" or everything that was done to him will be justified.
Funny -- I'd always had the impression our legal system was based on the idea that it's better for a guilty person to escape punishment for a crime s/he did commit than for an innocent person to be punished for a crime s/he did not commit. Can't imagine where I picked up such a silly notion...
Any bets as to how much the American government would be willing to consider paying Mr. Kurnaz in remuneration for wrongful imprisonment (and deity only knows what else)?
Yeah...riiiiiiiiiight. If there's any way that they can avoid it, the US government is never going to release Mr. Kurnaz because it would open far too many cans of worms and leave them far too vulnerable to accusations and lawsuits. At this point, Amnesty International is probably Mr. Kurnaz's only hope -- and even that is probably a faint hope at best.
Samson- @ 74:
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
I saw this last night. It absolutely blew my mind what they did to this man.
"Bush was elected twice by the country, like it or not you have to respect it. If BO is elected do you want people saying these things on conservative blogs, the diversity crowd would go nuts…."
No problem. Fine with me. There's a reason we have free speech in this country. I don't need my president to be put up on an untouchable pedestal in order to like him or her. If Barack Obama gets elected and fucks up, I'm going to admit it.
I'm not going to be a whiney conserbative baby who says all people do is blame everything on the president. When you elect morons to office, what you get is bad leadership. Duh.
I propose a "28% Doctrine", where we isolate the 28% of Americans who still support Bush and his thugs. We let them live in their own state and wall them in with their right-wing leaders. Now, the tricky part is in picking which state one would wall off. So as not to hurt the feelings of any one state, we could combine the Texas and Oklahoma pan-handle area and call it "D'oh!klahoma". Maybe even "Asshoma".
Rush to War @ 73:
I don't think the internet is the difference; one can be informed if one bothers to read and think for oneself, which means regarding the metric assload of idiocy off FOX and CNN with a critical eye.
It's almost a cult mentality - through a process of corporate acquisitions in both content and content providers, we are being distilled down to a single point of view and mushroomed* into rote partisanship.
* Mushroomed, for those unfamiliar with the term: being kept in the dark and fed shit.
chris @ 79:
no, wrong, chris.
he was appointed president in 2000, not elected. maybe you forget the supreme court's intervention and their ruling to stop counting people's votes.
you need to get some of this stuff straight before you venture into these discussions.
and, even he was elected (which he wasn't), nothing is more unpatriotic and unamerican than to blindly follow authoritarian rulers, bent on usurping our rights. dissent IS patriotic. being a sheep is not.
to earth@72, I believe you are correct, power gives up nothing without a fight! If our citizens sit still for martial law for even a day we may never recover. Anyone care to post odds another flase flag operation.. I mean an attack by al kader between now and election will happen.......?
MN USA @ 71:
USA + Israel = the Allies. "Axis of evil" is meant to make people associate the enemies of Israel, Iran and Syria with nazi Germany. Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler, who threatens the Jews with another holocaust. Islamofascism is the new National Socialism. Criticism of Israel is the new antisemitism
MN USA @ 71:
The Nexxus of Eeeeeevil?
Samson- @ 84:
Save your breath Samson..."chris" is a likely a GOP operative, gettin paid taxpayer dollars to split the dems...either that, or he's just a faux noose watchin, limbaugh listenin, flag wavin ignoramus, who couldn't form his own opinion if his life depended on it.
Five years lost!! How horrible for that young man!!
Thank you George and Dick. Once again you elimanated any niggling doubt for a lot of people that might have been in your corner.
YouCantHandleDaTruth @ 48:
Bush and Osama Bin Laden are working together, all-right. Hell, this helps the whole Bin Laden Family.
The Bin Laden family made a mint off of this... and if you notice, Bush is not remotely interested in Capturing him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was out of the mid-east entirely and under Bushco's protection... or even dead.
The BBC even suggested he might have already been captured, however, that would serve the interests of warmongers. It would be better for them if the bogeyman were still out there (even if he really isn't).
I wouldn't put it past this current administration to 'allow' an attack on U.S. soil.
They've already shown that they're willing to see people die if it'll line their pockets. Don't put if past them to imprison or even kill private citizens. They certainly willing the let soldiers die for their greed.
CEO,citizens,eyes,open @ 85: