By Kevin Gosztola
If our leaders won’t end the torture,
my friends in Chicago will. They and others from across the nation will
show through examples why America can not be a nation that tortures.
The response my friends get when they
put on waterboarding demonstrations and when they put on the jumpsuits
is extraordinary. It’s promising and it gives me hope that people might
find the courage to stand up and demand an end to the torture.
People (in this video) stop to take pictures.
My hope is that they are not just tourists taking pictures of animals
at the zoo. I hope they aren’t just going home to say, “Honey,
you wouldn’t believe it! Today I saw the craziest freaks putting on
the craziest show in the Metra station!”
I hope people stop and think of the horrors
of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.
I hope people wonder when the madness
of torture and prisoner abuse is going to come to an end.
I hope people wish McCain would return
to his anti-torture roots and that Obama would be more forceful against
treating our enemies like dog shit.
Dog shit is the literal translation of
“enemy combatant.” “Enemy combatant” is political
cover for torture, prisoner abuse, and the suspension of habeas corpus.
We get upset about cows that are abused
yet haven’t the decency to get upset about abused humans.
Do we have to wait for the People for
Ethical Treatment of Animals to demand that we treat so-called “enemy
combatants” with the same respect that we demand cows be given
or are we going to stand up to this madness?
Our leaders of absolved themselves of
their duty to show moral clarity on this issue. They have allowed our
media news organizations to parade graphics and pundits across news
shows to muddy our thinking about what torture is legal and what torture
is illegal.
A staggering 44%
of Americans think torture of terrorist suspects should be allowed.
This percentage grew from 36%, according to WorldPublicOpinion.org.
Who are we as a nation, as a people,
if we think a suspect deserves torture? What does this mean for suspects
in our own prison system? This doesn’t even poll people on what they
think of the indefinite imprisonment of terror suspects or “enemy
combatants” without trial. If 44% support torture, how many support
no right to trial for terror suspects?
The culture that defines us is becoming
more shallow each day. Without actions like the ones my friends in Chicago
have engaged in, we face the prospect of becoming a nation which forsakes
humanity.
We must confront those who claim torture
to be permissible and not be afraid to engage in a meaningful agenda
to remove torture as policy from our nation’s domestic and foreign policy
as well as the various organizations that engage in torture.
Kevin Gosztola goes to Columbia College
in Chicago where he is studying film. He hopes to become a documentary
filmmaker. He is currently working as a production assistant on a documentary
called “Seriously Green” which traces the development of the
Green Party throughout the 2008 election. He has a passion for journalism
and writes articles or press releases in his spare time.
He is a Nader/Gonzalez supporter in this election but welcomes anyone
who wishes to have an open discussion on why he should support somebody
else.