A burger? oh, the national culinary shame...

[fajrdrako]

Further good news about the return of Kevin Yourdkhani to Canada. He's the nine-year-old Canadian who was held in a 'detention centre' in Texas for six weeks.

Comments

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

It's just a shame there isn't a similar happy chapter-ending for the other children, equally innocent, who are still trapped there.

I hate the things that are done in my country's name. Darnit, we're supposed to be the Good Guys.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's just a shame there isn't a similar happy chapter-ending for the other children, equally innocent, who are still trapped there.

So true. It doesn't matter who they are or why they're there or what their stories are - they shouldn't need to be there, they shouldn't have to suffer that kind of conditions. Kevin was lucky to have Canadian citizenship and a good lawyer and a publicity.

we're supposed to be the Good Guys.

It used to be that I had some faith in that - that the US, though maybe not perfect, stood for the right sorts of things. It' disillusioning to see how far things have decayed, so fast.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

It's disillusioning to see how far things have decayed, so fast.

No kidding. Some of this has been going for a while ... remember My Lai and the Watergate scandal? What bothers me is that, if something like the Watergate scandal occurred nowadays in either the US or Canada, the press would meekly bow to a government coverup (or so my cynical mind suspects).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

remember My Lai and the Watergate scandal?

Yes, of course, and so it has always been, but I see a huge difference. Those events were treated as anomalies - the law was broken, they were huge scandals leading to indictment.

Now? Incarceration without trial is legal. Torture of prisoners is legal. It's normal operating procedure - no legal problem if the victims are not American citizens, or if they are American citizens, no problem if they are 'a possible terrorist threat' or possible collaborators with those who are terrorist threats... and no need to define "terrorist threat".

There's where I see the big difference. They don't even bother to try covering it up, because it's all part of their policy. Nothing covert about it. It's all in the name of the greater national good, whatever word they use for it - national security or anti-terrorism or military necessity.