Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

I was very impressed with Amy Goodman’s broadcast from London on today’s Democracy Now (Democracy Now, 9/20/2010).

Somehow I had missed John le Carré: "The United States of America Has Gone Mad" when this first came out in 2003. If you can, instead of reading the transcript, try to catch the program this evening (on Oahu, channel 56 at 10 p.m.) or click on the link to read or view the segment on the web. Maybe I’m a sucker for British voices, but I was very moved by the author’s reading of an excerpt of his essay. Highly recommended.

The next segment, though, is not for young children. Iraqi Refugee Describes Torture, Imprisonment of Husband Who Returned to Iraq to Free Jailed Son. It may require parental guidance. By that I mean that any parents who do not take seriously the torture that is still going on under the Obama administration might want to get some guidance from their teenagers on what they should be doing about it.

Yes, older children have seen pictures on the Internet and those teenagers I have spoken with have been very knowledgeable on the issues.

But Obama stopped the torture, you say? No, as today’s program brings out, he didn’t. He simply transferred 10,000 prisoners to the Iraqis to torture.

Obama could clean out those secret prisons and stop the torture immediately. That’s where the parental guidance comes in. Why are adults not pounding on this administration to fulfill its campaign promises and do what is morally right?

There are still 50,000 troops engaged in combat in Iraq. Obama could end the torture with a text message to General Petraeus. Just like that. He still has his Blackberry.

Kids, if you’re reading this, please give your parents some guidance.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 9/20/2010 01:40:00 PM