Prisons and Walls
Seven years isn't a terribly long time, at least from my perspective at age 61, yet that's all it took to turn this country into something almost unrecognizable. That really hit home for me this morning after reading two articles, one from the East Coast, the other from the West.
First, from the NY Times came word that the US is building a brand spanking new prison ... in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.
The proposal for a new American prison at Bagram underscores the daunting scope and persistence of the United States military’s detention problem, at a time when Bush administration officials continue to say they want to close down the facility at Guantánamo Bay. [Emphasis added]
The current prison is a renovated aircraft repair structure built by the Russians during their attempt at occupying Afghanistan. The original plan was to hold the detainees for interrogation and then release them to the Afghanistan justice system. Apparently the Afghanistan courts weren't moving quickly enough (perhaps they were wasting time by according the detainees some legal rights?) and the American prison got sufficiently crowded and run down that various human rights groups were complaining a little too loudly. Oh, that and the American prison keepers were also being exposed to nasty chemicals and asbestos left over from the Russians.
In any event, we'll soon have a big new prison, one that we'll be using for a long time, if this statement by a Pentagon official is any indication:
“It’s just not suitable,” another Pentagon official said. “At some point, you have to say, ‘That’s it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.’ ”
In other words, even if Gitmo gets closed down by popular demand, we'll still have somewhere else to hide and "intensively interrogate" people for as long as we damned well please.
Meanwhile, right here at home, we're keeping America safe and secure by building a wall along the Mexican border to keep the pesky illegals out. According to the Los Angeles Times, the US Border Patrol is adding a rather interesting architectural feature to one stretch of the wall.
The U.S. Border Patrol is installing razor-sharp concertina wire atop border fencing between San Diego and Tijuana, marking a major shift in approach along a frequently violent stretch of the frontier.
The triple-strand wire, meant to keep smugglers from attacking agents, will stretch five miles when completed this summer -- the longest expanse of this type of wire ever used on the Southwest border.
The official reason, that of criminals attacking border agents, deserves a little closer look, and the article obliges:
The area has been the scene of frequent clashes between rock-throwing youths and agents firing pepper spray and tear gas. Despite using tear gas to disperse attackers and improving cooperation with Mexican authorities, U.S. authorities are still being attacked, said San Diego's Chief Patrol Agent Michael J. Fisher.
Think about that for a moment: concertina wire is supposed to stop kids from throwing rocks. Doesn't really pass muster, does it? I mean, I watched Fernando Valenzuela pitch for the L.A. Dodgers. I'm guessing a lot of kids can toss a rock over a wall, you know what I mean?
No, that wire is intended to maim anyone foolish enough to try to enter the country. Concertina wire is nasty business, and if I were the Mexican government I would be appalled by the whole deal.
So, there we have it: prisons for holding people indefinitely and a concertina wire topped wall dividing us off from our neighbors. I guess some people learned a lot from the Cold War, but I don't think it was the lessons we would have liked.
First, from the NY Times came word that the US is building a brand spanking new prison ... in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.
The proposal for a new American prison at Bagram underscores the daunting scope and persistence of the United States military’s detention problem, at a time when Bush administration officials continue to say they want to close down the facility at Guantánamo Bay. [Emphasis added]
The current prison is a renovated aircraft repair structure built by the Russians during their attempt at occupying Afghanistan. The original plan was to hold the detainees for interrogation and then release them to the Afghanistan justice system. Apparently the Afghanistan courts weren't moving quickly enough (perhaps they were wasting time by according the detainees some legal rights?) and the American prison got sufficiently crowded and run down that various human rights groups were complaining a little too loudly. Oh, that and the American prison keepers were also being exposed to nasty chemicals and asbestos left over from the Russians.
In any event, we'll soon have a big new prison, one that we'll be using for a long time, if this statement by a Pentagon official is any indication:
“It’s just not suitable,” another Pentagon official said. “At some point, you have to say, ‘That’s it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.’ ”
In other words, even if Gitmo gets closed down by popular demand, we'll still have somewhere else to hide and "intensively interrogate" people for as long as we damned well please.
Meanwhile, right here at home, we're keeping America safe and secure by building a wall along the Mexican border to keep the pesky illegals out. According to the Los Angeles Times, the US Border Patrol is adding a rather interesting architectural feature to one stretch of the wall.
The U.S. Border Patrol is installing razor-sharp concertina wire atop border fencing between San Diego and Tijuana, marking a major shift in approach along a frequently violent stretch of the frontier.
The triple-strand wire, meant to keep smugglers from attacking agents, will stretch five miles when completed this summer -- the longest expanse of this type of wire ever used on the Southwest border.
The official reason, that of criminals attacking border agents, deserves a little closer look, and the article obliges:
The area has been the scene of frequent clashes between rock-throwing youths and agents firing pepper spray and tear gas. Despite using tear gas to disperse attackers and improving cooperation with Mexican authorities, U.S. authorities are still being attacked, said San Diego's Chief Patrol Agent Michael J. Fisher.
Think about that for a moment: concertina wire is supposed to stop kids from throwing rocks. Doesn't really pass muster, does it? I mean, I watched Fernando Valenzuela pitch for the L.A. Dodgers. I'm guessing a lot of kids can toss a rock over a wall, you know what I mean?
No, that wire is intended to maim anyone foolish enough to try to enter the country. Concertina wire is nasty business, and if I were the Mexican government I would be appalled by the whole deal.
So, there we have it: prisons for holding people indefinitely and a concertina wire topped wall dividing us off from our neighbors. I guess some people learned a lot from the Cold War, but I don't think it was the lessons we would have liked.
Labels: Afghanistan, Bush Legacy
posted by Diane at 2:30 PM
1 Comments:
This isn't a shock, now, is it...
That concertina wire cuts both ways, as it were. Could also keep us in, too, and at the rate they're raping and pillaging, the idea of going the other way is sounding more plausible all the time.
And apparently people are supposed to nod their heads and say, "oh, yeah, that makes sense" when they spout that drivel.
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