The Latest Version of Slavery
The term is out of vogue, but it's time to end the enslavement of our troops. I wish that were as far-fetched as it sounds.
How long has it been since we had to correct the problem of Shanghai'ing - a.k.a. impressment - of wandering folks for our military services? In case you didn't study it in school, this was adopted from the British, using shady practices to entangle sailors, who were prevented from leaving before a trip was finished. It usually happened to rootless sorts, in port towns, to make them serve involuntarily. Once aboard, they could be tormented until the voyage was over. It was a practice that our early sailing firms took up, to boost their profits from shipping. It was ended 1915, by the Seaman's Act.
The National Guard of New Jersey was featured last night on Bill Moyers' Journal. They were massively 'stop lossed' which is the maladministration's version of Shanghaiing - and amounts to enslavement. These enrollees were brought into the National Guard before anyone imagined that the U.S. would start wars without grounds, and that our troops would be made to serve beyond their terms. Now they are being forced out of civilian jobs, given inadequate pay for service, and sent off to fight unreasonable and immoral wars. With a majority of U.S. citizens agreeing that the war should be ended, the enslavement of our citizens is immoral, and should be declared illegal.
Involuntary servitude just isn't what freedom entails, by any definition I know. The danger is not just to the National Guard, or to this country's principles. It endangers our security as well, by weakening the military.
Some contend that the reliance on the National Guard does not only endanger foreign missions, it also leaves the United States without a force able to respond to attacks and disasters on U.S. soil.
This is, as Bill Moyers has said, one of the most important elections we have ever had. There is no choice between the perpetrators of atrocities and public servants waiting to oust these criminals from high places.
How long has it been since we had to correct the problem of Shanghai'ing - a.k.a. impressment - of wandering folks for our military services? In case you didn't study it in school, this was adopted from the British, using shady practices to entangle sailors, who were prevented from leaving before a trip was finished. It usually happened to rootless sorts, in port towns, to make them serve involuntarily. Once aboard, they could be tormented until the voyage was over. It was a practice that our early sailing firms took up, to boost their profits from shipping. It was ended 1915, by the Seaman's Act.
The National Guard of New Jersey was featured last night on Bill Moyers' Journal. They were massively 'stop lossed' which is the maladministration's version of Shanghaiing - and amounts to enslavement. These enrollees were brought into the National Guard before anyone imagined that the U.S. would start wars without grounds, and that our troops would be made to serve beyond their terms. Now they are being forced out of civilian jobs, given inadequate pay for service, and sent off to fight unreasonable and immoral wars. With a majority of U.S. citizens agreeing that the war should be ended, the enslavement of our citizens is immoral, and should be declared illegal.
As everyone knows, politics and the weather collided this week. Hurricane Gustav had Republicans ducking for cover, fearing that a repeat of the Katrina calamity would conjure bad memories, so they delayed the start of their national convention by a day.In advance of Gustav, nearly 16,000 members of the Army National Guard were sent to the Gulf Coast to ensure the public's safety. Thousands of others are ready to be deployed along the southeast seaboard watching out for two more hurricanes, Hanna and Ike.This of course, is the Guard's primary mission — to be a standing, domestic defense force that each state's governor can call on when the need arises, especially in cases of natural disaster. But since 9/11, an estimated 220,000 National Guard soldiers have been sent by the Defense Department to Iraq and Afghanistan.The Guard's absence from home has created financial and emotional hardship for these citizen soldiers and their families. It's also created a bind for state governments dependent on the Guard's personnel and equipment.
BILL MOYERS:Roy's wife Tina, however, is not ready.
TINA PARKS:Makes me mad. I'm angry. I mean at the same time, I know that in Iraq, a lot of people are suffering badly for no reason, and I, you know, consider ourselves lucky, the country we live in, and the freedom we have in this country and those poor people don't have it. (Emphasis added.)
Involuntary servitude just isn't what freedom entails, by any definition I know. The danger is not just to the National Guard, or to this country's principles. It endangers our security as well, by weakening the military.
Some contend that the reliance on the National Guard does not only endanger foreign missions, it also leaves the United States without a force able to respond to attacks and disasters on U.S. soil.
This is, as Bill Moyers has said, one of the most important elections we have ever had. There is no choice between the perpetrators of atrocities and public servants waiting to oust these criminals from high places.
Labels: Chauvinism, Ethics, Iraq War, Justice, The Troops, War Crimes
posted by Ruth at 3:20 AM
2 Comments:
The number of crimes this administration has committed is countless. After all, our moron in chief is a war criminal as well. They actually enslaved the whole population in to enrich a small group of already rich people.
It is the Democratic party's enormous failure to get itself into a position of equality with McCain who is himself guilty of the administration crimes and fiascos.
I expect the squandered wealth of the country will provide a spectacle enuff for the voters to see where they've been ditched, and yep, it's the old debt prison they've got up and running.
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