As ye sow, so shall ye reap…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 2:50 PM Permalink

…is, I believe the old expression for what happens when you forget the Golden Rule or even just forget to treat all peoples with respect, don't assume guilt, and seek the benefit of a working and fair system of justice before you put people in prison.

From the WaPo:

The release of hundreds of prisoners from Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq, has facilitated the revival of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Basra, Baghdad and the borderless expanse here along the Euphrates, according to police chiefs, intelligence officials in the Interior Ministry and residents.…

Their warnings make for an irony at the beginning of the end of the American presence here. As the United States dismantles Bucca, viewed by many as an appalling miscarriage of justice where prisoners were not charged or permitted to see evidence against them, freed detainees may end up swelling the ranks of a subdued insurgency.…

Since leading the invasion of Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein in April 2003, the United States has detained about 100,000 people in the country. At the height of the U.S. troop buildup, or "surge," 26,000 of those prisoners were incarcerated in Bucca, a sprawling camp near the Kuwaiti border in southern Iraq. That number has fallen to 9,600. In all, since Jan. 1, the military has released nearly 2,000 prisoners, and it plans to close the facility by summer.…

I think it would be entirely fair to say that when you treat 100,000 prisoners as we have treated these, you have manufactured 100,000 new enemies, or at least people whom will never tout the benefits of "freedom, American-style."

The bush years were the most shameful years in American history, on a par with slavery and refusing women the vote, and it is a sad commentary for America that none of the uppity-ups of the bush maladministration responsible for this debacle and the others that have beset the country and reduced our country to the status of a banana republic with no bananas.

Labels: bush hypocrisy, bush war doctrine, cheney secrecy, conspiracy, disinformation, executive orders