January 20, 2010 archive

Well, what did you expect?  The best analysis I’ve read so far is from John Aravosis–

Massachusetts, that kept Ted Kennedy in office for decades because he promised to provide affordable health care to every American, thinks President Obama is going too far by passing legislation that is, at best, half a loaf of what Kennedy had been proposing. Got that?

What other “far left” agenda could Bayh be talking about? Gay rights perhaps? First off, not much of an agenda in this White House, but in any case, we’re to believe that liberal views on social issues are ticking off a state that was the first in the country to have gay marriage? Seriously? How about abortion – Kennedy was pro-choice, never hurt him, and in any case, Obama is hardly God’s gift to choicers.

So it’s not health care reform or social issues, maybe it’s economic issues. Was it the Wall Street bailout? Not very liberal there. Maybe defense issues. Perhaps the mini-surge of additional troops in Afghanistan? Again, no liberal to be found.

So what exactly is Evan Bayh talking about when he says that our government has lurched too far to the left of Massachusetts? What part of President Obama’s agenda wasn’t Massachusetts familiar with when they voted for him over John McCain last November by double digits? And the irony is that Obama has never moved farther to the left in office than he promised on the campaign trail — he’s only moved to the right.

Double Dog Dare

By Kathy Kelly

January 19, 2010

I spent Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday in Washington, D.C. as part of the Witness Against Torture fast, which campaigns to end all forms of torture and has worked steadily for an end to indefinite detention of people imprisoned in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other secret sites where the U.S. has held and tortured prisoners.  We’re on day 9 of a twelve day fast to shut down Guantanmo, end torture, and build justice.

The community gathered for the fast has grown over the past week.  This means, however, that as more people sleep on the floor of St. Stephen’s church, there is a rising cacophony of snoring.  Our good friend, Fr. Bill Pickard, suggested trying to hear the snores as an orchestra, when I told him I’d slept fitfully last night.      

There is a young boy in Mir Ali, a town in North Waziristan, in Pakistan, who also lies awake at night, unable to sleep.  Israr Khan Dawar is 17 years old.  He told an AP reporter, on January 14th, that he and his family and friends had gotten used to the drones.  But now, at night, the sound grows louder and the drones are flying closer, so he and his family realize they could be a target.  He braces himself in fear of an attack.

We’re told that we will be more secure if the CIA continually attack the so-called lawless tribal areas and eliminates “the bad guys.”

In late May and early June of 2009, while visiting in Pakistan, a man from the village of Khaisor, also in North Waziristan, told us about his experience as a survivor of a drone attack.  Jane Mayer, writing in The New Yorker, mentioned that the people operating the drones and analyzing the surveillance intelligence have a word for people like him who managed to survive a blast and run away.  They are called “squirters.”  So, I suppose he would have been considered a squirter.  

This man, at some risk to himself, walked a long distance and took two buses to meet with us.  Because of travel restrictions, we would not have been allowed to visit him in North Waziristan. His village is so remote that there are no roads leading up to it.  Five hundred people live there.  Often, western media refers to his homeland as “the lawless tribal area.” One day, three strangers entered Khaisor and went to the home of vigil elders. For centuries, villagers have followed a code of hospitality, which demands that when strangers come to your door, you feed them and give them drink. It’s not as though you can point them toward a Motel 6 or a 7-11.  The strangers were welcomed into the home they approached and they left after having been served a meal.  They were long gone when, at 4:30 a.m. a U.S. drone, operated by the C.I.A., fired 2 Hellfire missiles into the home they had visited, killing 12 people, two of whom were village elders.  Children were dismembered and maimed.