Wear Orange

In solidarity with the Prisoners in Guantanamo Bay this Blog has changed it’s color to ORANGE.

Waterboarding a “needed” practice…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as water-boarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

Have a look at this series of pictures – they are real. The American soldier dressed in the Orange Coverall is about to undergo a practice that George W. Bush calls a practice “that have a proven track record of keeping America safe”.

It has been out-lawed by the military, but according to George W. Bush it’s to be practiced by the CIA, as “one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror…”

Note that this practice may not be used on US Citizens. Not even if they are suspected of being terrorists. But then non-US citizens are not human, so why bother respecting their rights not to be “subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” UDHR Article 5.

This guy, Joe Tougas, US Navy veteran, isn’t faking – it’s all real.

It takes quite a while for him to recover.

Then imagine that had he been “a suspected terrorist”…knowing that the moment he is sitting up it will all start over again. Death by drowning, is what it is meant to feel like. And it does.

This practice, George W. Bush claims is needed in his self-declared war on terror. The thing is, it is exclusively used on the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility. How long have those prisoners been isolated from the out-side? SIX YEARS. Which means that any intelligence any of them might be able to divulge is hopelessly out-dated. Of absolutely no use…you draw the conclusion of that.

One thing’s for sure – Joe Tougas is one hell of a soldier and well worth a standing ovation.

BBC on the same issue

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All photos are Copyright isa e used with permission

What about the other Veterans?

From Last surviving U.S. World War I vet honored by president – CNN.com:

Last surviving U.S. World War I vet honored by president

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Frank Woodruff Buckles was just 15 years old when he joined the U.S. Army. Soon, he was deployed to war and headed overseas on the Carpathia — the same ship used in the rescue mission of the Titanic.

He drove ambulances in Britain and France for soldiers wounded during World War I.

A few decades later, Buckles was in the Philippines as a civilian, on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was taken as a prisoner of war for 39 months in Manila, eating his meals out of a single tin cup.

More than 60 years later, he still clings to that cup, the one that sustained his life. Weathered with age, the cup has flecks of white paint chipped off. He keeps it as a reminder of his sacrifice for the country he so loves. He also still has his dog tags.

At age 107, there’s not much the war veteran, POW and West Virginia farmer hasn’t seen. But this week, this quietly accomplished man was humbled.

Buckles, the last known surviving World War I U.S. veteran, met the president of the United States and received a standing ovation at the Pentagon

What about all the other Veterans? The ones that came home from Nam, shattered, hated and despised? Or the ones that came home from Iraq in the 90’s, crazy from all kinds of chemicals, or the ones that come home now, with an eternal taint of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo to their names, for simply having been “over there”.

Where is their Standing Ovation at Pentagon?

SoB