By Lindsay Beyerstein
Posted on November 30, 2006, Printed on December 2, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/lindsay/44955/
The Nitpicker spots some good news on the civil liberties front: A court awarded $2 million to an Oregon man who was wrongfully arrested and detained for two weeks on suspicion of terrorism because of a fingerprinting fiasco.
Brandon Mayfield was locked up for two weeks in 2004 after the authorities mistakenly linked him to a Spanish terrorist through botched fingerprint identification. Mr. Mayfield, an attorney, says he plans to continue is legal challenges to the constitutionality of the PATRIOT Act.
Though I have no deep understanding of US-Iraqi diplomacy pre-war, I don’t think that the US exhausted all peaceful options. Simply by framing the situation so dichotomously, as pro- or anti-war, irresponsible and ignorant decisions were made. Scott Ritter claims that it was actually a US national strategy and that Iran is next on the agenda. It’s certainly not too soon to avoid further wars by thinking more peacefully, creatively and dialectically.
Here is another example of an organization claiming to know truth and proper morality, spreading their message through hate and then outed for being practitioners of what they speak against. It’s too bad that people claim that their group has THE truth. That often creates an “us and them” scenario in which a person is left with few options: do I want to be on their side with truth and good or the other side, which I guess by default, is lies and evil. This type of thinking is dangerous to any society that hopes to be inclusive and possess multiple perspectives. The US can be stronger by considering the value of its many groups and then taking the initiative to understand their opinion.
Democrats have experienced a week of euphoria – congressional hold, Rummy’s retirement and talks of presidential impeachment. Will the new political stronghold offer any alternatives to US foreign relations, international trade and human rights violations or is the new blood simply another wave of marionettes?
Vandana Shiva has an courageous and insightful understanding of the negative aspects of global policy decisions. Lisa and I are going to NYC to see her on November 18th at the International Forum on Globalization’s presentation of Indigenous Peoples Resistance to Economic Globalization: A Celebration of Victories, Rights and Culture. paul
