There have been a couple of items in the news that have made clear the mixed messages and double standards applied by President Obama (and I am afraid most Americans).
First, I and many others are awaiting the release of the long overdue Senate report on torture, rendition, etc. by the United States. While President Obama has said on numerous occasions that torture is wrong and the United States was wrong when it did it and while on his second day in office he banned torture (who would have thought that we needed an executive order to ban torture), President Obama seems willing to permit the CIA to redact the Senate report so as to make a mockery of transparency. For a great report on this issue, please read Mark Mazzetti's article in The New York Times (here). The last paragraph of that article reads:
On Monday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that “it is important that a declassification process be carried out that protects sources and methods and other information that is critical to our national security.”The White House misses the point, there needs to be a balance between transparency and national security and the CIA has proven over and over again that it is not the agency that should be doing the balancing.
But the real problem is that President Obama refuses to hold the ones who ordered the torture accountable for their illegal and immoral actions. There is a great op-ed piece in The New York Times by retired Major General Taguba, the Army general who did the report on Abu Ghraib and was eventually forced to retire because he told the truth and believed in accountability (here). In a true understatement he writes, "accountability for the architects of torture has proved elusive".
The message being sent by President Obama is very clear to future leaders, political, military and CIA, that even if you do things that are clearly illegal and immoral you do not have to worry about being held accountable either by open disclosure of what you did or prosecution for the war and other crimes that you committed.
Second, President Obama continues to deport and try to deport unaccompanied minors and parents with children who are fleeing violence, poverty and death in Central America. These people are refugees many of whom are entitled to asylum under our laws and certainly our values. Yet despite his statements about due process, President Obama continues to fast track deportation without giving these refugees appropriate legal representation or due process.
Just as I was embarrassed to be an American when President George W. Bush was torturing and rendering people, I am embarrassed that today in my name, President Obama is sending child refugees back to Central America to face violence and in many cases death. I commend to you an article in The New York Times by Julia Preston (here). It is a heartbreaking account that saddens me to think that our country and this President could be so heartless.
The White House has said over and over again that its heartless behavior is necessary to send a message to other children and parents in Central America that they should not make the treacherous journey to the United States to save their lives because they will be sent right back.
So the two messages that President Obama is sending are contradictory and despicable. If you are a powerful United States President or other leader, feel free to break the law with impunity, but if you are a child refugee fleeing Central America to save your life, stay home and die because there is no room for you in the United States.
What has happened to the country I love?
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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