Editor,
It can be called nothing short of comical to watch the U.S. government scold communist China over its treatment of human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng and his family. That is not to say that I find the torture of dissidents to be a joking matter, but at the same time, should one who lives in a glass house really be throwing bricks?
After all, let us have a cursory glance at the kangaroo court which is unfolding in Guantanamo Bay. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is being tried for masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on a confession obtained after he was tortured 183 times through waterboarding. I, for one, have never been subjected to waterboarding, which is intended to simulate the sensation of drowning, but I can’t imagine it to be a very pleasant experience.
Also, if I was subjected to that torture 183 times, then I think it’s fair to say I would confess to just about anything in order to stop the torture.
The Obama administration has forbidden Mohammed from discussing with his civilian attorney about whether he was tortured. So, why this strange rule? Mohammed’s attorney, David Nevin, said, “And now the government wants to kill Mr. Mohammed. They want to extinguish the last eyewitness, so he can never talk about his torture. They want political cover, so he’ll be convicted and executed.”
The Obama administration wants to tie up loose ends in regard to the official story about what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. Remember that official story? The bad-guy Muslims in a cave halfway around the world somehow breached the most sophisticated air defense system in the world and killed U.S. civilians? Mohammed will most likely be the sacrificial lamb that seeks to assuage the uneasy minds of many Americans who find the official story of what happened on 9/11 hard to believe. The truth is that 9/11 was an inside job meant to justify wars abroad and erode civil liberties at home. Sorry if the truth hurts.
Muhajir Romero
UNM student
