Two Cheers and a Boo!

Imagine a house with fifty front doors.  People come and go freely through forty-nine of them, carrying goods to and fro, and visiting the house for fun.   Someone, though, has barricaded shut the fiftieth door, and is standing in front of it, scowling, arms folded, saying to himself “That’ll show ‘em!”   That is the equivalent of the US blockade on Cuba.   A futile and useless gesture, undertaken to win votes at home from Cuban refugees rather than to have any effect on the island itself.   Only in the US are Cuban cigars, and other goods, illegal – thought it seems that they are easy enough to find if you know where to look.   And Americans are denied the chance to visit the place, while there is a thriving tourist industry, with scheduled flights to Havana leaving every day from airports in South America, Mexico, Canada, and Europe.  So a cheer for President Obama for finally making a move to end this ridiculous situation.

And another cheer for finally admitting that carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases, present a danger to life on our planet.   Gosh, who’d a-thought it?  I’m glad this now seems to be US policy, but it is a bit like Washington announcing that they have reached the conclusion that wheels should be round while the rest of the world has been happily trundling the things about for years.  Still, we no longer have a president who is a front man for the corporate sector and whose environmental policies were a love note to the polluters.  It’s all progress, it’s all good.

But a big boo – or even a what-the-fuck? –  to President Obama for declaring that CIA torturers will be immune from prosecution.  What sort of example does that set?  Apparently it is because they were simply doing what they were ordered to do.  Very glib.  But that issue has been settled, or at least we thought it had.  It was determined in 1946 at Nuremberg, that obeying orders was not a defence.  It saved no one from punishment.  The Nuremberg principles were laid down to govern the conduct of future warfare, and it was declared that an illegal order must not be obeyed.  Men who had obeyed orders to torture and murder were imprisoned, or hanged.  So it is disappointing, to say the least, that the CIA operatives who went round doing what the Gestapo had done – torturing people – will not suffer the consequences of their actions.  “What did you do in the Iraq war, Daddy?”  

It was also declared at Nuremberg that the planning and initiating of an aggressive war was itself a crime.  Several men were hanged for it.  Now, I am against anyone being hanged for anything, but the fact that it is deemed an offence under international law does raise interesting questions about the culpability of Bush, Blair, Cheney and the rest.
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Comments

[Julia Smith]

Love your post today, Nicholas. A definite boo about the torturers. If there's anything in this world that freaks me out completely - besides tornados - it's torture. Strangely, I'm dealing with that subject in a couple of my WIPs.

As for Cuba, I couldn't be happier. My mom and sister just went there last month for a fantastic vacation. I can't wait till the US can enjoy Cuba like everyone else can. The funny thing about Cuba being without all the 'conveniences' of modern life has resulted in Cubans receiving a Nobel Prize for organic farming. My mom and sister (who, like me are very allergic to all things chemical) noticed immediately that the food tasted incredibly good. Mom said, "These are very happy cows" when she ate any dairy, and likewise the eggs and chicken were easily identified as free range and organic by taste alone. I dearly hope that Cubans hold onto this method of farming in their soon-to-be-more-modernized future.

[Rasmenia]

I agree with your woo-hoos & the boo. In regard to the boo issue, it seems like common sense to me.

Yeah, I know... it's actually not so common.

But, if someone orders me, "Hey, go stab that guy in the face." I'm pretty sure that I won't do it, simply because I know that it's not right to just go around stabbing faces.

These people knew that what they were doing was wrong. Either way, they were screwed, but I'd rather go down for disobeying an order than for being a torturer or murderer.

I have to go along with your "what-the-fuck"... I mean, torture & murder is a crime, regardless of orders.

Then again... I've never been in a war, so there's a lot that I don't know, which makes it easier for me to run my mouth & joke about stabbing faces.

What I do know is that I'd like to visit Cuba, but have only been able to do this vicariously through European friends who have been there & have been nice enough to show me the pictures of their fabulous Cuban vacation.