Friday, December 23, 2005

Tiahrt defends pro-torture stand


Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) sent a rebuttal to the The Wichita Eagle, Dec. 23, 2005, defending his stand in support of torture.
In “REP. TODD TIAHRT: REVEALING TACTICS” Tiahrt said:

The Eagle editorial board accused me of "shameful" activity for opposing an unnecessary provision that banned an activity that is already illegal ("Ban it: Take stand against torture," Dec. 17 editorial).”

Of course, The Eagle was right.

One of his main points:

“What the board and others either refuse to recognize or fail to understand is how this so-called "anti-torture" provision puts our national security in jeopardy. In addition to calling for a ban on activity that is already illegal under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, the provision requires that all U.S. interrogation procedures be documented in the Army Field Manual. This means that terrorists could learn how we will attempt to get information from them, which allows them to be fully prepared for U.S. interrogation if apprehended. This is clearly not in the best interest of the security of our country.”

This is pure paranoia. We constantly condemn other countries for using torture and they all say the same thing; “our national security (is) in jeopardy.” Mr. Tiahrt, have we really sunk that low?










Another argument:
“In fact, 122 members of the House of Representatives opposed the measure, including the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. In other words, the leaders of every House committee dealing with intelligence and the war on terrorism opposed the McCain amendment.”

He uses the old “everyone is doing it” excuse. All this proves is that there are at least 122 other assholes in the Congress (Not counting the assholes in Washington) about as bad as he is.

Also:
“The U.S. government does not condone torture. Those who have engaged in such despicable abuses, like those at Abu Ghraib, have been punished. The well-publicized scandals are the result of misconduct, a lack of integrity by a few and the policy of none.”

We all know, and evidence is now surfacing, that Abu Ghraib is just the tip of the ice-burg and not an isolated incident. Mr. Tiahrt spends so much of his time fundraising, he probably didn’t look into the matter any further.

And:
“Having been to Iraq and Cuba, I can testify to the high level of treatment afforded to the detainees in U.S. custody. From religious accommodations to culturally sensitive meals, detainees are well-treated. Our troops are faithfully fulfilling and exceeding all domestic and international laws and obligations, including those of the Geneva Conventions.”

Tiahrt misses a lot no matter where he goes. Being intelligent has never been his strong point. But the most idiotic statement he made concerns the Geneva Convention. Was he asleep when our president said the Geneva Convention didn’t apply to these “illegal combatants?”


Tiahrt couldn’t resist this statement:

” but to call it a "shameful" act is both uninformed and unnecessarily antagonistic.”

Actually The Eagle was being easy on him. Most people I know would have called Tiahrt an accomplice to torture, murder and xenophobia.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Tiahrt said we don’t need to ban torture



According to The Wichita Eagle, December 20, 2005:

“Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, explained his vote last week against the House version of the McCain anti-torture measure this way, as quoted in The New York Times: “It’s absolutely unnecessary” -- because existing laws already prohibit torture, he said.”

He needs to check out the site Witness Against Torture.







Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Famous X-mass villains



Some of these X-mass villains are greedy and self centered, but learn from their misstates. The others can’t. Guess which are which.





Sunday, December 11, 2005

Tiahrt tries his hand (actually foot-in-mouth) at war comments

It was inevitable that Tiahrt would try and make a statement on the war. His only real expertise is avoiding campaign finance laws. But he just had to give this a try. I, of course, had to respond.

“REP. TODD TIAHRT: RESOLVE TO WIN IN IRAQ”
The Wichita Eagle, Dec. 11, 2005
“The Eagle editorial board has recently opined about both the debate regarding troop withdrawal in Iraq and whether America is safer since the horrific terrorist attacks in September 2001. Though they were written about separately, these two topics are unavoidably intertwined.”

Todd, how many of your family members are over there fighting? None? Oh… so you favor the rest of us sending our children over to finish the job.

“By rooting out the terrorists and making Iraq the central battleground in the global war on terrorism rather than the United States, we are indeed making America safer. However, we must support our military and allow it to finish the job it has started to ensure our country's future security.”

Do you have any idea how cowardly that makes us look? So kill lots of people in Iraq, even our own sons and daughters, as long as the rest of us feel safe and cozy.

“Tremendous progress has been made in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was removed from power. Thousands of terrorists have been killed or captured. Coalition forces have trained and equipped more than 200,000 Iraqi security forces, with more than 36 Iraqi battalions now capable of leading operations. An Iraqi constitution has been democratically approved, and basic freedoms are spreading across the country.”

We can see the progress, with constant suicide bombings and a continuing death toll on Americans. The death toll on Iraquis is so high, no one really keeps count.

“Under Saddam's rule, there was no freedom of speech or of the press. Today, Iraq has 44 commercial television stations, 72 commercial radio stations, and more than 100 independent newspapers.”

And as we recently found out, US officials were paying those papers to plant phony stories about how well things are going. Now that press freedom US style.

“Iraq is paramount in the terrorist strategy to destroy Western civilization. A July 9 letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, two senior al-Qaida members, clearly articulated the terrorists' goals.
First, the terrorists will force American and coalition troops out of Iraq. Second, they will destabilize the democratically elected Iraqi government and replace the region's moderate Muslim governments with Islamic jihadists, creating a Pan-Islamic state. Third, they will use Iraq to launch attacks against the West, including the United States. The terrorists also call on using the media to forward these goals.”

The democracy in Iraq is a sham. There are not “moderate” Arab states. That’s why we have terrorists.

“The terrorists will not stop if we leave Iraq. The terrorists will not stop until they are destroyed.”

How are we going to know when the last terrorists are dead? You don’t answer this. It leaves us with open ended permanent war.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Tiahrt calls Hurricane Rita victims liars





Phill Otto was vacation in Cancun Mexico when Hurricane Rita hit. As stated in The Wichita Eagle, Nov. 13, 2005, Otto gave some tips as what to do and not to do during and after a hurricane.
His second tip was:
“Rely on yourself – and don’t expect help from your government. In my case, this was the only time in my life I needed direct help from my country, and it failed me. In this season of disasters it seems unbelievable that not one in our government would come to our aid.”

There were some additional comments the Eagle left out:

Monday morning was when the British consulate arrived and took information on all the British citizens in the shelter. They were informed that busses were lined up and airplanes staged to get them out as soon as the airport opened. The relief visible on their faces was evident. We had befriended a young English couple there on their honeymoon, and you could see the relief they felt as well as the confusion why the US had not arrived.That night I heard a radio message from the US consulates office. A Mexican tourist had a radio running on batteries. The talk was all in Spanish until the Consulate came on. She stated, in English, " The US consulate from Mexico City is in Merida, assembling my team, and will visit every evacuation. center tonight and tomorrow morning". Hope renewed. The next day, no one showed up. The roads to Cancun were flooded. After 36 hours of rain I cannot believe they didn't know that. The word I got was that the roads were flooded and they couldn't make it in, so they were in Merida, encouraging Americans to get there, and they would help get us home. If they couldn't get in, I am not sure how they expected us to get out. No one got the message anyway, as we were all in shelters with no power and no communications. Then a lucky break.One of the members of our group, Brian Hubbard, was from Washington DC, and had worked with the government in the past. He collected information from all the Americans, and was able to get in contact with the Consulates office. At that point he confirmed that if we could get to Merida, we could get help getting out. We were still on our own to get there. He encouraged us to get in touch with our families back home and have them call our Representatives and Senators to see what could be done. We were able to contact our Daughters, and had them start making calls. The results of these calls, and the lack of action by the US consulates office, and is why I say do not trust the government to help. I am not sure why we even bother to have embassies and consulates in foreign lands. I was under the assumption that if you were an American in trouble abroad these people would help. With thousands of Americans trapped, no one came to Cancun. We were told if we could get to them they would help. Now the information from home starts coming in. We were told they did not know where we were. This was not true. As I stated earlier Brian had informed the consulate’s office where we were. The British found us. As the days went on we were visited by representatives from Sun travel, Royal travel, even Expedia.com. They found us, and helped the members who traveled with them get out, some chartering flights for their people. Unfortunately ours, Travelocity, was not one of them.
At no time did the US or Red Cross visit us.
Now the responses from our elected officials started coming in. My daughter contacted the offices of our Congressman, (Rep.) Todd Tiahrt (Kansas-R). She asked what was being done to help get people out over there, and she told them the British had already been in. The woman staff member who took the call told my daughter that she didn't know where we were getting that information but we were wrong, no one is over there yet and no one has been rescued, there is no way in.
Mr. Tiahrt, the information was a relay of a first hand account from one of your constituents trapped in an evacuation center. If you don't know it is wrong, don't say it is. The congressman's office was rude to my daughter, and dismissed her without offering any help. Perhaps Mr. Tiahrt has forgotten who he works for. Congressmen don't work for the political party, or the special interest groups, they work for me. -I hire them to represent me, and I can fire them. The callus attitude towards our situation placed my wife's safety at risk, and that becomes personal. She and thousands of other Americans were trapped overseas, and our government was not making any attempt to help.