McCarthyism Alive & Kicking in Washington-RHC

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Radio Havana Cuba - Viewpoint - 09 January 2002

McCARTHYISM IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN WASHINGTON

Under the now familiar banner of the war on terrorism, U.S.
President George W. Bush has, as the New Year gets under way, more
power than in the wildest dreams of any of his predecessors. And, as
always, with such power comes abuse.

Donna Huanca's art museum in Houston, which exhibited a painting of
Bush, which was deemed as insulting to the president, is a case in
point. She received a visit from the FBI. Thousands of others have
been arrested for the mildest of suspicions. Most of them are of
Middle Eastern or Muslim origin. One man had the misfortune to have
applied for his driver's license in the same center 20 minutes before
one of the September 11th terrorists did the same. Although he had
nothing to do with the attacks, he is Pakistani and is thus a
suspect. He has been held for 3 months on the flimsy excuse that his
residency is in question.

George W Bush has even gone so far as to pass legislation that is
anti-Constitutional in his efforts to consolidate his power. On 19th
November a law was rushed into being restricting employment at the
nation's airports to U.S. citizens only. Thousands of resident
foreigners - almost all of them non-Arabs - were affected as most US
airport security is in the hands of foreign employees. Yet the
September 11th terrorists were nearly exclusively of Arab origin.
Where is the logic in forcing workers from their jobs just to satisfy
a national desire for revenge? Foreigners can't vote and they're
always being blamed for the nation's ills, so they're a safe target
when things are looking bad.

Next we have military tribunals empowered to lock suspected
terrorists up without any concerns about civilian laws of due process
and habeas corpus. Suspects can be hauled before one of these secret
tribunals, before an unnamed judge on the strength of an anonymous
informer and held incommunicado for as long as it sees fit. The
Middle Ages "Upon his majesty's pleasure" comes to mind, when the
king was able to imprison someone he disliked for as long as felt
like doing so.

What with paintings now being considered threats to national
security, and a man who had criticized Bush in a gym in San Francisco
being investigated, First Amendment US scholar David Cole from
Georgetown University in Washington says that the government has
stepped over the line.

Bush has strengthened his father's old agency, the CIA, as well as
the FBI. A college student in North Carolina was questioned for
almost an hour for having a poster in her room criticizing the
president's support for the death penalty.

The White House has clearly taken advantage of post September 11th
fear and loathing to pass legislation that sets back civil rights by
decades. Bush and his Defense Department head, John Ashcroft were
quick to put their new found power in action in Afghanistan,
installing a puppet government that is likely to prove just as bad as
the previous one - if not worse. It should not be forgotten that
Washington has a habit of supporting nasty regimes - from Sukarno, to
Marcos, Batista, Somoza, Mobutu, Pinochet, Duarte, Stroessner, the
Shah, Rios Mott, Papa Doc Duvalier and the Argentine generals. These
were just some of the leaders that perpetrated death, torture and
disappearances on their peoples - others such as D'Aubuisson,
Constantin, Montesinos, Posada Cariles and Bosch were trained by
Washington to carry out the most despicable acts in the name of
"Democracy" and "Liberty". The same words and reasoning are being
used again. Joseph McCarthy appears to have raised his ugly head.
Many fear that, indeed, the country is going into another period of
red-baiting - meaning, in Bush's words, "if you're not with us,
you're against us", and outright repression of those who do speak
out.

As Mme Roland mounted the steps of the guillotine during the height
of the French Revolution she looked at the familiar statue of Liberty
placed near the scaffold and cried out, "Oh, Liberty! What crimes are
committed in your name!"

(c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
 
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