December 28, 2004
CHOOSING SIDES:
A Devil's Island for Our Times: How can we let this evil persist? (Robert Scheer, December 28, 2004, LA Times)
It is time to invade Cuba and put an end to what has become another Devil's Island in the annals of government-sanctioned torture. The barbaric treatment of political prisoners on the island is made no more palatable by being conducted in the name of an ideology that claims to be liberating the world from its shackles.
Mr. Scheer undoubtedly thinks this is devastatingly clever, but all most of us will take away from the piece is that he would happily use military force to stop America from spreading democracy whereas he's always opposed using it to liberate Cuba from Castro's tyranny. That certainly confirms our dismal view of the Left, but can hardly be an argument intended to appeal to his fellow citizens. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 28, 2004 8:27 AM
We can't do that, Mr. Scheer, we signed an agreement --- oh, wait, we can. The USSR doesn't exist anymore.
Posted by: Sandy P at December 28, 2004 12:15 PMAnother part of his argument, such as it is, is that since we can't take on the biggest malefactor (to his little mind) then there's no justification, excuse or reason for taking on the little ones like his beloved Castro. Thus he gets to defend his position of ending up on the side of tyrrany.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at December 28, 2004 12:57 PMWho reads Robert Scheer? He's delusional.
Posted by: Bart at December 28, 2004 6:28 PMMost Americans would be perfectly happy if Bush responded to the criticism of Gitmo of the chattering classes by saying that he would happily end the problem by going down to Gitmo and slicing off the head of each prisoner with a machete.
Posted by: Bart at December 28, 2004 7:04 PMFrom Commies: The Old Left, The New Left and the Leftover Left, as quoted by David Horowitz:
"At the time [circa 1969], my friend Louis Menashe and I had a regular radio program on the Pacifica Network, a weekly political discussion show in which we interviewed Movement figures and engaged in political and theoretic discussion. Since Scheer was still considered an important figure on the Left…I got out my trusty, top-of-the-line SONY that WBAI had recommended we purchase, and began the interview....
For over two hours, Scheer talked and talked about the paradise he had seen during a recent visit to North Korea, about the greatness of Kim Il Sung, about the correct nature of his so-called juche ideology - evidently a word embodying Kim's redefinition of Marxism-Leninism in building Communism against all obstacles and with the entire world in opposition… At one point, I asked him incredulously: "Bob, do you really believe this crap?" Scheer responded with complete earnestness that he did - that Kim had charted out a path that other nations could and should take as an example of the art of the possible…."
Of course there are no political prisoners in North Korea -- unless you count those who are jailed for complaining about a shortage of food.
As for Cuba, there are no political prisoners on the Guantanamo side of the fence. But there are tens of thousands on the other side.