Will Bush Be Held Accountable?

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has begun a criminal investigation into the Bush Administration’s attempts to destroy evidence of torture and other violations of international and U.S. law in it’s so-called War on Terror. It has been learned that the CIA videotaped its torture of prisoners, but then destroyed the tapes to avoid becoming entangled in legal complications, refusing even to acknowledge their existence when various investigative bodies subpoenaed them, all with the knowledge and approval of the President, Vice-President, and Mr. Mukasey’s predecessor as Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales.

The Bush Administration’s flagrant disregard for international law, for the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the basic standards of human decency on which this country is based may finally becoming under legal scrutiny. David Addington’s memoes to Mr. Cheney supporting the concept of “the unitary Presidency,” under which the White House can choose, at its own discretion, whether to follow the law or not depending on whether IT decides the issue involves national security, cannot be allowed to stand. Such a precedent will undermine the very essence of what it means to be America and lead this country down a path already being blazed by Vladimir Putin. For those Americans who support and embrace torture and who consider the Constitution a nuisance in attacking anyone with whom they disagree, this legal investigation may serve as a well-deserved wake-up call. This isn’t Iran or Russia or China… or Texas. This is the United States of America and we are better than that.

Confirming My Atheism

It was just a year after my loss of faith that the first of two terrible incidents occurred that confirmed my atheism. It was the morning after Bobby Kennedy was shot. I was taking swimming lessons from the Red Cross at the local college. Just before noon that Wednesday, I was leaving the natatorium, walking to my bicycle in my swimming suit, tee-shirt, and blue canvas sneakers. A man approached me and asked if I were in the swimming program. When I answered that I was, he insisted I accompany him to his office to fill out extra forms. As this was 1968, boys had not become wary of strange adults making such demands. I did as I was told. When the man had satisfied his desires, he warned me not to tell anyone about what had just happened or he would kill my parents. I was terrified and believed him. Seven months later, my father died in the crash of a Piper Apache in an ice storm on the plains of the American Midwest. He was the foundation of my life, the only force of stability and encouragement I knew and though I intellectually knew I was not responsible for his death, emotionally, I was convinced the man thought I had told what happened and he had killed my father in retribution.  I never said anything about what happened until I was thirty-five.

There were adults who tried to tell me that God had a plan for Daddy and had taken him for a reason. I could think of no possible reason God would end the life of a good and decent man; nor, could I think why he would permit a ten year-old boy to be terrorized in such a vicious way. I still don’t. I still cannot accept that a loving and omnipotent God would allow the horrors and suffering that afflict our world. How barbarous and cruel that he should look at life as a test. How selfish and arrogant that he would demand worship or cast those who failed or refused into the fires of Hell for eternity. It made no sense. It was just not possible.

If I had any second thoughts about my atheism before, the events of June 1968 and of January 1969 ended them, and though there have been times in adolescence and adulthood when I wavered in my conviction, when desperation and hopelessness led me to the extreme of trying to believe, I have been reconfirmed in my certitude that there is no God and I now find more peace and serenity than I have known since my childhood. There are still challenges in my life, still pain and uncertainty; but, I am facing those challenges with more strength than ever and making the best of what time I have left.