It is hard to believe that in 2006 the Congress of the United States is about to approve TORTURE! It appears as if the only obstacle to this becoming a reality is George W. Bush's refusal to sign this piece of legislation (which is highly unlikely since he is it's most ardent advocate). Once again I must ask myself "Where is the Democrat opposition?" or do the majority of Democrats approve torture too? Why do most of them continue to be "silent" when they should be screaming with indignation? Could they be blackmailed? I just don't know, but there has to be some explanation. Congress is on the verge of giving George W. Bush the approval to interpret the Geneva accords any way he sees fit. This action is going to hurt our soldiers in the Iraq and future wars because all any enemy has to do is respond in kind. Since you tortured our soldiers we will torture yours. The United States has the advanced technology to obliterate any specific community but that is only helpful when your goal is a military victory. What seems to be never taken into account is the political victory. Fallujah was flattened by a US bomb, but in the passing of time the idealogically driven survivors and sympathizers of the insurgent cause are returning to Fallujah. As poet Michael Frante says in one of his works "You can bomb the world to PIECES but you can't bomb the world to PEACE." One would have thought that this lesson was learned in Viet Nam...but it wasn't. The Iraqis who hung the charred bodies of US contractors on a bridge near the Tigris river were reacting to the torture of Iraqis (and others) in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. How could George W. Bush have the audacity to call someone else an "evil doer?" How could a prominent Democrat like Charles Rangel be furious with Hugo Chavez for calling George W. Bush a "Devil" when the actions of Mr. Bush and his partners can only be described as "diabolic". Only recently have we learned about how the Bush administration told Pakistani leader Pervez Musharref that if he didn't cooperate with the "War on Terror" the US would blow Pakistan back to the stone age. So, Musharref had to become an unwilling partner. It didn't stop there either: the US paid thousands of dollars to Pakistani citizens to expose their fellow countrymen as members of Al-Qaida. If you didn't like your neighbor or if you needed a lot of money (Six thousand dollars will go a long way in Pakistan) what better way to get this money than giving the US names of people who work with Al Qiada (even if they really didn't)? Vice president Richard Cheney bluntly told Vermont senator Patrick Leahy "F___ You" Where were the New York Post and the Daily News then? Both "newspapers" had front page headlines that not only denounced Hugo Chavez but insulted him as well. Major media is staunchly supporting all Bush endeavors, but it is doing so in varying degrees, FOX is overt and everyone else is covert. (Keith Olbermann, Pacifica and Air America are the only exceptions) I was not aware of any sense of outrage from Rangel or any other Democrat when it came to the assault on Senator Leahy. It is now common knowledge that torture, besides being morally wrong is also ineffective. Anyone would say anything to stop the pain of a torturous act. Once again I can't help but make the comparison between Germany at the time Hitler was gaining prominence and the United States today. Little by little Congress is letting Bush get by with one blatant attack on the Constitution after another: just like the "good" German did in Hitler's time. Although thousands of people have been incarcerated and illegally transported to places in Morocco, Afghanistan and Jordan to be tortured (under the guise of "extraordinary rendition" ) there have been shocklingly just two convictions, while thousands of law abiding citizens with no involvement of war activity have been frightened (and in some cases attacked) by vicious dogs, deprived of sleep, exposed to extremely cold temperatures and high decibel rock music as well as being sexually humiliated all in the effort to export "Democracy". We don't have "Democracy" here in the United States anymore, how could we possibly attempt to bring it anywhere else. George W. Bush's brand of "Democracy" in very different from the true definition of Democracy and many people around the world are seeing it more clearly day by day. We should not be fooled into thinking that when George W. Bush leaves office in 2008 that this will be the end of Bushism. IF... he decides to leave office it is likely that his successor will either continue the same policies or a modified version of these policies. Even if a Democrat wins in 2008 we may have token advances domestically but I fully expect for the war game to continue intact. I say this because most Democrats continue to support the war financially. Many Democrats speak out against the war (probably most of them) but at the same time MOST of them continue to vote for the funds to continue the Iraq war) Only 22 Democrats have voted to stop funding this illegal Iraq war. The same forces that stole the 2000 and 2004 elections are poised to do the same in 2008 (Visit www.gregpalast.com). The Bush machine has a very powerful ally, who is primarily white, lower middle class and a born again Christian who votes religiously following the orders of Dobson, Falwell or Robertson. He (or she) doesn't give a damn about his (or her) self-interest when it comes to health care and insurance just as long as he (or she) can identify with affluent properous predominantly white upper class and at the same time be able to look down on others like the non-white minorites. These are the people who vote in large numbers!!!! at a time when just a little over 50% of US citizens go to the polls. The "other" people who vote......their votes are siphoned off or discarded. We never hear about voting machine problems in Boise, Idaho or the suburbs of Indiana. So many who aren't part of the racist, Bible-toting conservative constituency are saying things like "Why should I vote? My vote is not going to count anyway." This is exactly what the Bush people want "them" to think. That is also why TORTURE will be approved in the United States of America under the auspices of the George W. Bush administration.