I grew up watching cartoons like Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes, and I have got to say that the current Iraqi Judicial system is more whacky and zaney than anything I’ve seen on TV. A fundamental necessity for stability in Iraq is for them to establish a bias-free judicial system that punishes Shiites and Sunnis equally. According to THIS article in the Washington Post, they are about as bias-free as Fox News. Two high-ranking Shiite government officials were charged with kidnapping and killing many Sunnis. The US and Iraqi prosecutors put together a case with many witnesses in an effort to bring the defendants to trial. It was a miracle the case was even heard in court, after Iraqi’s Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki allowed the case to be heard. The case charged that ambulances and hospitals had been used to round up, torture, and kill Sunni patients, among other accusations. One judge from the panel was thrown off the case after reportedly promising to find the defendants not-guilty. The prosecutors had to try several times to get the case heard by the panel, after several failed attempts when the defense attorneys convinced judges there was insufficient evidence. US officials have reported that the panel must be holding these defendants to a different measure of “reasonable doubt” than Sunni defendants. “This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken,” said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke anonymously because he couldn’t discuss the case. “And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.” The point I’d like to make is, we find this case illogical and completely ridiculous. But, the reason is because we have grown up in a totally different society than those in Iraq. Comparing the US judicial system with Iraq’s is like comparing Apples to Orange Flavored Lifesavers Candy. When our forefathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and planted the seeds of a fair and impartial Judicial system, they were essentially declaring that “We the people” will rule ourselves. When we go overseas and set up governments to our standards and try to give birth to little America-clones in the rest of the world, it doesn’t work. Before we got our independence, we needed to fight the British, throw them from our land, and establish a fair government free of oppression. Things would have gone differently if France had come fight the British for us, section us off from ourselves, and establish our government for us. You think we hate France now, imagine if we all had to speak French.

Posted By: Kevin March 10th, 2008
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Waterboarding might sound like a great weekend activity. Take the kids to the lake and spend the day boating and waterboarding. However, it is my duty to inform you that it was actually used by the CIA to torture detainees suspected of terrorism or having connections to Al Qaeda. Now, before cheering and throwing your hands in the air in support of torturing Al Qaeda suspects, let me remind you that Bush has the Department of Justice in his pocket.

Alberto Gonzales said that he “did not recall” incidents/questions that were asked of him at the Senate Judiciary Committee 72 times. Gonzo resigned his position and lawyers everywhere cheered because he was making them all look bad after winning Lawyer of the Year by TIME. In a perfect world, we all have unalienable rights that the government can’t intrude and we all get to go through something called a judicial system before being punished for crimes. Waterboarding is torture by definition, and by poll questionaires- which is truly how we judge the system. Conservatives are supposed to support smaller government control, less spending, etc. Then why the hell do they elect presidents that invade our rights, lie to us, goto wars where we don’t belong, and waste our money? Then again, this guy puts up a pretty good argument for torture…

Posted By: Kevin March 7th, 2008
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Senator John McCain (AZ, R) has won the Republican nomination and will be the nominee running for president this November in the general election. He has won 20 states, against Mike Huckabee’s 8. After winning Texas yesterday, he secured the last delegates he needed to become the Republican nominee.

In 2000, Bush beat McCain for the Republican nomination and today Bush endorsed McCain. Bush had stated that because of his low approval ratings, if his opposition would be more helpful to McCain than his endorsement, he would offer it. Most of their views coincide with one another. They are both not opposed to the war in Iraq, and they have similar views on immigration. They differ mostly on taxes, campaign finance, and issues on the environment. Those are all important differences, but I think that this November people are heavily against the war in Iraq. I think the war’s unpopularity has raised a lot of issues of morality within the Bush administration and aligning himself with that administration will hurt McCain. McCain is a strong candidate for the Republican party. He is known as a fiscal conservative, which appeals to Republicans but he also supports some liberal issues like leniency for illegal immigrants and he has favored caps on carbon dioxide emissions, which many Republicans find too heavily regulated now. McCain talks as if he is anti-corporation and seems boldly against pork-barrel spending and earmarks. To Republicans he appears to be shifting too far to the left, but I think that makes him a much stronger candidate than Huckabee. This November he will be up against Hillary or Obama, and this year the Democrats are enthusiastic about a new run for the white house. I think the only way the Republicans have a shot, given the low approval of the current administration, is to nominate McCain. Many Democratic voters may find themselves questioning the Democratic candidate this November since there has been so much heat for the nomination, and with McCain running, many may find themselves voting Republican. Probably way more than the number of Republicans who are so far right they will vote for Obama for spite alone. Hopefully the enthusiasm within the Democratic party will be enough to win in November.

Posted By: Kevin March 5th, 2008
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