Future Bard

The latest issue of Rolling Stone contains a devastating article, "The Unending Torture of Omar Khadr," about what goes on in our name in this so-called War on Terror. Only an excerpt is available online, the entire article is found at newsstands.

Omar Khadr, raised in a family of al-Queda fighters, has been held and tortured for the last four years in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba since the age of fifteen. During that time, American soldiers have beaten him, placed him in solitary confinement, threatened to have him raped, and sicked attack dogs on him. One time, they chained him in the fetal position for hours on end until his bowels release, doused him in cleaning solution, hoisted him up by his feet, and used him as a human mop to clean up the urine with his face.

No human being deserves this treatment. We are commanded by God and human decency to love our enemies. My America should never condones such treatment, especially to a child.
Have the terrorists won? Have we been terrorized into giving up our freedoms, our lives, and our very souls?

According to Dr. Martin Luther King, "A time comes when silence is betrayal."

My generation is all too silent about this war. Why are the most vocal advocates fortysomethings like Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and Cindy Sheenan or senior citizens like Seymour Hersh, Gore Vidal, and Kurt Vonnegut? Why is my generation so silent? Are we too busy worrying about finding a job? Looking for love in the club? Wondering which suitor Meredith will pick on Grey's Anatomy? What is wrong with us?

I will no longer be silent. This war is corrupting my country, conflagarating the entire world in conflict, and threatening the legacy of the Enlightenment.

We are becoming as ugly and reactionary as al-Queda. Enough is enough.