While Howdy mouths words about loving freedom and democracy and peace and humna rights he has been sucking up to Algeria and its security forces.

"But no American – or British – newspaper has dared to investigate another, almost equally dangerous, relationship that the present US administration is forging behind our backs: with the military-supported regime in Algeria. For 10 years now, one of the world's dirtiest wars has been fought out in this country, supposedly between "Islamists" and "security forces", in which almost 200,000 people – mostly civilians – have been killed. But over the past five years there has been growing evidence that elements of those same security forces were involved in some of the bloodiest massacres, including the throat-cutting of babies.The Independent has published the most detailed reports of Algerian police torture and of the extrajudicial executions of women as well as men. Yet the US, as part of its obscene "war on terror", has cosied up to the Algerian regime. It is helping to re-arm Algeria's army and promised more assistance. William Burns, the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, announced that Washington 'has much to learn from Algeria on ways to fight terrorism'." - Robert Fisk,
i The Independent,
01/04/03


Indeed, American intelligence agencies can learn the most effective placement of electrodes on male and female genitalia to elicit the greatest level of pain to the prisoner. And of course there are the methods of making prisoners feel as if they are smothering, and other more basic techniqes such as finger and toe-nail pulling, red-hot pokers, beatings and the like.

Why is the US media ignoring these facts? Why do they continue to play softball with a president bent on war regardless of whether or not evidence exists for its pursuit? Why do Americans continue to tolerate the egregious excesses of this administration in its pursuit of "Homeland security"? (
i These are rhetorical questions, I am already aware of the answers to them.
)

It's time to wake up, America. Else we find ourselves wearing chains, blinking stupidly at our new masters, wondering what has happened.

For a text of the article, goto: http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=366199