We Are All Prisoners Now, By Paul Craig Roberts

[Echo In Light]

We Are All Prisoners Now
By Paul Craig Roberts

“They’re locking them up today

They’re throwing away the key

I wonder who it’ll be tomorrow, you or me?”

The Red Telephone (LOVE, 1967)

12/26/07 "ICH" -- At Christmas time it has been my habit to write a column in remembrance of the many innocent people in prisons whose lives have been stolen by the US criminal justice (sic) system that is as inhumane as it is indifferent to justice. Usually I retell the cases of William Strong and Christophe Gaynor, two men framed in the state of Virginia by prosecutors and judges as wicked and corrupt as any who served Hitler or Stalin.

This year is different. All Americans are now imprisoned in a world of lies and deception created by the Bush Regime and the two complicit parties of Congress, by federal judges too timid or ignorant to recognize a rogue regime running roughshod over the Constitution, by a bought and paid for media that serves as propagandists for a regime of war criminals, and by a public who have forsaken their Founding Fathers.

Americans are also imprisoned by fear, a false fear created by the hoax of “terrorism.” It has turned out that headline terrorist events since 9/11 have been orchestrated by the US government. For example, the alleged terrorist plot to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower was the brainchild of a FBI agent who searched out a few disaffected people to give lip service to the plot devised by the FBI agent. He arrested his victims, whose trial ended in acquittal and mistrial.

Many Europeans regard 9/11 itself as an orchestrated event. Former cabinet members of the British, Canadian and German governments and the Chief of Staff of the Russian Army have publicly expressed their doubts about the official 9/11 story. Recently, a former president of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, said in an interview with the newspaper, Corriere della Sera (November 30, 2007), that “democratic elements in America and Europe, with the Italian center-left in the forefront, now know that the 9/11 attack was planned and executed by the American CIA and Mossad in order to blame the Arab countries, and to persuade the Western powers to undertake military action both in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

It is unclear whether Cossiga was being sarcastic about the opinion of skeptics or merely reporting what people think. I have written to him asking for clarification and will report any reply that I receive. Apparently, the Italian media has not offered a clarification.

Cossiga’s statement has not been reported by a US newspaper or TV channel. Raising doubts among Americans about the government is not a strong point of the corporate media. Americans live in a world of propaganda designed to secure their acquiescence to war crimes, torture, searches and police state measures, military aggression, hegemony and oppression, while portraying Americans (and Israelis) as the salt of the earth who are threatened by Muslims who hate their “freedom and democracy.”

Americans cling to this “truth” while the Bush regime and a complicit Congress destroy the Bill of Rights and engineer the theft of elections.

Freedom and democracy in America have been reduced to no-fly lists, spying without warrants, arrests without warrants or evidence, permanent detention despite the constitutional protection of habeas corpus, torture despite the prohibition against self-incrimination--the list goes on and on. http://www.truthnews.us/?p=1115]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18954.htm

[flashl]

1. K&R n/t

[rdm]

19. Its Bush's fault.

I mean, it has to be, right?

[mikelewis]

28. Actually, it's not Bush's fault at all...

George is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. The cause is a nation that has lost its soul and its sense of decency and that problem has manifested itself in the current resident of the White House. We are a nation whose sense of morality is changing as fast as our disaffection with our own society. So no, it's not George's fault... he's a sad little man who likes to play king. The problem is our democracy is failing and being replaced by a corporation style of governance and Bush is helping it along.

[riverdeep]

30. Well put.

I expect Republicans to be corrupt warmongers to one degree or another. We've simply run into the highest degree this country has seen in quite some time. It's the Dems I'm mad at. They have the power to stop this madness, and choose not to. BTW, Cheney is the man behind the curtain, Bush is just the vision the powers that be want you to focus on. The biggest decision he makes in the day is whether to have the White House chef make a bolona and potato chip sandwich or barbecue ribs.

[Wednesdays]

41. No, no...it's all Clinton's fault!

Him and his magic Clenis. And the Demoncrats in Congress.

Yeah, that's the ticket. :eyes:

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R

[Karenina]

3. K&R!

[DaLittle Kitty]

32. K&R Paul Craig Roberts is right on track!

[formercia]

4. Strategic Tension

It's good for business.

[Bandit]

5. This guy used to be as right wing as they get

:crazy:

[Echo In Light]

6. Nutty, eh? He's been outspoken for yrs now..even on topics the middle left disavows

[tom_paine]

7. If you think Love of Liberty and the Old American Republic can only come from the Left

then you are as mistaken as all those Bushies out there who think it can only come from the Right.

A plague on both your houses!

The love of liberty, the Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights are not the sole province of one side or another. They come from mind and heart. They do not require that our views be symmetrical on every topic or even any topic.

People like Paul Craig Roberts, Bruce Fein and others remind us that we are correct to be concerned because so many of us are united against a tyranny greater than any of our petty differences.

I respect you Bandit, and have for quite some time, but I STRONGLY disagree with your casual dismissal of PCR.

He might be Right-Wing, but he is as much a patriot as you or I. The only philosphies that are wholly incompatible with the Founding Documents are Extreme Authoritarianism, from the Nazis and the Bushies on the Right to the Communists on the Left.

It is important to remember that, lest we beciome like the Bushies and Nazis we loathe.

[lebkuchen]

8. When people from the Reagan administration warn against the Bushies

both left and right need to take note.

I agree with Roberts' statements over the summer, that the democratic party is making a mistake to give into Bush in exchange for a "sure" handover after the 2008 election. The Bushies are not going to return the power they've taken.

[LeftishBrit]

12. I don't think that love of liberty can only come from the left...

but I think that the *reality* of liberty *for all* can only come from the left, or at least from outside the real right.

As I said on another thread, one cannot do without *either* civil liberties *or* humane social and economic policies that protect people from discrimination, poverty and hardship. Economic protection without civil liberties leads either, when opposed to big government, to a right-wing populism that tramples on minorities, or, when combined with big government, to the pseudo-left authoritarianism of Communist countries. But civil liberties without economic protection are *no* civil liberties. Coercion by poverty and hardship can be as harsh and indeed murderous as coercion by state police.

Paul Craig Roberts is right on this particular issue, and I don't know enough about him to know whether he's moved to the left in general. So I'm not saying that we shouldn't listen to him on this. But I am saying that we cannot compromise on social and economic liberalism,, any more than we can compromise on civil liberties.

[tom_paine]

13. I do agree, but forming temporary alliance against Bushie Tyranny

could scarcely be considered compromising ourselves.

The poster to which I initially responded was dismissing PCR simply becuase he was a Right-Winger.

[LeftishBrit]

37. Depends ... in some circumstances it could be compromising ourselves

I don't mean that we should not be hugely relieved by all opposition to Bush; or that it isn't a good thing for him to be attacked from all sides.

But I have seen people argue that people like Ron Paul and even Pat Buchanan 'make sense' because they oppose Bush and the war, and that it would be acceptable for example to sacrifice social and economic welfare to the goal of ending the war. I have seen sites that are 'anti-war' from a right-wing isolationist perspective, and end up blaming foreigners, Jews, immigrants, liberals or Democrats for the war. Similarly, there are people and organizations that regard the Bush government as tyrannical not for the true reasons, but because they regard *all* government as tyrannical, and would gladly subject the ill, the poor, the very young and the elderly to the similarly murderous tyranny of the unrestricted free market.

Again, I'm *not* saying that we shouldn't be delighted to see right-wingers turn on Bush; but just that we all need to be careful not to extend our support from their anti-Bush views to any sort of idea that they are generally wise people and that their more right-wing views might therefore also be worth considering or accepting.

[Toots]

40. After reading and rereading both of your posts I do not understand

I did not find it dismissive to say the truth. He was indeed very right wing and in fact still is in many areas. I did not read anywhere in Bandit's post that what was said should not be listened to or was not accurate. Just bewilderment at how much the man has changed. Sort of like Brock or Huffington. They both used to be as right wing as they come and yet are bright enough individuals to realize the truth and not afraid to utter it. Maybe I am wrong and Bandit was saying don't pay any attention because he is/was right wing but I don't think so. I think it was a post of amazement and not dismissal..

[Raster]

18. Dude! Well said! Thank you!

"The love of liberty, the Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights are not the sole province of one side or another. They come from mind and heart. They do not require that our views be symmetrical on every topic or even any topic."

Damn fine!

[kineneb]

31. don't forget John Dean

from Nixon to "Conservatives Without Conscience" (I forget the name of his newest book)

A true patriot loves the Constitution, whatever their economic views may be.

[Marie26]

23. He still is

He's from the nutty Ron Paul/Pat Buchanan wing, which sometimes aligns with the far left wing through sheer coincidence. He's not a progressive & he's not a Democrat in any sense.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. K&R

[pjt7]

10. Paul Craig Roberts

& many others have all said the same thing, why do so many refuse to believe or look into it?

[Dhalgren]

14. Welcome to DU.

It won't be looked into because those with the capacity to do the looking won't look. The media is completely corporate owned as is both major political parties. If the media and both parties refuse to do the looking, who is left?

[Joe Chi Minh]

17. Due remuneration for professional services rendered, pjt7?

[balantz]

11. K & R

[Beam Me Up]

15. The quoted "LOVE" song, "The Red Telephone"

MP3 can be found http://www.offrampstudios.net/pilots/MP3s/TheRedTelephone.mp3">HERE

[Strelnikov_]

26. Paul Craig Roberts is a 'Love' fan?

Holy christ.

(IMHO, 'Forever Changes' is one of the greatest rock albums ever, along with King Crimsons 'In The Court of the Crimson King')

[jeff30997]

16. K&R

[ooglymoogly]

20. KR and a big welcome to you Echo in Light, we need more like you here on du

[pleah]

21. K&R

[Marie26]

22. Let's shed a tear for William Strong and Christophe Gaynor

Let's shed a tear for pedophiles & rapists. On Craig Roberts' racist website, he rails against the sentencing of poor Gaynor, a victim of Virginia's new "wife rape" laws. Gone are the days when a man could sexually assault his wife, to Craig Robert's great lament. The fact that this drivel is the most recommended story on a liberal website says a whole lot about DU, nothing good.

[annabanana]

24. the tale of the stopped clock applies...

I will vehemently disagree with every OTHER thing the man has ever written...
But just because it is his hand holding the pen this time does not make the statement false.

[Marie26]

27. Or true, or new

It's just a typical rant against the Bush Ad. It could be a DU post, but other posts here have been more well-written. I don't see any new insights or information here. It's great that he's anti-Bush... but so is Stormfront, you know?

[number6]

25. K&R

n/t

[gowexler]

29. K&R

[bjobotts]

33. DUH!

[bjobotts]

34. In Rome mobs would seize senators in the streets and destroy them for such treason.

They get elected and then don't keep the promises that got them elected. In fact, they become complicit accomplices in this administrations corruption by refusing to stop them and (in the case of Harry Reid and forcing telecom immunity for law breaking...and Pelosi for ignoring her duty to impeach) they actually help push the Bush agenda onto the voters knowing we can do nothing about it till their term is up. They have become the true enemies of the state. We are being held hostage by the very people we elected to stop this administration as they bargain away our rights and money. I'm beginning to understand why the 'insurgents' act the way they do...they've been given no choice and feel violence is the only way they can take back what they lost. Lord help our men and women in uniform if political reconciliation does not occur soon.
In this country corruption runs rampant in the Bush regime and our senators and congress people have been bribed with campaign donations to go along. Just look at where all the donations come from and how wide spread the practice has become. Al Gore mentions it in his speech that congress takes money from those who have it to give as long as they remain complacent and don't rock the boat. Congress doesn't even try to hide it anymore because they think there is nothing we can do about it. Vote for a democrat who ignores you and lies or for an even more vile republican. We've looked the other way for too long and this is the result. Our economy collapsed already but they are waiting till the new year to break it to us. How will we survive the collapse when the dollar is no longer the world's trade currency? Oil production in the ME cannot even keep pace with our oil loss from our own fields. Billions have been milked from our economy and our treasury is empty as the robber barons hide their wealth abroad. I say thanks Pelosi and Reid for allowing them all to do it...even my grandchildren will curse you for not impeaching.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

36. The people you choose to entrust...

...are usually the ones in position to do you the most harm -- Dem leadership has been quite diligent in solidifying this lesson for us since '06.

Strangely, there may be a hint of a silver lining here in that they (Dem leadership) have been so consistent and so blatant in ignoring, and indeed voting directly counter to, the wishes/interests of their own rank-and-file on the most important of matters since recapturing the House and Senate majority, that the illusion of representative democracy, largely still in-tact for many prior to the '06 midterms, may be no more.

All successful revolutions must be preceded by mass awakening -- perhaps ours has begun.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mVwCeGxTN-A

[Beam Me Up]

42. It's about fucking time. n/t

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

35. K&R. Truth bubbling up all over. nt.

[Twist_U_Up]

38. Sheeple have been expertly conditioned not to question anything,

to believe as the herd does. Unfortunately too many Americans are letting someone else do their thinking for them. Some people are lazy, others fearful, and others too drugged (legally or recreationally) to focus their thinking on important matters like who really runs the government and what are their grandiose plans? After 911 it became "unpatriotic" to question the government in any way. I don't think that's very American.

K#R

[pjt7]

39. I'm just trying to openly talk about it

with more people, nose to nose. I find it much easier to discuss on the computer, but any real change is going to be outside of the computer screen.