Trust Me

How often have we heard that from politicians? Not just the President, but members of Congres, our state and local elected officials, and our government managers at all levels. "Just trust me." After all we either elected them or approved their appointments by electing them. Why don't I belief it anymore?

I was reading the news of the compromise between the three senior republican senators and the President over terrorism. We heard all the President's rhetoric over the last few months about closing down the CIA's anti-terrorism activities because they violated the Geneva Convention which the US is a signatory and has followed for over 50 years, only to be adandoned by this adminstration in the name of fighting terrorism. Huh?

What fight? To date, no detainee has been tried, let alone convicted of terrorism. We know that most of the detainees were not captured on the battle field, but elsewhere in the country, and in many case, not even in the country of Afghanistan or Iraq. How can they be enemy combatants outside a war zone? And what's the difference between a captured enemy soldier and an enemy combatant? None what so ever! It's a semantic argument to avoid following the Geneva convention which applies to enemy soldiers.

If they call the enemy combatants they can be "captured" anywhere in the world, taken to anywhere in the world, and interrograted in any way they see fit. But the Geneva Convention still applies to captured enemy combatants, President Bush has decided it's not in his interest to follow international rules of engagement. We followed the Geneva Convention in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq I, so what makes Afghanistan and Iraq II any different? None!

And now we have a "compromise"? But is it really? As I read the articles and listen to the news interviews with non-government experts, the answer is easy. Nothing has changed. It was a political game to appease both sides for an election to say we have rules which follows the Geneva Convention and still do what we want, in short continue extraordinary rendition, extreme torture, no trials, no detainee rights, and no end in sight to the lives we've destroyed.

While our polticians have said, "Trust me.", they have not improved anything except a deception of the American people to think they're doing better in the war on terrorism. We've lost the respect of the world as a leader and now we lost the respect of the people of the country we plan to help. And what will these politicians say when the courts determine this compromise isn't legal? Only to say they'll find another way to make it legal, another deception?

Trust me? Sorry, not only have you lost all my trust in you, I don't trust even your words anymore.