This blog is designed for those students in 8th grade Social Studies from BC High's Arrupe Division who would like to be part of a more interactive dialogue about our daily lessons and content.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Our Own Government Suspending Rights....Say It Aint So...
Watch the following 60 Minutes segment on how the US Government suspended rights after 9/11. Were they right or wrong in doing so?
I really enjoyed our field trip to the Massachusetts State House and the JFK Library because I learned a lot from it and I thought it was very interesting. My favorite part of the State House was definitely the architecture of the building and how they changed the dome to gold instead of copper because copper turns green in the sun. I thought that it was very interesting how the architectures got the idea for pillars from the Greeks and the round arches from the Romans. Also, I thought that the large room with our nation's first flags and paintings on the ceiling were amazing. I was very interested in our nation's first flags because i thought it was cool how on the very first one, they ripped apart the white square in the corner to create stripes to represent the 13 colonies. My favorite part of the JFK Library was all of the interesting objects that were held in the museum from his time period. I liked how they they had videos and footage from JFK's life and when he took office. I also really enjoyed the video at the beginning of the trip because it gave me a lot of information about JFK's life and where he went to school, what he liked to do for fun, and what kind of person he was.
This interview on 60 minutes is very depressing and this issue needs to be fixed right away. How could they do something like this to this guy. Just because he was in the middle east they think that he is part of al Quieda and treat him like a terrorist. They took away his natural rights of life, liberty and property. From the time he was 19 to age 24 he was beaten, tortured and interrogated several times. How could the military do this and get away with it they charged him with fake crime time and time again keeping him in prison and extra 3 and a halp years after they announced that he was innocent until proven. to torture someone who hasn't committed a crime is cruel and unhumane. They stuck his head in toilets, beat him put him in electrical chairs and hung him for several hours at a time only taking him down to for a doctor examining him to see if he would survive another hanging. This really shows that the our militiary is a monster that needs to be controlled. They say they fight for our natural rights but at what expence taking away the rights of other innocent people I don't think so something needs to change and fast.
I think that this issue should be resolved right away. But, The initial problem in these cases were that Pakistan soldiers were being paid very well not to find criminals but to find "suspicious" individuals not, and not follow the writ of Habeus Corpus either. The U.S. government most likely did this because it just needed the people to know that they were doing something in response to 9/11. The didn't do this to be productive but most likely just to have the people think so.
That is awful that anyone would be treated that. Anyone should only have been treated that way if they were convicted of the crime. But, the guy has to take some credit. It is not a smart idea to ever be in Pakistan, especially right after an awful crisis such as 9/11
Ok, obviously he shouldn't have gone to Pakistan that soon... But he still didn't have any connection to Al Quieda, so they should have given him an official and public hearing. This does NOT mean that we should necessarily allow imediate trials--extra time should be allowed to gather evidence that he is, in fact, a terrorist.
But they get some of the guys right, Sadaam Husien for example.
After watching this 60 minutes clip, I began to really think about what we do to people that we think pose a threat to the United States; even though we are trying to try to protect our citizens. It is different if someone, a terrorist, poses a threat to us and endangers our living. This man has a very depressing story; he tried to be more familiar with a religion so he could marry this wonderful women. The man went to Pakistan on a trip and was pulled off a bus; apparently he looked like a terrorist, so the U.S. military took him to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, he was tortured daily, starved, and checked by doctors to see how much pain he was in. The doctors would have the soldiers torture the man if he was able to sustain more pain. After a while going through excruciating pain, he went to Guantanamo Bay and was kept as a prisoner. Again, he was tortured. Eventually a lawyer came to his side and helped him present his case. Since the U.S. does not believe him, but there is not clear evidence he is a terrorist; he was allowed to leave back for Russia, but he can never travel to the Unites States in his life. I believe this is a very depressing article, but it is the truth.
This is a perfect example that are country is nowhere near perfect. We beat and shock innocent people. The judges are so biast that they make up charges that have no evidence at all supporting them. I knew that the government was dirty but this is inhuman. Also the government has the guts to go and say that they didn't do this and they didn't beat or shock him. If they are not going to admit to it we should hear stories from other prisoners and see if the military is lieing too. The fact that he was taken off the bus because of his skin color, this is just like segregation in the 1950's and 60's. Just because you are a muslim you must be a terrorist and things like that are so steryotypical it just bugs me when I hear people say things like that because i know it is not true and they probably do too.
After watching this video, I am shocked and appalled by the terrible tragedy that occured. I do believe that the U. S. should have the ability to suspend rights in emergency situations, and this situation was an emergency situation, however I think that, before suspending a person's rights, you should first have more reasoning than he was in the Middle East, was from Russia, and had a beard. That is just stereotypical and offensive. I belive that the U.S. government was wrong in doing this to this poor man, who lost years of his life that he will never get back being punished for a crime that he never committed. Jonathan Shea
This will be my 200 word reflection I didn't know where to put this. The weekend before last I made a trip out to New York. yes, the Big Apple. When I was there I had a little detour and ended up on Ellis Island. This was very interesting because in order to get their you must take a ferry which made me feel like an immigrant. I walked off the boat and stared at what was infrom of me. A large brick structure where many of my ancestors came through. The yougest of my ancestors to come through was my Father's uncle mike who came through the year it closed. I am very glad I did not have to pass threw this place. From what I saw with the pictures, this place looked like it was not fun to be there.
I can't believd this could happen. This is very wrong on very many levels. After watching this I couldn't believe or government could even have the power to do this. I don't care when this happened they had NO right to do this, especially without a trial! I can not believe that this happened to this innocent man! Based on his story he was just in Pakistan to learn more about his fiancees religion. He was just there on an innocent trip. I wish that what this guy said wasn't true, because it's just awful and wrong on so many levels. The fact that they're even allowed to do this just makes me angry! It is completely wrong.
checking to see if profile works
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed our field trip to the Massachusetts State House and the JFK Library because I learned a lot from it and I thought it was very interesting. My favorite part of the State House was definitely the architecture of the building and how they changed the dome to gold instead of copper because copper turns green in the sun. I thought that it was very interesting how the architectures got the idea for pillars from the Greeks and the round arches from the Romans. Also, I thought that the large room with our nation's first flags and paintings on the ceiling were amazing. I was very interested in our nation's first flags because i thought it was cool how on the very first one, they ripped apart the white square in the corner to create stripes to represent the 13 colonies. My favorite part of the JFK Library was all of the interesting objects that were held in the museum from his time period. I liked how they they had videos and footage from JFK's life and when he took office. I also really enjoyed the video at the beginning of the trip because it gave me a lot of information about JFK's life and where he went to school, what he liked to do for fun, and what kind of person he was.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if my reflection was posted or not
ReplyDeleteThis interview on 60 minutes is very depressing and this issue needs to be fixed right away. How could they do something like this to this guy. Just because he was in the middle east they think that he is part of al Quieda and treat him like a terrorist. They took away his natural rights of life, liberty and property. From the time he was 19 to age 24 he was beaten, tortured and interrogated several times. How could the military do this and get away with it they charged him with fake crime time and time again keeping him in prison and extra 3 and a halp years after they announced that he was innocent until proven. to torture someone who hasn't committed a crime is cruel and unhumane. They stuck his head in toilets, beat him put him in electrical chairs and hung him for several hours at a time only taking him down to for a doctor examining him to see if he would survive another hanging. This really shows that the our militiary is a monster that needs to be controlled. They say they fight for our natural rights but at what expence taking away the rights of other innocent people I don't think so something needs to change and fast.
ReplyDeleteConor Sheehy
ReplyDeleteI think that this issue should be resolved right away. But, The initial problem in these cases were that Pakistan soldiers were being paid very well not to find criminals but to find "suspicious" individuals not, and not follow the writ of Habeus Corpus either. The U.S. government most likely did this because it just needed the people to know that they were doing something in response to 9/11. The didn't do this to be productive but most likely just to have the people think so.
That is awful that anyone would be treated that. Anyone should only have been treated that way if they were convicted of the crime. But, the guy has to take some credit. It is not a smart idea to ever be in Pakistan, especially right after an awful crisis such as 9/11
ReplyDeleteOk, obviously he shouldn't have gone to Pakistan that soon...
ReplyDeleteBut he still didn't have any connection to Al Quieda, so they should have given him an official and public hearing. This does NOT mean that we should necessarily allow imediate trials--extra time should be allowed to gather evidence that he is, in fact, a terrorist.
But they get some of the guys right, Sadaam Husien for example.
After watching this 60 minutes clip, I began to really think about what we do to people that we think pose a threat to the United States; even though we are trying to try to protect our citizens. It is different if someone, a terrorist, poses a threat to us and endangers our living. This man has a very depressing story; he tried to be more familiar with a religion so he could marry this wonderful women. The man went to Pakistan on a trip and was pulled off a bus; apparently he looked like a terrorist, so the U.S. military took him to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, he was tortured daily, starved, and checked by doctors to see how much pain he was in. The doctors would have the soldiers torture the man if he was able to sustain more pain. After a while going through excruciating pain, he went to Guantanamo Bay and was kept as a prisoner. Again, he was tortured. Eventually a lawyer came to his side and helped him present his case. Since the U.S. does not believe him, but there is not clear evidence he is a terrorist; he was allowed to leave back for Russia, but he can never travel to the Unites States in his life. I believe this is a very depressing article, but it is the truth.
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example that are country is nowhere near perfect. We beat and shock innocent people. The judges are so biast that they make up charges that have no evidence at all supporting them. I knew that the government was dirty but this is inhuman. Also the government has the guts to go and say that they didn't do this and they didn't beat or shock him. If they are not going to admit to it we should hear stories from other prisoners and see if the military is lieing too. The fact that he was taken off the bus because of his skin color, this is just like segregation in the 1950's and 60's. Just because you are a muslim you must be a terrorist and things like that are so steryotypical it just bugs me when I hear people say things like that because i know it is not true and they probably do too.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, I am shocked and appalled by the terrible tragedy that occured. I do believe that the U. S. should have the ability to suspend rights in emergency situations, and this situation was an emergency situation, however I think that, before suspending a person's rights, you should first have more reasoning than he was in the Middle East, was from Russia, and had a beard. That is just stereotypical and offensive. I belive that the U.S. government was wrong in doing this to this poor man, who lost years of his life that he will never get back being punished for a crime that he never committed.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Shea
This will be my 200 word reflection
ReplyDeleteI didn't know where to put this.
The weekend before last I made a trip out to New York. yes, the Big Apple. When I was there I had a little detour and ended up on Ellis Island. This was very interesting because in order to get their you must take a ferry which made me feel like an immigrant. I walked off the boat and stared at what was infrom of me. A large brick structure where many of my ancestors came through. The yougest of my ancestors to come through was my Father's uncle mike who came through the year it closed. I am very glad I did not have to pass threw this place. From what I saw with the pictures, this place looked like it was not fun to be there.
I can't believd this could happen. This is very wrong on very many levels. After watching this I couldn't believe or government could even have the power to do this. I don't care when this happened they had NO right to do this, especially without a trial! I can not believe that this happened to this innocent man! Based on his story he was just in Pakistan to learn more about his fiancees religion. He was just there on an innocent trip. I wish that what this guy said wasn't true, because it's just awful and wrong on so many levels. The fact that they're even allowed to do this just makes me angry! It is completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat comment right above this is from Chris Hansen
ReplyDelete