i do not swear

News this morning is that Blackwater is off the hook as the State Department renewed its contract with them and no formal charges has been brought against the guards responsible for the Baghdad massacre in September. Read the full article here.

This is abhorrent, despicable, outrageous.

As the NYT article points out, this lack of accountability and justice is in part based on our reliance on outside military contractors to protect US interests. This is very worrisome: justice is sacrificed for both utility and profit.

Six years into the "War on Terror," we have yet to see justice and responsibility taken for US policies of torture, massacre of innocent civilians by US contractors, and CIA extraordinary renditions aka "torture by proxy."

What right to I have to lobby my own government to intervene to stop human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Sudan when we ourselves practice such things? What moral authority do we have as citizens to speak out against terror and torture?

Nevertheless, I speak out because I believe in the dignity of the human person. I speak out because I believe that we must hold governments accountable to the care of their citizens. I speak out because I believe in God's call to care for one another. But let me be clear: I do not pledge allegience to the United States.

I cry for Zimbabwe
I cry for justice
I cry for peace
I cry for mercy

How long?

Swollen skulls
Swollen eyes
A child beaten
A man tortured
By a State that once promised
Liberation

Many are crying too
Shell-shocked they write
Of horror tales
And courage

Today crying does not feel like enough.

What have we done?
What can we do?
How long?