They say that one should never go food shopping when hungry, or take revenge or write an opinion piece when angry. But I have just heard U.S. Army Muslim chaplain James Yee’s account of his arrest, confinement, and mistreatment at the hands of our government and I am heartsick, outraged, and nauseated at the abuses committed in our name. I cannot wait until I have cooled off. No one should cool off when witnessing such abuse.

While Yee was stationed in Guantanamo as a chaplain to the detainees, he was charged with spying, threatened with the death penalty, put in solitary confinement, and tortured until the Army decided to drop the charges. He subsequently resigned his commission. If you are unfamiliar with his story, I urge you to listen to him or read his account at  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/22/1353215 . He has just published a book about his experiences called For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire.

It is time to put an end to the Bush regime. Forget the falling popularity ratings: Ethics and morals are not a matter of popularity. Even if this had been the only malfeasance of the Bush administration, all Americans should rise to declare our fury. Forget the tired rhetoric about the basic goodness of the American people. Good is as good does and this government is so awash in feces and rot that the smell is reaching heaven.

Impeach Bush NOW! Put George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumfeld, Condoleezza Rice on trial for war crimes NOW before they commit more sins in our name.

I am deeply ashamed to be an American. I have never had a Sunday school view of our culture or government particularly because I study Latin America which has been the training ground for American imperialism. But now, seeing the disintegrating situation in Afghanistan; the continuation of the unjustified war in Iraq; the mounting toll of civilian deaths in both those countries, I call on Americans to shed the fear that has been manipulated into us by our government and call it to account for its misdeeds.

I am not talking about assassination. Not only would that be an unlawful act but one that would arouse the sympathy of our citizenry, strengthening the hold that the fascist right has on our country. In a time of war, they would use it as a justification for the complete suspension of all of our civil rights, and our frightened citizens would sanction the suppression. Any American who lived through the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., knows the deep trauma and scars suffered by our country in the wake of those assassinations. Never again do I want to live through anything like that..

I am calling for Congress to impeach the president and for the World Court to issue warrants for the arrest of those officials, and for the United Nations to condemn their actions even though Bush and company would deny the jurisdiction of the court just as Saddam Hussein has.

When one of our war criminals goes to a foreign country to preach hypocritically about freedom and civil liberties, he or she should be greeted by a warrant for an arrest for war crimes.

The U.S. government has painted the mark of Cain on its own forehead and should be cast out from the community of nations. What will it take for Congress and the people of this country to live up to the words of Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence?

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

What will make us take responsibility? To stand up to the impunity of the Bush administration and make them stop? What does Cindy Sheehan have to do? Stand on her head? How many generals have to protest? How many young Americans have to die for Bush's evil? How many millions have to protest around the world before Bush will stop the killing in our name?

I am not sure how to address a Muslim chaplain but I want to say to the Reverend Yee, I am sorry that these terrible things were done to you in our name. I will make it my work to stop this war and stop these abuses. I am so sorry.

Dr. Rosa Maria Pegueros is an Associate Professor of Latin American History and Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island. Email to: pegueros@uri.edu

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