Waterboard Me to Support Our Troops

I've just created a new group on facebook. It's cleverly titled Waterboard Me to Support Our Troops. It began after learning of Keith Olbermann's challenge to Sean Hannity. For every second that Hannity is waterboarded, Olbermann will pay $1,000 to charities that support our troops who have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It doesn't appear that Hannity has accepted the offer, but even if he doesn't I will. I believe this is a great opportunity to raise money for our troops and should this cause grow large enough I will pledge every red cent raised to the specifically named charities. I haven't picked the charities yet, but a few good ones would be the Wounded Warrior Program and David Feherty hosts IED events for soldiers who have lost limbs to IED's.

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1878791,00.html
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/


Obviously neither of these organizations has to support waterboarding or even have a stance on it, but I would give them the money just the same, condition free.

Here's a copy of my letter to Mr. Olbermann
Mr. Olbermann,
I have read the terms in your challenge to Mr. Hannity regarding waterboarding. I am offering a counter proposal to have myself waterboarded. In full disclosure, I am a former U.S. Marine and I have been SERE training, but I was not and never have been waterboarded.. In addition to you paying $1,000 dollars to charities that directly support U.S. troops that have been wounded or killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and their families I will get sponsors to match your funds. Same conditions apply, an independent observer, it can be live or taped, and I have to confess something like Obama is not a socialist (which I believe he is and his policies reflect). Same conditions apply to the doubling of the funds, I have to admit that I was afraid for my life or that waterboarding is torture. As a counter proposal, if at the end I do not admit to waterboarding being torture or feel afraid for my life, you agree to go through SERE school and the money still goes to vetted charities.
I make this offer in all seriousness. I am arguing to let waterboarding continue and once and for all define what torture is. Being hung from ropes and tied into positions that work against the natural motions of the body in such a way that causes long term physical disability is torture. The use of blowtorches, hot metal, electrical current, and sharp implements to cause prolonged agony and permanent disfiguration of a person is torture. The use of violent machines to do the same is torture. The conditions that children trapped in abusive homes live with daily is torture. Simulated drowning is designed to cause emotional distress to a person as is the whole apparatus of detainment. The detainee is meant to be uncomfortable and disoriented and made to feel that their captors are in complete control. I'm not arguing that it is a pleasant or positive experience in any way. But I personally don't care about the emotional well-being of a person who has sworn his life to kill me. And if that person has information that if extracted will save U.S. lives I am all in favor of letting him think he's going to drown. In a controlled condition and under professional supervision the detainee's life is not actually at risk. Waterboarding effective in gathering useful intelligence that prevents another 9-11 type attack or any attack on U.S. citizens for that matter. Let's let the public decide what waterboarding is and if it is worth it. I look forward to hearing from you and your team.
Sincerely,
Adam Guevara
USMC



**Other than serving proudly for 5 years with the United States Marine Corps I am not affilitated with the USMC. The views expressed here are mine and have not been reviewd or authorized by the USMC.**

And here's the link to the Olbermann Challenge
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/24/724023/-Hannity:-My-Money-Where-Your-Mouth-Is-(Update)

Anyone coming across this blog, feel free to voice your support. I want to turn this into a huge movement and raise money for our troops. It won't take everybody getting waterboarded, just people pledging their support.

Ghosts in the Underground

"No one here can make a sound. We're just ghosts in this town. We are standing in the trenches of the new underground. All the walls are comin' down, we're still hanging around. We are diggin' in the trenches of the new underground...".

Guster
I Couldn't Care Less

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ghosts in the Underground. I will be honest with you, I have no illusions that my view is anything new or more profound than the views of anyone else. I don't expect that my little blog will set the world on fire or start a revolution of thinking. In fact I don't expect that I'll say anything here that you haven't heard before (and probably in a better package to boot). What I do intend to do is provide a resource and a spark for debate and inspire critical thinking. My hope is to keep things timely, relevant, and accurate.

Starting a blog is a very sketchy proposition. They're cheesy, they're fad-ish, and they're everywhere. I originally started out posting links to my facebook page and providing my own commentary. I quickly discovered that the format was very limited and rarely allowed me to add the level of comment that I wished and didn't really have to option to tie several stories in together.

So now here I am sporting a blog, hoping to separate myself from the chaff. I'm only going to post one link for today. I don't want to over-reach. This link is to the Institute for American Liberty and a speech in particular titled "The Americans Who Risked Everything."

http://www.liberty1.org/risk.htm

The Institute for American Liberty is non-profit organization and I share their goal of promoting the principles and ideals of the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. I'll be expounding on all of these in later posts and relate them to current events. Until then, please read this speech. I hope you too will reflect on the sacrifice of these 56 men and their families made that each and everyone of us and millions more around the world have directly benefited from. They believed so deeply that the rights of the individual as equal to that of any other person and supreme to any government that they willingly, defiantly, and courageously put risked their lives, families, and homes to certain destruction. How many of us today would be willing to risk that much today to preserve the liberties they secured for us?

I know I would.