RW> Now before you, or anyone else, starts jumping on me about how
RW> Germany and the US are so different remember that the anniversary
RW> of a "small incident" in Vietnam involving US troops is upon us.
RW> Ever read the history of My Lai?
Discovery Channel has a regular program called American Justice. It 
covers anything and everything about the US Legal system... murderers, 
rapists... con-men, prisons, firebugs, police corruption, courts; 
anything concerned with the legal system itself. Last night the 
subject was about innocent people (proven) who'd been coerced into 
signing confessions by local LEO, or beaten into signing confessions, 
or had been railroaded by doctored evidence.  
I was pretty amazed but not surprised as case after case was focused 
on, where innocent people had been deliberately incarcerated for many 
years; all because the enforcement parties concerned didn't have a 
suspect in a high-profile case and needed to satisfy the cravings of 
the public or a prosceutor wanting political leverage. One even made 
it to Congress until he got caught in a check-kiting scam. 
They weren't talking about Vinnie, Bubba, and Bruno crying about being 
sent up the river for the third for fourth time... the highlighted 
cases were people who'd not been in trouble with the law, or had only 
a few minor incidents before. In one case which happened in the deep 
South, about ten or fifteen black men had been beaten with saps, until 
someone "confessed." Most of them had never had legal problems 
before.
DNA had reversed all of the cases. While the victims of these "legal" 
miscarriages were interviewed on camera, well after their releases 
from prison, those who drove them into the belly of the beast refused 
to comment, explain themselves or even face the camera. Actually, they 
scattered, covering their heads with their hands and coats... funny, a 
different channel and program about the "Travelers" provoked the same 
reaction. People scattering like cockroaches caught when the light 
turns on.
I remember Lt. Calley and Mai Lai. I also remember the people involved 
with the chain of command above him seemed to not "have anything do do 
with it." I still have Vet friends dealing with demons from the past. 
Many of them still live under overpasses. Seems like our military 
doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of the monster it 
created. 
No, I don't think ZT is a good thing. The American people have a 
formidable enough enemy to deal with as it stands; wouldn't be wise to 
make it a stronger beast.
DB 
---
 * RM 1.31 3089 * I love my country but am embarrassed by my government.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------