Our country
tortures. Say it again,
our country tortures. And as long as our country continues to do so, we are all shamed, and bear some guilt.
President Bush says we don't torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."
Notice his verbiage. He first mentions those who lurk and plot to hurt America (meaning: have I scared you yet?), before claiming we don't torture. Leading one to believe that those who are against torture don't care if the US is attacked.
While at the same time, Dick Cheney is at the top of the list for advocating torture.
(In 2001, Vice-President Dick Cheney, in an interview on "Meet the Press," said that the government might have to go to "the dark side" in handling terrorist suspects, adding, "It's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal.")
Mixed messages? Of course not.
In response to McCain's bill outlawing torture:
Late last month, Cheney and Porter Goss, the C.I.A. director, had an unusual forty-five-minute private meeting on Capitol Hill with Senator McCain, who was tortured as a P.O.W. during the Vietnam War. They argued that the C.I.A. sometimes needs the "flexibility" to treat detainees in the war on terrorism in "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" ways. Cheney sought to add an exemption to McCain's bill, permitting brutal methods when "such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack."
So please, don't tell us the US is against torture, when we have Cheney, and Porter Goss, openly advocating it.
And if anyone still doubts that our government condones torture, there's this:
The Bush Administration has resisted disclosing the contents of two Justice Department memos that established a detailed interrogation policy for the Pentagon and the C.I.A. A March, 2003, classified memo was "breathtaking," the same source said. The document dismissed virtually all national and international laws regulating the treatment of prisoners, including war-crimes and assault statutes, and it was radical in its view that in wartime the President can fight enemies by whatever means he sees fit. According to the memo, Congress has no constitutional right to interfere with the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief, including making laws that limit the ways in which prisoners may be interrogated. Another classified Justice Department memo, issued in August, 2002, is said to authorize numerous "enhanced" interrogation techniques for the C.I.A.
Emphasis above is mine. Would anyone care to guess at any correlation between our new secret interrogation policies and the fact that we've been torturing prisoners? Our Congress needs to immediately demand these memos. The commander-in-chief is not inviolate in deciding which laws we abide by.
Now, thanks to Dana Priest at the Washington Post, we have proof that not only do we torture, we sometimes torture the wrong people. Up to at least 36 people, in fact. In reading the article, it was notable that we decided not to wait on determining if Masri's passport was indeed forged, (it wasn't) before renditioning him. Upon determining they had the wrong person (five months after renditioning), there was debate on what to do with him. Can anyone honestly say that going forward, in order to avoid embarassment, they wouldn't just eliminate the person? I mean, if you're going to break that many laws, what's one more?
In addition, there's this in the New Yorker article:
... Mark Swanner, a forty-six-year-old C.I.A. officer who has performed interrogations and polygraph tests for the agency, which has employed him at least since the nineteen-nineties. (He is not a covert operative.) Two years ago, at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad, an Iraqi prisoner in Swanner's custody, Manadel al-Jamadi, died during an interrogation. His head had been covered with a plastic bag, and he was shackled in a crucifixion-like pose that inhibited his ability to breathe; according to forensic pathologists who have examined the case, he asphyxiated. In a subsequent internal investigation, United States government authorities classified Jamadi's death as a "homicide," meaning that it resulted from unnatural causes. Swanner has not been charged with a crime and continues to work for the agency.
Note, Swanner has not been charged with a crime. One can only surmise our government approves of his action. The status of the investigation into his actions? Fallow.
We saw in Chris Kulcyzcki's excellent diary that the ACLU has documented numerous incidences of homicide and torture perpetrated by our government. Read his diary, it graphically describes the torture used.
Also, in his diary, TeresaInPA provided a link on how to contact your local newspapers. We need to make sure people understand, torture is unacceptable. Write them a letter, or you can send them this diary.
Here's a link to the US Senate. Send your senator a letter.
The fact that many of the prisons we are renditioning people to are run by other countries does not make us any less culpable for the torture inflicted there. After all, we're sending the prisoners there.
As long as we continue to allow our government to act in this way, we are equally shamed, and guilty.
I don't know about you, but I am so ashamed.