When Torture becomes Policy

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Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:07:40 EDT

Re: Mike Whitney: When Torture becomes Policy:

 

 

 

 

jayhawk writes:

 

Bush's veto tells us that the administration will not operate

within the law or comply with the will of the American people. It

shows us that the government now functions beyond its popular mandate

and without a shred of moral legitimacy. Bush and his lieutenants are

unworthy of high-office and must be removed before it is too late.

 

 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10585.htm

 

 

 

 

 

When Torture becomes Policy

 

 

 

" That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these

ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to

institute new Government. " Declaration of Independence, July4, 1776

 

 

 

By Mike Whitney

 

10101/05 " ICH " -- -- President Bush has made it clear that he will

veto the $435 billion Pentagon appropriations bill because it

restricts his ability to abuse prisoners in the war on terror. The

bill, which forbids the " cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment " of

prisoners in US custody, was passed by an overwhelming 90 to 9

majority in the Senate. It was first flagrant rejection of

administration policy in nearly 5 years.

 

Bush's veto puts the administration on the extreme end of the policy

spectrum and links the president to the widely reported incidents of

human rights abuses and torture at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the

other American prison facilities. It is now impossible to deny that

Bush not only supports a policy of calculated mistreatment of

prisoners, but was also directly involved in establishing the current

regime. This implicates Bush in violations of treaty requirements

under the Geneva Conventions and the 1996 Torture Treaty, as well as

the 8th amendment's provision against " cruel and inhuman " punishment.

 

Bush's veto is a clear sign that the administration is a willing

participant in war crimes and intends to defend that barbarous

behavior before the American people and the world. There's no longer

any reason to dispute the reports from Human Rights Watch, the Red

Cross, the ACLU, or the many eyewitness accounts from US servicemen or

former inmates. The president's veto clearly establishes that Bush

tacitly supports " cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment " as official

policy.

 

This is a positive development for those who believe that Bush will

have to be physically removed from office via impeachment, military

coup or revolution. It shows how disconnected the current White House

is from the nearly 90% of Americans who do not believe that torture

can be justified " for any reason " . It also dispels the foolish notion

that Bush communicates with God or is acting on his behalf.

 

The American people now have a stark choice between good and evil;

between those who advocate the " systemic, blatant and sadistic "

(Taguba Report) treatment of prisoners or those who don't. Anyone who

continues to support the current administration or who fails to

support the efforts to have them removed from office and held

accountable for their crimes, is equally complicit in their immoral,

unethical and criminal conduct.

 

This week, former UN chief weapons inspector, Scott Ritter compared

George Bush and Tony Blair to Nazi war criminals saying that, " Both of

these men could be pulled up as war criminals for engaging in actions

that we condemned Germany in 1946 for doing. " Bush's veto removes any

doubt about the veracity of Ritter's comments.

 

Currently, there are over 25,000 prisoners in American facilities in

Iraq who have been exposed to some level of physical brutality. None

of these men have been charged with a crime, nor will they be. The

Pentagon, acting as the surrogate for the imperial presidency, simply

conducts its arrests and interrogations according to its own vicious

standards. There are no rules and no constraints; just the vile

application of physical coercion.

 

In Guantanamo, more than 200 inmates are in the 2nd month of a hunger

strike. 22 of the prisoners have been hospitalized and are being

force-fed by their jailors. The demands of the prisoners are both

simple and reasonable; they want to have a fair hearing before an

impartial judge so they can know why they are being held. It is most

basic of all human rights and one that is guaranteed under

international law.

 

Once again, the administration and the collaborative media have

conspired to conceal the horror of what is taking place in Guantanamo

behind a wall of government secrecy. If the president is as forthright

as he pretends to be, than there should be no problem opening up

Guantanamo to independent media so we can see the affects of the

policies he so ardently defends.

 

Whether prisoners are being beaten, humiliated, starved to death or

simply held without charges the facts remain the same. The policy

originated at the highest levels of government and will only be

strengthened by Bush's veto. The administration is claiming the

absolute authority to operate beyond the law and with complete impunity.

 

Torture is the widow that allows us to see beyond the public relations

smokescreen into the fetid cesspool of administration thinking. The

Bush regime is divorced from any sense of decency or moral

compunction. Nothing they say can be trusted. They have generated an

ethos of cruelty and vindictiveness that now pervades the myriad

offices of government and the defense establishment. The very

principles upon which American life depends, and which are laid out in

the founding documents, are threatened by their conduct.

 

Bush's veto tells us that the administration will not operate within

the law or comply with the will of the American people. It shows us

that the government now functions beyond its popular mandate and

without a shred of moral legitimacy. Bush and his lieutenants are

unworthy of high-office and must be removed before it is too late.