“We do not torture,” President Bush said last week. But this pledge, delivered almost as if it were a bully’s taunt rather than a leader’s promise, is simply not true.
The pictures from Abu Ghraib displayed to the world that the United States tortures. Those horrors were blamed on a few rogue soldiers who were hauled into court.
Then we learned that what happened in Abu Ghraib came after the general in charge of the Guantanamo interrogations was sent to Iraq to toughen up the interrogation process. Then we learned that the military’s own judicial corps had objected to new rules issued by the White House and the Pentagon that violated the Army’s guidelines on the treatment of prisoners.
Now we know that the CIA has kept prisoners in a range of off-the-record prisons in countries from Thailand to Eastern Europe. They’ve turned prisoners over to countries like Egypt, which are known for torturing prisoners.
So two of the few Republican senators with actual service in the military – John McCain and Lindsey Graham – drafted a law to reassert America’s opposition to torture.
After the law passed the Senate with an overwhelming vote, Vice President Cheney weighed in from his undisclosed location demanding an exemption for the CIA and the prisoners it holds. President Bush threatened to use the first veto of his years in office to kill legislation that simply commits the U.S. to not torturing prisoners.
Torture, from the Cheney-Bush-Rumsfeld crowd, is simply part of the president’s authority as commander-in-chief. Anything he orders is legitimate.
The strongest opposition to this arrogance comes not from the peace movement but from the military themselves. The U.S. has championed humane treatment of prisoners. The terrorists of al-Qaida, of course, follow no such civilized standards. They behead prisoners on videotape and torture them to terrorize others. It is deeply shameful for the administration to lower our own country into that gutter.
The horrors of Abu Ghraib display the cynicism of the administration’s position. White House memos argue that the Geneva Conventions do not apply in the war on terror. New Pentagon guidelines, signed off on by Rumsfeld, legitimate ghoulish practices for U.S. forces. Then when it becomes public – Rumsfeld’s only stated regret is that it did become public – blame is placed on the troops put in harms way. The big shots go free.
Anger is inflamed among the world’s 1 billion Muslims. Bin Laden’s claim that we are waging an immoral war on Islam gains credibility. Our claim that we represent law and humanity against the forces of terror is mocked by the administration’s policies. U.S. credibility is shredded by the administration.
The Congress should pass the bill upholding basic standards. If the president vetoes it, those who count themselves among the civilized must protest this outrage.