[Peace-discuss] Torture, Bush, & Obama

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The following is from Amnesty International.  The administration and the 
Democrats are working desperately to convince the political class that torture 
was solely the policy of the Republicans, but of course it wasn't.  Obama wants 
to "move on" because he knows that his faction is guilty of the same crimes. 
Provision is made for "enhanced interrogation" in his administration, Guantanamo 
has not been closed despite promises (there are reports that conditions there 
are worse since Obama became president), and he's denied habeas corpus for 
Bagram. As AI puts it, "This moment represents a crucial opening in the fight 
for accountability" -- for this administration.  --CGE]


Shocking evidence from a classified Senate Armed Services Committee report 
released last week makes the most compelling case to date that senior Bush 
administration officials intentionally lied about torture.

Under the bright lights of national news cameras, President Bush and Secretary 
Rumsfeld described the horrors of Abu Ghraib as acts committed by a "few bad 
apples," when in fact, they were actively encouraging the armed forces to 
torture prisoners at detention centers worldwide.

The details in this and other documents recently released should send chills 
down your spine. They confirm our worst nightmares about the types of 
interrogation tactics approved, including slamming suspects into walls, 
waterboarding 2 individuals a combined 266 times and exploiting another's fear 
of insects by confining him in a box with an insect.

Horrifying as they are, these details only scratch the surface of what our 50 
years of experience interviewing victims of torture tells us. We know that abuse 
always escalates over time, especially when sanctioned at the highest levels.
	
The administration's response? Give torturers a free pass. The Obama 
administration announced recently that it would guarantee immunity to CIA 
officials and others who carried out clearly illegal interrogation tactics. This 
action directly contradicts the administration's assertions that nobody is above 
the law.

The President and others in his administration have begun to change their tune 
in response to mounting public outcry. And now Obama has signaled that he may 
leave the door open for further investigation of those in the highest rungs of 
power in the Bush administration.

This moment represents a crucial opening in the fight for accountability. It's a 
chance to finally slap the cuffs on those who authorized interrogators to take 
the gloves off and ensure that those responsible for abuse are held to account 
for the irreparable harm they've caused.

And most importantly, it's an acknowledgment that accountability is the only way 
to put an end to the failed policies of detention without trial and detainee 
abuse...