[Peace-discuss] The administration & torture

[C. G. Estabrook]

[From <http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45049>.]

...MSNBC asked presidential advisor David Axelrod about [torture]. Axelrod 
repeatedly refused to deny that Obama believed himself to possess the power to 
legally torture. Predictably enough, there have been numerous reports of ongoing 
torture and inhuman and degrading treatment committed by the United States as 
well as by the government of Iraq. Were torturers being prosecuted, fewer prison 
guards would still be torturing.

It's the same story with warrantless spying. It's not being prosecuted, and it's 
also -- predictably enough -- not ending. And it's the same story with a wide 
variety of abuses of power that Bush engaged in to a greater extent than did 
those who preceded him: *the abuses are being cemented in place by Obama*. 
Rather than throwing out signing statements that altered laws, Obama has begun 
writing his own. Rather than throwing out executive orders that create laws, 
Obama has begun issuing his own. Rather than opening up records and accepting 
court challenges that had been blocked by claims of "state secrets," Obama is 
repeating and enlarging those claims. Rather than delivering subpoenaed 
witnesses like Karl Rove to Congress, Obama's White House Counsel is interfering 
in the work of the Justice Department to negotiate very partial compliance on 
behalf of Rove, an old friend of his. Rather than declassifying information 
unnecessarily made secret, Obama is making materials secret that Bush did not. 
Rather than rewarding whistleblowers who had been punished for their good deeds, 
Obama has signing statemented away constraints on his power to retaliate against 
whistleblowers by firing them. Were Congress holding Bush accountable for any of 
these abuses, Obama would be less likely to engage in them. Once Bush and Obama 
engage in them without protest, it may become more difficult for Congress to 
change course and deny the same powers to Obama's successor.

So, what can we do? There is, at http://prosecutebushcheney.org a long list of 
steps we can take to pressure and encourage those who need it, and to create 
systemic reforms that make future crimes and abuses somewhat less likely. But 
ultimately, *we are going to need to resist through nonviolent mass action*, and 
the sooner we realize and organize that the better. It will not be easy. It will 
be a lot harder than what we have done thus far. But I have seen a lot of people 
make great sacrifices these past few years, and their examples have the 
potential to inspire others. *Members of Veterans for Peace have done more than 
anyone else*. And let me give you and example from this week from a friend of 
ours named Cynthia Papermaster. Here's a woman with a fixed income and no health 
insurance who has taken a large chunk of her retirement savings out of the bank 
and used it to purchase air time during the most worthwhile television shows 
there are for advertisements demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder enforce 
our laws against torture. I can't advise others to make the same sort of 
sacrifice, but I can point out that if others did it would radically change our 
situation, and that by removing money from the largest banks and from health 
insurance companies (which by and large will not actually cover you if you 
become seriously ill) it is possible to do more than one sort of good deed at 
the same time.

	###