Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. George Bush, September 20, 2001 before a Joint Session of Congress and the American people.
Apparently there was an easy fix to handle people who hate us for our freedoms, and only this administration was clever enough to see it. Major General Anthony Taguba:
The profiles of these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted—both on America’s institutions and our nation’s founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.
In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the healing professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit in the willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands they protect.
After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.
Time to break out the big USA #1 foam finger, because man I feel proud, as we sure showed those guys who hate us for our freedoms. Heckuva job, Bush.
See also the entire McClatchey investigative report.
*** Update ***
By the way- CNN is giving this solid coverage, while at MSNBC the big news is that Tim Russert is still dead. Elsewhere, the Editors alert us to the fact that the lead editorial at the WaPo was Michael Gerson venting about Al Franken’s potty mouth.