Consortium News / David Swanson of After Downing Street: Torture Revealed Yet Again

[BuyingThyme]

Torture Revealed Yet Again
By David Swanson
March 19, 2009

Editor’s Note: The last thing Official Washington – including much of the news media – seems to want is accountability for the now well-documented crimes of the Bush administration, most notably torture that violated U.S. law, international treaties and American traditions dating back to George Washington and the Revolutionary War.

In this guest essay, David Swanson of afterdowningstreet.org catalogues the stunning breadth of the evidence against George W. Bush and his top aides:

As with the evidence that Bush, Cheney and gang intentionally lied us into a war, or the evidence of illegal and unconstitutional spying, each time a major new piece of evidence of torture emerges, it is impossible not to hope that this is the one that will compel the Justice Department or Congress or the courts or the American people to act decisively.

Certainly I hope that, right now, after Mark Danner reported on a report from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But let's not kid ourselves. Everyone has known that the United States was torturing for years.

Congress has known it so well that it has both attempted to legislate immunity for the torturers (through the McCain Amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act and through the Military Commissions Act) and put on a show of attempting to "ban" torture, despite its having already been illegal under U.S. law and treaties to which the United States is a party.

We've witnessed high-profile lobbying competitions over whether or not Congress should "ban" torture again. We've seen President Bush declare his right to torture in signing statements. And we've seen Congress respond to those with renewed proposals to yet again "ban" torture.

President Obama was elected promising to stop the torturing, and has announced that he is doing so, as well as that he will someday close one of the many places we illegally detain people without charge. But torture in that place (Guantanamo) has reportedly worsened, and Obama is not letting independent groups in to observe.

(lots more; good go-to article)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031809d.html

[bottomtheweaver]

1. "Everyone has known that the United States was torturing for years."

The US and the UK, coalition of the willing to torture.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

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3. Bookmark this article.

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