Torture, Human Rights, and Power
(for full, referenced version
http://www.charliecrystle.com )
The United States' formal policy of abuse and torture not only violates numerous treaties, the Geneva convention, human rights, and its own laws, it encourages and validates inhumane behavior everywhere. The precedent set by the Bush administration's formal policy of outsourcing its torture (ostensibly they think that instead of engaging directly in torture Bush can derive the questionable benefits thereof by hiring professional thugs to do his dirty work for him) will become the standard for thugs worldwide, from Russian use of electric shock on Chechens to the Chinese practice of "Di Lao", in which victims' wrists and feet are shackled and linked together with crossed steel chains making it nearly impossible to walk or sit down...": Bush has abdicated America's global moral leadership and rendered US-sponsored Human Rights advocacy useless.
The soldiers in the Iraqi prison did not act independently, nor without moral responsibility of their own. They knew they were not just being good soldiers. When witnessing torture carried out by hired thugs, they saw US-sponsored thuggery as acceptable. When their commanders ordered them to "loosen up" prisoners headed for interrogation (a.k.a. torture), they complied. The "just following orders" defense died in Nuremburg.
Bush says this behavior does not reflect on the rest of the men and women in the military, but he's dead wrong. It reflects on each of them, whose hometowns now wonder whether or not their hometown heroes were also torturers, that given the seemingly top-down acceptance within the military of these horrific practices, this culture of unchecked inhumane treatment may have seeped into their heroes' hearts and minds. In this way, the injustices reach the soldiers themselves, who, subjected to Bush's end-justifies-the-means arrogance through official dehumanization of their captives, will now be subject to the quiet whispers of rumors back home reminiscent of the charge that Viet Nam vets were baby killers. War is a dirty business, but there are rules for a reason.
This is the time to point fingers, to question the efficacy and legitimacy of Bush's leadership, and it is not political questioning--it is our moral responsibility as a nation to hold our leadership responsible. We should have had hearings on Clinton's lack of action in Rwanda, which failed to stop the massacre of over 800,000 people. We should have held Bush I responsible for his role in the Iran-Contra-Cocaine scandal. We should have grilled Reagan for his wanton abuse of US law in privately funding the Contras, sponsoring the death squad murders in Guatemala, and failing to act against Saddam in the 80's when he was gassing his people. So Bush defenders, step back, or be painted with the same brush.
The Bush administration has little regard for human rights--that much is clear. It has little regard for due process, civil rights, judicial oversight of anything it does and the opinion of the rest of the world. With 6 months to go before the election, it will be difficult for Bush to convince us otherwise--it's very difficult to make the cultural changes necessary to gain even the appearance of caring. To their peril. Just as America will not stand for bullies such as Saddam Hussein and Osam bin Laden, we will not stand for our own bullies.
Please vote in November. For Kerry.
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