Greg Mitchell @ Editor & Publisher: The Media and the Latest 'Torture' Revelations

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http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003654922

The Media and the Latest 'Torture' Revelations

The latest "torture" revelations from The New York Times this week seemed to shock many in the media, which also says a lot. That the U.S. has been torturing prisoners has been known for years, producing only measured outrage from most editorialists and pundits. Now how will they respond?

By Greg Mitchell

(October 06, 2007) -- Those who recall the indignity of President Richard Nixon having to declare, in response to a question from the press, “I am not a crook,” must have winced yesterday when President George W. Bush, also talking to the press, was forced to avow, “This government does not torture people.”

That the questions had to be asked speaks volumes in itself. That the answers from both presidents were thoroughly unconvincing says just as much.

Or perhaps Bush was only suggesting that our military and our private contractors may torture people but "this government" does not.

In a dead giveaway, he added, “We stick to U.S. law and our international obligations.” This reference to "international obligations” rather than “international law” was a veiled admission that we have been violating the Geneva accords.

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If you want to believe that torture is justified in the war on terror, fine -- but just call it what it is. Don't make jokes about it, like David Brooks did on the PBS NewsHour last night, when he said listening to Fred Thompson on the stump might violate the Geneva Conventions.

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