Hold the Bush Administration accountable for its use of torture

We must hold the Bush Administration accountable for its use of torture

By Angie Pratt

You want to know why when news of prisoner torture percolated up the channels of the government nothing was done? The answer is quite simple. They condoned the actions. In fact, we now know that they were following an executive order from George W. Bush. This isn’t based on hearsay. This isn’t a figment of some Massachusetts liberal’s imagination. This allegation is based on an internal FBI document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The document, a two-page FBI internal e-mail, references an Executive Order that states the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander—Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.

Now. do you think the government released this e-mail freely? Nope. It took a federal judge in response to a freedom of information request lawsuit brought by the ACLU to force the release of this information. Why? Because the Bush Administration knows it is guilty of sponsoring the use of inhumane interrogation methods against Moslem detainees.

The Bush Administration has slipped down the slippery slope and fallen into Satan’s den. The God that George Bush claims to speak to is not the one that Jesus speaks about. Torturing prisoners is not an activity that Christ would approve of. Christians around the world need to stand up and declare these actions immoral.

The people of the United States need to step up and demand an accounting from the Bush Administration. We need the Administration to stand up and tell the truth for a change. If they think they were right in ordering an abandonment of the Geneva Convention then let them stand up and say so. The fact that they are hiding and probably shredding information stands as proof that they know that they have broken the law.

This isn’t a case where fully releasing pertinent information will harm the security of the United States. This isn’t classified defense stuff. This is evidence in a criminal investigation. No wonder George Bush was against signing the European war crimes initiative.

A quick and dirty investigation by anybody with any ties with the Bush Administration is unacceptable. An independent prosecutor must be named with full subpoena powers. Anything less will be a charade.

There is more at stake here that the impeachment of George W. Bush. The very moral fiber of the United States of America is at risk. We have always been able to hold our heads high because we knew in our hearts and minds that we were on the moral high ground. To find out that our leader has embraced morally reprehensible behavior strikes at the very core of our American values.

The moment we decide that the ends justify the means is the moment that we become no better than our enemies. Turning the other cheek as Jesus suggests doesn’t mean being a patsy for the terrorist and bad guys of the world. But it certainly does mean that you should not take on the tactics of your attackers.

This low point in America’s integrity needs to be turned into a high point. The only way this can become reality is for us to demonstrate to the world that we can police ourselves.

We must demonstrate that our words and our actions match. We must hold the Bush Administration accountable for its use of torture.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0412/S00271.htm