Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Regarding Torture...

What more can be said on the topic of torture?

We've known for years that the Bushistas sanctioned "enhanced interrogation techniques" for agents of the U.S. to use against prisoners. When that wasn't sufficient, they created a network of secret prisons and rendition flights that allowed other governments to do the inhumane work for them.

Memos, meeting minutes, public statements, back-door agreements to allow certain methods some form of legal gray-space - it's all been there in the public domain. This blog was started three years ago in response to outrageous behavior at the Guantanamo Concentration Camp. Many of us have written letters, signed petitions, made phone calls, faxed, written un chingo de blog posts, yet there's been little to nothing regarding accountability among this crew of war criminals.

Why is that?

Well, I came to the unfortunate conclusion years ago that there are far too many U.S. born Americans™ who think it's fine to treat "terrorists" any way we choose. The moral compass of this country was shattered and pulverized into a dust as fine as the cloud of filth that blanketed Manhattan in the days following September 11, 2001. Inhaling the fumes of that toxic cloud, either through direct contact or the screens of televisions, a bloodlust gripped/grips the national psyche in such a way that waterboarding, and other unspeakable acts that we don't even know about, are given the thumbs up.

If there is any reason I have been in full support of impeachment from the early days of Bush's Two-Term Tantrum, this is it. We have an obligation to uphold boundaries of civility whether we get the same deference from "enemies" or not. That obligation was shat upon a long time ago, but since it's the Shining Beacon on a Hill doing it, will we see the same end game as those who committed identical atrocities decades ago?

Time will tell.

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