You may, or may not as the whole subject (like so many other things these days) isn’t discussed much in the media or on blogs anymore, remember that one of the statements out of the Bush administration regarding accusations of torture of prisoners by the American military in their quest to gain information in, or on, the “War On Terror” was that it was only real tortureTM if internal organs failed, some bodily function was impaired, or the person died. A lot of (Right)WingNut radio and TV personalities picked up on this and added their own little bits of spin to the propaganda campaign with talk of cheer leading traditions and statements of complete denial like (I believe it was O’Reilly) “we don’t do that, don’t you believe it”.Commonly: (adj)
a. Occurring frequently or habitually; usual.
b. Most widely known; ordinary
We’ve commented on the spin surrounding this absolute refusal to acknowledge that fact that American military forces are engaging in torture by the Bush administration very definition of the practice and quite honestly been surprised by the lack of mainstream American concern with the whole issue — I guess it is in fact easier to stick your head in the sand and pretend that there is some sort of moral difference between what the good guysTM do in aid of their objectives and what the bad guysTM do in aid of their objectives, even when the things they do are basically the same thing.
Although the Bush administration, and those who back it, like to toss around phrases like “a few bad apples”, and “isolated instances” it has been apparent to many of us for a long time that that simply isn’t the case. This afternoon I offer this article in The Kansas City Star where an Army reservist accused of killing a prisoner tells investigators that
…..the blows that caused the man’s death were commonly used to deal with uncooperative prisoners and that his superiors approved of the technique.We also offer a story via The Boston Globe that 27 prisoners were killed in their custody and have charged
21 soldiers in 11 cases on offenses that include murder, negligent homicide, and assault,It really shouldn’t take any sort of rocket scientist, or even grade 1 public school student, to put two and two together and come up with something other than five. Bush, his administration, and those who back it on this matter may be hypocritical enough to try and pretend that torture has not been practiced, history will hopefully tell a different story, the facts certainly do.
Comments For This Post Topic Was Disable By Author