Following The Bush Administration Torture Trail: Were War Crimes Committed?
It had been widely assumed that the decision to torture enemy combatants and other detainees in the so-called War on Terror began with military commanders and interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The Bush administration has taken refuge behind this “trickle up” explanation, but as is now apparent, the origins of this dark chapter in American history — and the single most defining aspect of the Age of Bush — can be traced to the very highest levels of government.
That is the conclusion of “The Green Light,” a scrupulously researched and horrifying article in the current Vanity Fair magazine by Phillippe Sands, who follows the torture trail and asks whether war crimes were committed.
Please click here to read excerpts at Kiko’s House and here for an index and links to my previous torture-related articles.
6 Responses to “Following The Bush Administration Torture Trail: Were War Crimes Committed?”
I'd say we are all guilty of war crimes by association.
Our leaders are the ones who gave the go ahead, then hid the truth and lied to the public about what was going on. The fact they have not been removed from office is the only thing I feel guilty about.
I'd say that you're both incorrectly projecting your own sensibilities onto the rest of us. It is yet one more demonstration of the notion that democrats in general are a bunch of *extremely vulgar characterization of the female anatomy*. The horse is dead but you can keep beating it until November.
Who says the sensibilities are correct?
You make your own sensibilities and God decides if they were correct or not.
This is not a DvsR issue, it's an issue concernting national interests.
As things are now, the US is going to have an uphill battle maintaining an influential role in international affairs. Countries like the U.K. are reluctant to co-operate with US security agencies because of fear that detainess or those arrested would be tortured or oherwise refused any legal protection. We are the losers in this and other scerios.
it is imperative then, that the US regain trust. To so so, we must own up and face up to past errors, and we must do so publically and dramatically to make sure it's noted.
On the other hand, hasty action could well be counterproductive.
The State Dept has been in talks for several years with other countries trying to clarify the various steps and variations in detainee treatment. While other countries are united in condemning the US, they are far from united as to what the right answer is.
Before we jump in with a unilateral definition of war crimes, we need to have a much clearer idea about what constitues proper procedures from the time someone is detained and throughout his peiod of detention.
The worst thing would be to have to go back and redefine all over again.
At this point, we are not ready to proceed.
There is no reason why the subject of war crimes can not be revisited when we are ready.