As in the United States, the controversy over the torture issue continues to ripple through the international community.
But according to this editorial from Estadao of Brazil, there is much more at stake than merely the issue of torture, aka, ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’
“What’s at stake goes beyond torture … Under the auspices of Bush and the invocation of the imperative of national security, his intimate circle – Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales – attempted to transform the U.S. into a police state. With Congress and the press disheartened, they put in place a system that provided the president with extraordinary powers. … This came close to disfiguring the country.”
EDITORIAL
Translated By Brandi Miller
April 27, 2009
Brazil – Estadao – Original Article (Portuguese)
A dilemma reminiscent of countries that went from dictatorship to democracy confronts history’s greatest democratic nation. Indeed, the United States is discussing whether, how and to what point it should investigate the systematic torture of terrorism suspects by the CIA at Guantánamo and their secret detention centers abroad – with written authorization from the Bush government. A bitter debate ensued last week when, facing a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union based on the Freedom of Information Act, the White House divulged four memos prepared between 2002 and 2005 by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – which is the Executive branch’s last word on the interpretation of laws.
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