CIA Covert Detention Acknowledged | MetaFilter

CIA Covert Detention Acknowledged | MetaFilter: "The United States does not torture, Bush says....

That's why Bush has JUST SENT yet another bill to Congress which would legalize torture. Although the press is only talking about the bill legalizing kangaroo trials for people the U.S. has kidnapped (a trial where the defendant doesn't get to know the charges against him, see the evidence against him, or present any evidence of his own can't be called anything but a kangaroo court), the bill would also legalize the U.S.'s current practices of psychological torture. The bill redefines torture (again) to be only severe physical pain, and to not include any of the myriad other ways in which man can torture man, such as sleep deprivation, continuous light or darkness, extreme hot/cold, extreme noise, being shackled to the floor in a squatting position for 12 hours at a time, etc. etc.

George Bush is - at the same time as he says the U.S. doesn't torture - amending U.S. law to permit the above. Indeed, when he signed the last bill about torture, his signing statement said he didn't even consider the minimal torture restrictions there to be valid.
Mr Bush also said he was asking Congress to pass urgent legislation[....] He said the laws must make it explicit that US personnel were fulfilling their obligations under the Geneva Convention.
The bill George Bush just sent to Congress would modify (reduce) the U.S.'s obligations under the Genva Conventions. It specifically changes the U.S.'s treaty obligations under the Conventions. So what Bush is saying is, 'We must change the laws of the United States to fit what we are doing.'

The very public and time-coordinated announcement by the Army that they will amend their field manuals to prohibit torture is intended to confuse the issue further. The CIA will be doing most of the torturing, and they've made no such announcement.

I honestly do not know how far the United States has to fall before any significant part of the population starts to push back. I believe, unfortunately, that there is no such limit; I think the fall is actually self-reinforcing. Once the U.S. goes past a certain limit, it will be so dangerous to speak out against it (you'll disappear), that no one will and people who previously spoke against it will fall silent.

posted by jellicle at 3:25 PM
PST
on September 6 "