Carter says U.S. tortures prisoners
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday…. “I don’t think it. I know it,” Carter told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer…. “Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,” Carter said. “We’ve said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused.”…. Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights. Carter’s comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of “harsh interrogation techniques.” These include “head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures,” according to the Times.
I know that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © continues to insist that “This government does not torture people”, but it would appear that he and his minions are the only ones who continue to believe this. (No, if you continue to faithfully repeat the same propaganda, that doesn’t make it the truth.) Those outside the Administration and in a position to know have apparently long-since been convinced that this government does in fact torture people…it just depends on how you define “torture”.
Because this Administration has determined that they will do whatever they think necessary, regardless of morality or simply human decency, they’ve found and established a legal justification that, in their minds at least, absolves them of all legal and moral responsibility for the actions take against “detainees”.
Just in case y’all were wondering, here’s the actual defintion of “torture”:
Now, pay attention while The Worst President EVER © in all seriousness, and despite all evidence to the contrary, continues to stick to his talking points:
Responding to the newspaper report Friday, Bush defended the techniques used, saying, “This government does not torture people.”
Right; being a Republican means never having to say you’re sorry…or admit that what you’re doing is moral (and perhaps criminally) wrong.
Asked about Bush’s comments, Carter said, “That’s not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored — certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.
“But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don’t violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don’t violate them.”
After reading a transcript of Carter’s remarks, a senior White House official said, “Our position is clear. We don’t torture.”
The official said, “It’s just sad to hear a former president speak like that.”
And it’s equally sad knowing that your government undertakes the very activities it professes to abhor. It’s also sad to realize that they will lie to your face about it…of course, to their way of thinking, it’s not a lie, because they’ve so narrowly defined “torture” as to make their denials plausible…if thoroughly dishonest and disingenuous.
Because the Bush Administration has defined torture only as activities sufficient to cause death or organ failure, of course this country doesn’t “torture” people…because freedom tickles. For normal, decent human beings- yes, those of us who define “torture” a fair bit more liberally- it’s truly disturbing to realize that our government has so thouroughly abandoned the traditional American commitment to human rights. Apparently, all’s fair in love and the war on terror.
Even if it costs us our credibility and our moral high ground….
