Today it was announced that Attorney General Eric Holder has expanded the role of the special prosecutor who is investigating the destruction of CIA tapes which showed the waterboarding of at least two “enemy combatants.” Our government is finally going to investigate whether or not CIA and contracted interrogators (most likely Blackwater contractors) “went too far” in carrying out the (illegal) orders of “enhanced interrogations” during the Bush crime years. Well, at least this is a first step in America reclaiming her place as a leader in “human rights.” Now, I’m not so naive to think that some of the stuff which came out during the Bush administration hasn’t been going on for years, (if you want to read a good book which will enlighten you on the subject, read Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”) but with Dick Cheney apparently “calling the shots” our CIA (and others) went WAY BEYOND any reasonable parameter as far as what was “acceptable.” In fact, in documents made public today (and, if you’ve seen the documents you will understand why what little money I have for donations is going to the ACLU – because without them, the Obama administration would “get away” with allowing the Bush administration to “get away” with war crimes) members of the CIA speculated themselves that they were probably committing war crimes. I put both of those “get aways” in quotes because, as far as I’m concerned, if the investigation isn’t allowed to go all the way to the “top,” if warranted, then Barack Obama and Eric Holder become complicit in the alleged war crimes.

And, the first reports out hint the prosecution is to be limited to the “operatives” who were interrogating prisoners under the guidelines set up by the likes of David Addington (Cheney’s legal advisor), John Yoo, and Jay Bybee (who was given a federal judgeship as a reward for enabling torture for the Bush administration through phony and legally faulty “memos”). You have to keep in mind that while under questioning by a Congressional committee Mr. Yoo, when asked if burying a man alive and then digging him up before he died was torture, answered that he wasn’t sure – it would depend on the circumstances! These people were/are THUGS who believe that the United States President has the right to do whatever he wants if he claims it’s in the interest of national security. We will never know how many detainees have died in the so-called “war on terror” without a much more thorough investigation than the one proposed. The book “Ballad of Abu Ghraib” documents one instance where top “security” personnel interrogated a prisoner to death – LITERALLY – and then just left him for the suckers who were taking all the pictures to take pictures of the corpse. THAT DEATH HAS NEVER BEEN INVESTIGATED to REALLY FIND OUT where the orders came from. No one’s been held accountable – except, indirectly, Lindy England and the other grunts who were convicted of abuse at Abu Ghraib. Everyone knows that the orders for the deplorable behavior there came from at least Donald Rumsfeld’s desk – and he will probably never have to answer for his actions.

The documents released today verify at least one additional death and when you look at them, you realize THERE’S A WHOLE LOT MORE TO COME OUT! Where’s President Obama’s transparancy that he so willingly promised? These CIA documents looked like some little kid got loose on them with a large tipped sharpie – well over half of them were redacted. WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT INSIST ON HIDING INFORMATION FROM THE PUBLIC. Those of us who have been paying attention are not going to be surprised when we find out how involved Dick Cheney and George W Bush were in ordering what they call “enhanced interrogation” and what the rest of the civilized world calls TORTURE! I’m not sure what President Obama is thinking here. Why did the ACLU need to go to court to force these documents to be made public? And, does the President really think that the ACLU is going to stop pursuing this issue with the conviction of a few “operatives” who “went too far?” Let’s just get all the information out there and get on with it.

It looks like the ACLU and many of Obama’s “base” are going to force President Obama to do the “right thing” here. I’m not the only American who feels that when my government does something like this I’M COMPLICIT IF I ACCEPT IT AS OK! In fact, I would venture a guess there are millions just like me out there. I mean, here’s some of what WE ALL KNOW if we’ve been watching the news or reading the paper in the past year. First, both President Bush and Vice President Cheney admitted on national TV that they authorized waterboarding which, according to our own laws, international law, and the Geneva conventions has been considered torture for generations. President Obama and Attorney General Holder have both said that waterboarding is torture and they both know that Bush and Cheney have admitted to authorizing it – therefore, I really don’t understand how they can block a thorough investigation of this (today’s news says that the only thing investigated will be the abuse by CIA and contracted operatives). Remember, as I understand the Geneva conventions, failing to prosecute known war crimes is a crime in itself.

Second, we know that Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times IN ONE MONTH, and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in one month (someone must have thought they had a lot of information). The initial interrogator of Abu Zubaydah, when questioned before Congress, claimed that all of Zubaydah’s information given to him was gained prior to the waterboarding – once the waterboarding commenced the guy shut up. Which leads to the next thing we KNOW: despite Dick Cheney’s claims to the contrary, there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that waterboarding or other forms of torture gain any kind of pertinent information. In fact, the evidence points in the opposite direction. Evidence gained through torture is totally unreliable (not to mention, it’s inadmissable in court – of course Bush never had any intention of going to court with any of these so-called “enemy combatants” – his plan was, evidently, to leave them at GITMO or the other “rendition” sites until “Hell freezes over”) according to experienced interrogators who claimed they were able to get reliable information from “combatants” with traditional interrogation methods – information which was actually “actionable.”

Third, we know that the torture went WAY BEYOND waterboarding. I mean when you’ve got John Yoo giving you the legal “permission” and, as stated above, he’s OK with burying someone alive “depending on the circumstances” you know the possibilities are endless. And, it appears that the Bush administration was quite creative in their ideas on how to torture people – I guess the word for it would be SADISTIC! From putting a man in a box the size of, or maybe a bit smaller than, a coffin filled with bugs (knowing he had a fear of bugs) and closing the cover and leaving him in there for hours – to forcing prisoners to get naked, putting hoods over their heads and putting them in human piles or forcing them to simulate sexual acts, or chaining them against the bars of their cell and parading females by taunting them – to just simply severe beatings of them. The stories seem almost endless, yet the investigation seems like it will take MORE THAN AN ACT OF CONGRESS to get it started in a manner which will hold the people who authorized this behavior to account.

Finally, there have been reports of how – during the initial invasion of Afganistan – “suspects” (remember, the Americans were paying Afgans and Pakistani’s up to $20,000 for info on who to arrest – and many of the “suspects” arrested were totally innocent, simply a thousands of dollars bonanza for some dishonest Arab) – were carted to the secret prisons in vans which had NO air vents to the rear compartments where the detainees were crammed in. I have read reports where entire truckloads of detainees were DOA (Dead on Arrival) when the truck(s) pulled into the detention site(s) because they suffocated on the trip – remember, in Afganistan the temperatures are REALLY HOT sometimes and, regardless, people need air to breathe. I can’t even imagine how horrible it would be to be in the back of a van, crammed with as many people as they could get in there, and having NO air – I WONDER IF JOHN YOO WOULD CALL THAT TORTURE? (maybe John should get a trip, just by himself, in one of those vans so he would have a better frame of reference) An untold number of these “detainees” died en route to their “prison” and no one seems too concerned about that. Hopefully, this proposed investigation will get to the truth – AS UGLY AS IT’S LIKELY TO BE – so that Americans can face up to what has been done in their name. WE SIMPLY CAN’T ALLOW THESE ACTIONS TO GO UNPUNISHED! The soul of our nation is at stake over this!

All of these FACTS are why I’ve been HARPING on this since President Obama first said he was going to “look forward and not backward.” HE DOESN’T HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO DO SO! The number of people killed because of our inhumane treatment of these prisoners MUST BE MADE PUBLIC. Restitution should be made to the families of the victims! THIS IS A MUCH MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE – FOR THE LONG RUN – THAN HEALTH CARE REFORM! I agree that the health care reform is an important issue and also must be resolved, but the very MORAL FABRIC of our nation is at stake over this torturing issue. MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA HOW DESPICABLE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WAS. The world will view us as we view the Chinese or Russians or Iranians or Iraqi’s if we don’t rectify this problem.

I really want to see this issue on the front pages, on the nightly news, and I want to hear how people like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, John McCain (especially McCain), Sarah Palin, James Dobson and the Christian “Right” (wrong), and all the other right wing Republicans try to rationalize this away. It’s time for President Obama and the Democrats to do what they should have done on day one once they had control of the government and that is to have a VERY PUBLIC investigation of what was done under GW Bush and for Americans to have a PUBLIC DIALOGUE about where they REALLY stand on HUMAN RIGHTS. We hear the Republicans attacking Castro, the Chinese government, SADDAM HUSSEIN, the Iranians, the Russians – especially under communist rule, and many others ALL THE TIME over human rights abuses. Let’s find out where they REALLY STAND on the issue. I want to hear them defend Dick Cheney’s position that torture is OK – I WANT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO HEAR WHERE EVERYONE STANDS ON THIS ISSUE! And, I really want us, as a nation, to find out EVERYTHING that went on, to take responsibility for it – not just say “it won’t happen again” – to hold anyone who committed war crimes accountable (show the world we can police our own – we REALLY ARE A NATION OF LAWS), and to provide restitution to the families of the victims.

As I’ve stated many times on this site, as a Christian myself, I find it deplorable that the Bush administration and the Republican party, as it’s presently constituted, finds its base of support from the so-called Christian right. This torture issue is a good example of the falacy of Christian leaders trying to mobilize people into a “block” with the intention of creating political “power.” Shouldn’t Christians be more concerned with their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ? I know that many of my Christian friends have little to no interest in politics, so they are vulnerable to leaders whom they trust but whom have alterior motives in causing them to become this right wing voting “block.” I would invite any of my Christian friends who might happen upon this site and who are part of the divisive Republican party to read John Dean’s “Conservatives without Conscience.” I honestly don’t understand the following: How can any Christian support a political party which believes in torture? The evidence I’ve seen suggests that the Christian “Right” not only is supporting Republicans involved in torture, but they are – whether they know it or not – supporting the militia movement which is showing itself at rallies where our President is speaking bearing arms. Many are also showing themselves as racists – which is a topic for another day’s rant!