Torture, or Just Kinda Rude?

 “Torture, or just kind of rude?”

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I’m writing yet another op-ed on the torture issue (no pun intended).

First off, let me just say that I am a bleeding heart liberal and get that out in the open.

G.W. Bush’s actions and inactions have been a disgrace to our nation. Dick Cheney is the epitome of evil. Cheney couldn’t terrify me more if he had the horns, forked tongue and tail. Guess that makes Cheney a terrorist. So there, take that for what its worth. My opinion is probably biased.

No one, including Cheney, has claimed that waterboarding is not torture. It is a technique that has been tried previously by other nations, and has been classified as torture. Cut and dry. Other techniques, such as putting some bugs in a cell with a prisoner, has been compared to waterboarding in attempts to muddle the line between right and wrong. What it comes down to is this: If Americans would have a fit if it was done to one of our citizens or soldiers by another government or faction, it is not moral. Whether or not a medical professional was present. I could remind you of plenty of times in history when medical professionals were involved in immoral acts, ie. the Tuskegee syphilis study.

The question of who to hold accountable has come up. The actions of each person need to be addressed. The lawyers who said that it okay to used specific enhanced interrogation techniques obviously don’t know the law and should be disbarred. They gave advice that violated the rules of the Geneva Convention, the governing board on prisoners of war. Bad advice, however negligent, is not a crime. The people that these lawyers were advising can be expected to be familiar with the specifics of the Geneva Convention, or at the very least have the intelligence and knowledge of history to question this advice. Should Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rice and company be investigated for what they knew? Absolutely. In fact, Cheney has been televised blatantly saying that he knew about the waterboarding and approved of it. Shouldn’t be much to investigate there, as he was speaking freely without any enhanced interviewing techniques. Should members of Congress be investigated for what they knew about and approved? Absolutely. Yes, I am aware that includes Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats. Should the investigations go all the way ‘down’ to the medical professionals who were present and violated their creed to ‘first do no harm’ and to the low ranking military personnel who assisted in the techniques? Absolutely. Without thorough investigations, no one will be held accountable. President Obama demands transparency and accountability for the budget and the banking industry, but not for the former Administration that committed crimes.