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George Thinks He Is “The War President,”
But History Will See Him As “The Torture President” by James Glaser March 10, 2008 President George W. Bush, actually believes that he has become a "War President," even though the wars he has taken on (Iraq and Afghanistan) are miniscule in comparison to many past American wars. Don't believe it? This is what he said of himself:
History may record that Bush was in some sort of war throughout his presidency, but it will also record the fact that George Bush used the calendar to hide many of his legislative deeds from the media. Every time President George W. Bush did something that could cause an uproar, he would announce it late Friday or early Saturday morning. Those have proven to be the best times to do things you don't want covered closely by our national media. This past Saturday President Bush announced that he has vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods to break suspected terrorists, because he said, that would end practices that have prevented attacks. The New York Times reports President Bush saying this:
Much of George Bush's time in office will be remembered for the lies he told the American people as this next Time's quote points out:
If you read reports about President Bush's veto to ban torture by the CIA, you will see that "waterboarding" (simulated drowning) is listed as one of the main tortures banned, a torture that President Bush wants to keep in use, but there are many others that might fit better into what Americans feel are torture. If Bush had signed the bill, the CIA would have had to follow the interrogation techniques allowed for use by military questioners. It seems that the Army Field Manual approved in 2006 stopped the use of tortures like waterboarding, and President Bush wants to allow those tortures banned for military interrogation. Here are some of the torture techniques the Army has stopped using, but the CIA will be able to continue using (if Congress can't override Bush's veto). Stripping prisoners naked. Forcing prisoners to perform or mimic sexual acts. Beating, burning, or physically hurting them in other ways. Dogs will be able to be used by the CIA, as will the use of hypothermia and mock executions. That's right, George Bush wants to save the practice of burning prisoners, and forcing them to do sexual acts. Remember we are the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, but we now have a President who believes that stooping all the way down to Gestapo tactics will somehow protect America. Torturing prisoners does not protect America, all it does is take away America's leadership position in the world. Billions of people the world over now know what we are really like, and we are no longer the good guys. To them, we have become the Nazis of the twenty first century. Under George Bush, we now follow in the footsteps of Adolph Hitler, Paul Pot, the Spanish Inquisition, and every two-bit dictator who ever tortured to stay in power. Much of the rest of the world knows first hand what torture is, and when the United States tells the world that America has the right to torture, they no longer look to us as that Land of the Free they always dreamed about. George Bush has brought our country down to the level of the very same dictators and despots that the United States always tried to free people from. With this veto, George Bush now allows the CIA to use its imagination in figuring out new ways to torture. Remember one of the rules he wants to save is, "beating, burning or hurting them in other ways." I bet our CIA can think of lots of "other ways" to hurt prisoners, and that truly is horrible. As the old preacher said, "It is never right to do wrong," and torturing anyone for any reason is so very wrong. I saw first hand in Viet Nam how we (America) tortured a woman and her child to death, and that will always stick with me. During every war, we, as all countries do, start by bending the rules, and end up doing horrible and despicable things. Many times we do these horrible things to totally innocent people. We commit war crimes in every war we go to, as does every other combatant country. But when our President tells the world that torture is no longer wrong, when that same President decides our country can legally do the same things (waterboarding)we have executed people for in the past, well then we as a nation have given up our honor, and that is a sad thing to lose. Post Script: When ever I think of torture, I think of the rack or maybe pulling some ones finger nails out, even burning some one with a red hot poker, but in today's day and age, America seems to be obsessed with sex, so now we torture by "forcing prisoners to perform sexual acts." Have American torture techniques become some how more perverted than those from history? Just how far will President George W. Bush take us down this road? |
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