Sad Day for Our Country

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So the Senate Armed Services Committee finally released its report on the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Surprise! Donald Rumsfeld, Richard, Myers, Condoleezza Rice and the whole hierarchy of the Defense and Justice departments knew about the torture, including specifics, and approved the use of it.

I have never been more ashamed of my government. I don’t say of my country, although too many Americans lusted for revenge and bought into the administration’s claims that the torture was needed to save American lives. But most of us didn’t, especially after we were shown exactly what water boarding involves. And there were career officers in the military and career agents in the intelligence community who bravely spoke up and reminded us that torture doesn’t work.

But Rumsfeld and Ashcroft reigned over their departments for four years and both left unrepentant about the torture. Even today, Rumsfeld denied the evidence turned up by the Armed Services Committee’s investigators. What chutzpah!

It distresses me to hear so many pundits say that we should allow these people to get away with it. They say no one should be prosecuted, that we should just let it go and move on with our efforts to face the challenges of a faltering economy.

Well, I don’t agree. I think we need to mount an aggressive campaign to hold these war criminals accountable. If we can’t get it done in American courts, I think we should turn the evidence over to the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague.

For, make no mistake, these were war crimes, maybe not as ghastly as the Final Solution, but war crimes nevertheless. If we don’t prosecute these criminals, we are sending a message to the rest of the world that, really, Americans can’t be trusted, that we will do anything to get our way, no matter how black, no matter how dastardly.

And we must do it to send a message to ourselves. All Americans need to see these deeds for what they were. Those of us who opposed the war and opposed the torture need closure, and the rest of the country needs to have their eyes opened to what really happened. The only way for that to happen is for there to be trials and for the convicted to go to prison. And if the evidence leads to the Oval Office, then so be it.

Our country was founded on a determination to reverse the power of red-coated bullies to break into our homes, put us in prison and keep us there without charge, and to do whatever they pleased to us once we were in there. That is why we wrote all those liberties into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And it’s why those liberties were extended not just to citizens, but to all people who found themselves within the borders of our country.

The first year of George W. Bush’s reign coincided with the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was pretty much ignored then. How about celebrating it now with a re-dedication to the ideals that have made America great?

Wouldn’t that be a kick in the teeth for the terrorists?
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