M O N D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 2 8 , 2 0 0 5Torture: It's The American Wayby Michael in New York on 2/28/2005 08:10:00 PMI've wanted to talk about our country's embrace of torture asA-OK for weeks now.</p><p> Should I post when the New York Timesruns a story on A-11 (deep inside the paper) that casuallymentions more cases of torture and then even more casuallystates that the US has routinely shipped off prisoners to thirdcountries like Saudi Arabia that we know will torture them?How about the fact that virtually the last paragraph even morecasually mentions that the President repeatedly insists wenever do this, which is known as extraordinary rendition? Inother words, the New York Times says the President is lying tothe American people but finds this so unremarkable it's barelymentioned in a small story buried in the paper.Should I bring up torture when the New Yorker runs anexhaustive feature about yet another INNOCENT MAN who wasgrabbed, bundled off to a third country, brutally tortured andthen dumped back into society with no one in governmentthinking this was unusual or unfortunate?Bob Herbert of the New York Times finally couldn't wait anylonger for outrage to build and asks today if the US has aconscience.A Kafkaesque country where private citizens are grabbed offthe streets and dumped in a hole never to be heard fromagain.</p><p> A government that refuses to admit those people haveeven been detained or confirmed their names.</p><p> Secret locationswhere people KNOWN TO BE INNOCENT are beaten, raped,sodomized, tortured, punched in the head and even killed.</p><p> Aleader who believes he is above the rule of law and mustanswer to no one for his actions.</p><p> Sycophantic minions who doOrwell proud by insisting they would never torture someone,but simply redefine torture as anything that doesn't lead toorgan failure or death.</p><p> Electric cables attached to your genitalsand giving you shocks? Not torture.</p><p> Punching you in thestomach every day for a year? Not torture.</p><p> Stripping you nakedan d keeping you in a tiny box away from all human contact forsix months at a time? Not torture.This used to describe evil countries like Saudi Arabia, theSoviet Union, China, Iraq, Cambodia under Pol Pot and others.Now it also describes the United States of America.</p><p> And everyday we accept that torture is part of the post 9-11 world, everyday we don't write to our elected officials and demand itchange (just like we used to write letters for AmnestyInternational and send them off to OTHER countries), everyday we fail to speak out for the innocent people who have beenfound guilty without a trial or a lawyer or even being told thecharges against them, every day that this continues is anotherday our hands are bloodied and everything we stand for issullied.Here's betting this posting doesn't garner more than a handfulof comments.</p><p> Why? 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