Torture

We're supposed to be the good guys- the ones in the white hats, the people who condemn forced confessions, beatings, and mistreatment of prisoners. We're the Country which has a Constitution giving everyone the right to a fair trial. We're the Country whose criminal justice system is based on Habeas Corpus- - preventing the government from holding prisoners indefinitely without  bringing charges.

Now we hear reports of systematic barbaric beatings and torture of prisoners being held in Cuba and other locations. Force pumping liquids into prisoners rectums is an act of sadistic perversion done by cowards.  The point is not whether this gross mistreatment of prisoners provided critical information (which it clearly did not). The point is that we're supposed to be a Country which provides international moral leadership around the globe. We're a Country that condemns war crimes and mistreatment of prisoners.

The actions of the CIA are little different from some of the brutal actions by the Nazis in their concentration camps during second world war. It's clear to any observer that our actions violate all international treaties with regard to the proper handling of prisoners of war. Our actions are war crimes by any definition and as such should be prosecuted in an International Court to the full extent of the law.

Dick Cheney convinced a rookie President Bush to invade Iraq and we've been paying the penalty in lost and ruined lives ever since. Our actions upset the delicate balance of  politics in the Middle East. We invaded Iraq on false pretenses with no plan to deal with managing the complexity of  political, religious, and social chaos that followed. Dick Cheney's company (Haliburton) made a fortune in Iraq working as a subcontractor for the Army and now he has the balls to claim that torturing prisoners and denying them the right to Habeas Corpus is justified? Cheney was a coward during Vietnam and managed to avoid getting drafted but he didn't  hesitate for even a second before sending our young soldiers into Iraq to have their arms and legs blown off.  If anyone should be convicted of war crimes Dick Cheney ought to be at the top of the list. He should be tossed in prison in Cuba with the other prisoners and left to rot. Congress needs to identify and bring the CIA employees who \tortured  prisoners to trial as quickly as possible before they can hide behind any applicable statue of limitations. I"m not certain that war crimes are covered by that type of statue. After all we continue to prosecute Nazis.

If we want to continue to be the good guys in the white hats we need to step up to the plate and confess our sins and take full responsibility for our actions.