America has to decide whether we are a nation of laws or a nation of men. If we are a nation of laws, than no body is above the law. If we are a nation of laws, than the United States Government must respect and comply with the rule of law. Now that the Bush Administration is over, we are finding more and more that many involved in that administration have broken the law. Many Americans knew this before and were calling for impeachment then, but at that time the Bush Administration seemed too powerful and the Democrats were too afraid.<\/p>\n
The latest issue of immoral and unlawful Bush Administration policies to make it to the mainstream media has been the issue of torture. The Bush Administration ordered it our men and women in uniform carried it out. First the Dick Cheney claimed that \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d were not torture. But that clearly didn\u2019t fly. Once the photos of what went on surfaced, it was very clear that those techniques were so \u201cenhanced\u201d that they are considered torture. Pulling out the Orwellian dictionary didn\u2019t work. While a rose by any other name smells just as sweet, torture by any other name is just as immoral and just as illegal.<\/p>\n
The next trick up Dick Cheney\u2019s ass was to claim that it worked. \u201cWho cares if it was illegal or immoral, it got the job done.\u201d Well, that is the same thing that the terrorists say every time they kill innocent people in order to advance their goals. And for the record, according to many in the CIA and FBI, these torture techniques didn\u2019t work. In fact, they got bad information from torturing. They got the information that they needed when they used honey so to speak. But that aside, even if torture did work, should we as a nation of laws use it? Our elected officials have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and clearly torture violates that oath. The Constitution protects people against the use of torture.<\/p>\n
Some hold to the opinion that since many of those in Guantanamo were not Americans, they should not be protected under the Constitution. This is a very Nazi-like statement in my opinion. It expresses the view that Americans are fundamentally better than everyone else and so we deserve \u201cspecial\u201d rights that other people should not have. Here again, America has a decision to make; either we are superior people deserving of better laws or our laws are better deserving of all people. If our laws are better, as I believe they are, than they protect everyone who we have jurisdiction over whether they are American citizens or not.<\/p>\n
As a nation of laws, we have to be the example of those laws and we must not torture. Torture is immoral and illegal. Those who did it should be held accountable and those who ordered it should be held accountable. No one should be above the law.<\/p>\n
Seeing the writing on the wall, Cheney next decided to drag Democrat Nancy Pelosi into this. I think he thought that Democrats would back off if they thought that one of their leaders would probably be caught up in this if they went forward with an investigation. Now, every time someone says we should investigate Dick Cheney, some right wing hack says, \u201cWhat about Pelosi? What did she know and when did she know it?\u201d Sure let\u2019s investigate her too. I think we will find that she didn\u2019t understand what was going on and just nodded her head. That isn\u2019t because she is stupid or anything, just that the Bush Administration probably went out of their way to make the issue as complicated as possible so that no one would understand it.<\/p>\n
Now President Obama has caved to pressure not to release the photos of the \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d out of fear that it might insight more violence. Well shit, cartoons of Mohammad will insight more violence, that doesn\u2019t mean we should pass laws prohibiting the freedom of speech. The photos aren\u2019t what would insight the violence, the acts of torture that were photographed are what would insight the violence.<\/p>\n
Maybe covering up for the Bush Administration isn\u2019t the best thing to do here. We are a nation of laws and no one is above the law, not even Dick Cheney!<\/p>\n