When Barack Obama becomes president, tomorrow, his first official act should be to ban torture. Nothing else would more clearly delineate the full and final break this nation is making from the legal and moral turpitude that was the Bush Administration. For logistical and practical reasons, Obama cannot immediately end the war or shut down Gitmo- although both must be done as quickly as is possible. He cannot immediately stop our economic free-fall. He cannot immediately begin to repair the possibly irreversible damage done by Bush to the environment. But he can ban torture. He can order all government entities that are in any way involved with torture to stop immediately. He can make clear that any government officials still involved with torture will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and possibly turned over to international officials for possible war crimes violations.
Corporate media and other Beltway types want Obama neither to end torture nor to prosecute the Bush officials who signed off on it. The law necessitates that he do both. And in this ostensible nation of laws, no one should be above the law. If we are, indeed, a nation of laws.
Last Friday, Big Tent Democrat wrote the following:
…the Beltway wants the torture policy of the Bush Administration swept under the rug and forgotten…
With all due respect to one of my favorite bloggers, I don’t think he goes far enough. The Beltway doesn’t just want Bush’s torture regime swept away and forgotten, it wants Obama to be complicit in it. Because the enabling of the Beltway and the corporate media made them complicit in it.
The best thing our newly inaugurated president can do, tomorrow, is to attempt to begin to establish a fundamental sense of moral and legal integrity in this nation. And to stop hurting people for no reason. As of tomorrow, solving and resolving all of Bush’s countless messes, crimes, and disasters becomes Barack Obama’s responsibility. Barack Obama’s first act as president should be to ban torture.
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It is not JUST ..the Beltway that wants the torture policy of the Bush Administration swept under the rug and forgotten…
Good to see you sir!
ask Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute past Bush war crimes… or, actually, that should be the second paragraph of his torture ban.
Arresting Bush would be a good third act.
shut Gitmo down. We cannot sweep this under the rug, it is too big and will crunch under our feet and come crawling out again.. My neighbor had an interesting idea. He suggested we could as they did in South Africa have an Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I don’t know if that would work due as it would still leave the criminals at large and how can we reconcile with torture and invasion. I just hope that the complicity of all of the congress, the media and the intelligence agencies does not make it so that the truth is denied and called ‘differences of policy’. We need our laws restored at least. Prosecution of the worst the architects is essential too.
…that a US president would ban hurting people for no reason. Government would stop!
But a torture ban sounds like an excellent idea.
of course it will. Will you ever again hear about it? No.
Also rumors of the death of the North American Union, one of Bush’s pet covert projects is being revamped under Obama as “re-negotiating” NAFTA/SHAFTA. The supercorridor projects continue but have been divided up to escape scrutiny.
like Clinton faced and Failed with not allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Bill won the election. It was his order to make. He could have done the right thing and anyone who didn’t like it could quit. He failed the leadership test. He caved and brought in ‘don’t ask don’t tell’. I lost all respect for him from that point forward.
Obama’s test will be even more serious. If Obama sweeps torture under the rug and doesn’t prosecute, his moral authority is toast. The Rule of Law is toast. And so is his presidency.
Yes, I agree 100% — torture MUST go! It’s against our laws, the Constitution, and the Geneva Conventions, common Article 3, and other humanitarian agencies. Since when did torture become a part of our system? I think you know the answer to that.
Unfortunately, it seems that the U.S. Army’s Field Manual (revised in 2006), STILL leaves “wiggle room” for torture in Appendix M, of the manual. Please review Valtin’s meticulously written essay: How the U.S. Army’s Field Manual Codified Torture — and Still Does
The point is, of course, not only must we STOP torture, but we must also get it RIGHT on the “books” — it seems that the U.S. Army’s Field Manual is about to become “de rigeur.” So, we have a dual problem here, getting the “fundamentals” right in the military’s “bible” and agreeing that torture will end as an option in this country. (Please spread the author’s article around, Turkana, to sources you might have. Thanks. I have been spreading it around, myself, as able.)
Thanks for your essay! It is nice to see you! 🙂