When I was growing up ,I was taught America does not attack a country that didn’t go after it first. I was taught we would not torture and would abide by the Geneva Convention. I was led to believe we held ourselves to a higher standard. I liked that about us. Even if it were not always true,the fact that we aspired to it was a positive force.
We no longer hold these ideals. We use the actions of others as an excuse to become like them. It is shameful. Bush has made it clear we will out dirty any other country. We will hide the truth from our own citizens. Does Bush ever hold us to a higher standard. He talks of a relationship with god and proceeds to do reprehensible things over and over.
We have become a different nation. I do not like it.
I don’t support torture. My post was descriptive, not prescriptive.
The WWII war crime executions that I know of stem from far more serious deeds than I am aware of being currently leveled against U.S. soldiers or agents. For example, massacres, death marches, slave labor prison camps, and genocide. I would certainly be interested in any cite which says Axis agents were executed for conducting water boarding, prolonging uncomfortable positions, sleep deprivation, sensory overload, or sodomy with uncomfortable objects.
And if you do provide such a cite I don’t know what you expect me to say. I’m not much of a supporter of the death penalty.
But if you wish to take this one step further, the Nuremburg trials supposedly established a precedent where the most severe international crime is waging wars of aggression. We hanged lots of people for that. So the entire current and past Bush administration would be having their necks measured about now.
Regardless, my position remains. Nothing will come of this. My reasoning is the history of the U.S. during the 20th century. We can wax outrage all we want and shake our fist at the faceless wall of the U.S. establishment. But after you close the browser window reality is waiting.
Also worth mentioning are the various conventions outlawing torture in all its forms, to which the US is signatory. So really the question is whether the US chooses to be a country governed by the rule of law. And as you so eloquently show, the answer is a resounding ‘no’.