President Bush at press conference Sept. 15:
This debate is occurring because of the Supreme Court’s
ruling that said that we must conduct ourselves under the Common Article 3 of
the Geneva Convention, and that Common Article 3 says that, you know, there
will be no outrages upon human dignity.
That’s like it’s very vague. What does that mean, ‘outrages
upon human dignity’? That’s a statement that is wide open to interpretation.
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There is no assault upon human dignity the Bush Regime is
not capable of. They routinely torture people, including sending prisoners to
other countries for further torture in so-called “renditions”. Their
wars are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians; they
allowed people to suffer and die for five days in New Orleans. In the notorious Abu Ghraib prison,
people were beaten to death, sexually humiliated, assaulted by dogs, and
subjected to other unspeakable crimes. (Watch
the testimony from the Bush Crimes Commission on torture.)
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Much has been made in the media of the questions Republican
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There is no debate in the political structure of this
country as to whether “outrages upon personal dignity” and
“humiliating and degrading treatment” will continue, just over
whether the U.S.
will explicitly tear up the Geneva Convention and declare its right to do this
to whomever the President determines. Torture is deeply engrained in the very
culture of the armies and intelligence services and private contractors (i.e.,
torturers) of empire. Bush is declaring that he intends to extend and codify
this practice, and enshrine it in law.
Bush swaggered and threatened like a Nazi when he made this
statement. But – knowing what has happened and the even worse atrocities Bush
is promising – not acting to stop it all is to be complicit.
This must come to a halt! October 5 – there is a way, there
is a day!