Journey for Humanity and Accountability, Day 5
By Cindy Sheehan, 7/15/07
Today our Journey took us to Ft. Benning, Ga, where the cancer of
the School of Americas (WINSEC) is housed. I have written on torture
before and I believe that BushCo’s policy of imprisoning people without
their basic due process and torturing them is one of the grossest
breeches of international and American law and one of the overriding
reasons that they should
be impeached.
The School of Torture has graduated many egregious violators of
human rights like Panamanian drug lord, U.S. CIA employee, and Bush
family friend (until he became an enemy), Manuel Noriega. If there is
one issue that should unite Americans it should be against torture.
Incredibly, we still have neighbors in our communities who believe that
torture is correct,
humane and valuable. However to say torture is “wrong” is like saying
the sky is blue. Torture is inherently wrong. Torture is pure evil.
Torture is an abomination. Torture is disordered and demented. Torture
is sick, sick, sick!
Most significantly the people who are being tortured in such prison
camps as Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib were mostly sold to the US Army by
bounty hunters and the Northern Aliance. Criminal charges against the
prisoners are as rare as the truth in the Bush Regime. Most reasonable
people would agree that information gleaned from such awfully brutal
means (water-boarding, stress positions, extreme noise and
temperatures, sodomy and other sexual humiliation, electrodes on
genitalia, etc) is never reliable. I can’t even fathom the sick,
sadistic minds of the Bush Regime who not only have authorized and
institutionalized this behavior but also refuse to end it and close the
camps that have undermined any moral authority the US may have had.
Torture not only dehumanizes the tortured, but the torturer. It hurts my heart deeply to think of our
young soldiers carrying out such ruthless acts on other humans who for
the most part were in the wrong place at the wrong time and do not know
where Osama bin Laden is hiding. Torture only compromises our soldiers’
lives in the field as the US cannot credibly claim any kind of moral
high ground if one of our soldiers is tragically captured. The
abomination of Abu Ghraib is one of the reasons that the insurgency
began on the day Casey was killed in Sadr City, Baghdad. I personally
know three men who were illegally and wrongly imprisoned in Guantanamo
and Abu Ghraib who can testify to the fact that, yes, America does
torture and does so with extreme, callous and cold-hearted cruelty.
The Geneva Conventions are clear on prohibiting the use of torture
and the 8th Amendment to our own Constitution prohibits cruel and
unusual punishment. When torture is official policy, where will it end?
When George can pick and choose who receives the centuries old right to
habeas corpus and who doesn’t, where will it end? Will it end with the
“terrorists” in Guantanamo or will it be used here in the USA against
those who stand up against tyranny and struggle for our Constitution,
freedoms, peace and human rights?
Torture has tarnished the soul of our nation and Congress has done
little to restrain BushCo’s Torquemadas and even when a bill is passed
restricting the use of torture, George adds a signing statement saying
that he is above the law. BushCo is no better than a crime cabal and
they must be Constitutionally controlled.
Apparently impeachment is the only remedy for torture and will go a
long way to elevating our country’s standing in the international
community and to healing our broken nation. Impeachment is not an
optional menu item that can be set on a table but a Constitutionally
mandated requirement (See section II, Article IV).
Put it back on the table, Ms. Pelosi. We have over a million signatures on petitions demanding that
Congress end the misery of our nation and world by impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney.
Action items:
Go to: www.impeachbush.org to sign the petition to impeach Bush.
Go to: www.thecampcaseyinstitute.org for more info on our Journey for Humanity and Accountability or to donate to defray our expenses.
Call Nancy Pelosi’s office (202-225-4965) to tell her to green light impeachment.
Join us in our walk from Arlington Cemetery to Congressman John Conyer’s office for a sit-in for
impeachment on July 23rd or organize sit-ins in your Congress Rep’s local office.
Go to Amnesty International to learn more about the issue of torture.