by Barbara Zaha
The following letter to the editor appeared in the April 16 issue of the Kane (Illinois) County Chronicle.
For more than a week, revelations of the Bush administration’s
meticulous and methodical brutality in developing specific torture
techniques and approving their explicit use have provided further
evidence of a government that blatantly lies. What was openly rejected
upon previous discovery of horrendous human rights violations at Abu
Ghraib now has been acknowledged by a regime that intentionally
perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To date, the absence of outrage from the American people is deafening, depicting a national culture seemingly devoid of conscience. What faith, religion, or philosophy do we espouse that condones the barbaric, systematic torture of another human being?
Surely, this extreme betrayal of public trust, this grotesque and violent abuse of power is far more startling in its severity than either Watergate or the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Where are the statesmen or elected officials who will denounce these heinous deeds? Where is the presidential candidate or political party that refuses to remain complicit through silence? Where are the people of conscious who will declare, “Not in our name”?
Do these revelations also indict a culture so self-absorbed, so ruthless as to condone these atrocities? Or will we demand this deception, violence and carnage not be embraced with impunity for these criminals simply because they reside at the White House?