The White House culture that led to prisoner abuse

[JoFerret]

http://www.iht.com/articles/524173.html

In response to the outrages at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the Bush administration has repeatedly assured Americans that the president and his top officials did not say or do anything that could possibly be seen as approving the abuse or outright torture of prisoners. But disturbing disclosures keep coming. This week it was a legal argument by government lawyers who said the president was not bound by laws or treaties prohibiting torture.

Each new revelation makes it more clear that the inhumanity at Abu Ghraib grew out of a morally dubious culture of legal expediency and a disregard for normal behavior fostered at the top of this administration. It is part of the price the United States must pay for President George W. Bush's decision to take the extraordinary mandate to fight terrorism that he was granted by a grieving nation after the Sept. 11 attacks and apply it without justification to Iraq.

Since the Abu Ghraib scandal broke into public view, the Bush administration has contended that a few sadistic guards acted on their own to commit the crimes that we have all seen in pictures and videos.
....
Each new revelation makes it more clear that the inhumanity at Abu Ghraib grew out of a morally dubious culture of legal expediency and a disregard for normal behavior fostered at the top of this administration. It is part of the price the United States must pay for President George W. Bush's decision to take the extraordinary mandate to fight terrorism that he was granted by a grieving nation after the Sept. 11 attacks and apply it without justification to Iraq.
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[HuckleB]

1. Unfortunately, this will all be ignored.

It's Reagan all day, every day, and more!

Mr. Huxley is once again turning in his grave. It's a Brave New World indeed.

[spooked]

2. Maybe it was the drugs?

edited to give credit to someone at Duke University
http://www.duke.edu/~maw/

[TahitiNut]

3. It's a NYT Editorial titled "The Roots of Abu Ghraib" dated today

(1) It's very noteworthy that the NYT actually says: "Each new revelation makes it more clear that the inhumanity at Abu Ghraib grew out of a morally dubious culture of legal expediency and a disregard for normal behavior fostered at the top of this administration." When it further states that Bush* applied the war powers mandate he got from a country in in shock "without justification" in Iraq, the die is cast.
(2) It's also noteworthy that they chose to print it today, a Wednesday, at the height of the Ghoulish Orgasm over Reagan's 4th-day rotting corpse.
(3) It's also noteworthy that it was printed by the International Herald Tribune. When I travelled a lot, I regarded the IHT as the best American newspaper (very few ads) -- sadly only available overseas in those days. It's read widely, both by American ex-pats and English-speaking foreigners.


It's mainstream now. The eagle has landed. It's about damned time!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/opinion/09WED1.html?ex=1087358400&en=2ab2a5e1d60e0b62&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE