Torture is already illegal. In case you didn't know that. It's a violation of the US Code for any US citizen or employee of the US government to torture anybody, whether inside or outside the US.
So is what they call "rendition," handing a prisoner to another country for torture.
The loopholes are "this isn't torture," which is the one Bush is publicly stating, and the one I've mentioned before, that, as Commander in Chief during war time, Bush is not necessarily bound by what Congress tells him to do.
"This isn't torture" means that they're not causing death or massive organ failure. Beating legs to jelly with a truncheon is not torture because it doesn't usually kill or cause massive organ failure, for example.
I agree with Senator Durbin, this is the type of thing we expect from a totalitarian state, not America.
The counterargument, that we're not as bad as totalitarians because they have no issues with causing massive organ failure and death, is ludicrous. And ugly. See, Kholt, sometimes "ugly" is called for. |
