Torture Approver in Chief

A new book due to be released next week will publish findings of a Red Cross report that states categorically that the United States used and approved methods of interrogation that constitute torture. Full Stop.

I wrote ‘full stop’ because the idea has been disseminated by the Bush Administration that the methods used are in debate as to whether they constitute torture or not. The Bush Administration along with hacks like Supreme Court Justice Scalia have successfully infused the American public with the idea that waterboarding and other torture methods are “perhaps in some cases, but not necessarily always” torture.

This is wrong. The International Committee of The Red Cross is the world's pre-eminent institution on the subject and they leave no doubt as to the fact that the interrogation tactics used by the CIA in Guantanamo and elsewhere constitute torture.

The book entitled "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," is written by Jane Meyer and cites sources which have read the report which was released last year. These sources say "that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who called Bush a "torture-approver-in-chief who has yet to be held to account for anything" interviewed law expert Johnathan Turley about these developments. Turley replied: "I'd never thought I would say this, but I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that," as The Raw Story reports where the accompanying video can be viewed.