'A Systematic Regime of Torture'

No, this isn't about some third-world tinpot dictatorship. This is about the good old USA, the country that used to pride itself on its humane treatment of prisoners and its respect for human rights. The country that used to react with shame and scandal whenever those principles were found to be violated.

Retired Major General Antonio Taguba, as quoted by McClatchy: "After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. ...The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture."

But this is nothing new.

Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on May 7, 2004: "I can say that the facts that I now have from a number of sources represent to me as serious an issue of military misconduct as I have ever observed. These reports could also seriously affect this country's relationships with other nations, the conduct of the war against terrorism, and place in jeopardy the men and women of the armed forces wherever they are serving in the world. This mistreatment of prisoners represents an appalling and totally unacceptable breach of military regulations and conduct."

We now know, regrettably, that the transgressions committed at Abu Ghraib and gleefully used by our enemies as a terrorist recruiting tool were not simply the acts of a few isolated rogues but a natural byproduct of a systemically inhumane, degrading, and cruel approach to detainees advocated from the top down.

And isn't this special? From Mark Fallon, Deputy Commander, Criminal Investigation Task Force, Pentagon, sent in 2003 to Sam McCahon: "This looks like the stuff Congressional hearings are made of. Quotes...regarding things that are not being reported give the appearance of impropriety. Other comments like 'It is basically subject to perception. If the detainee dies you're doing it wrong' and 'Any of the techniques that lie on the harshest end of the spectrum must be performed by a highly trained individual. Medical personnel should be present to treat any possible accidents' seem to stretch beyond the bounds of legal propriety. Talk of 'wet towel treatment' which results in the lymphatic gland reacting as if you are suffocating, would in my opinion shock the conscience of any legal body looking at using the results of the interrogations or possibly even the interrogators. Someone needs to be considering how history will look back at this."

Not kindly, sir, not kindly.

But there were some who resisted the pressure to commit war crimes and violate the Geneva Conventions. "What makes me intensely proud of all these individuals [who resisted] was they said, 'We will not be party to this, even if we're ordered to do so,' " said Alberto J. Mora, former general counsel of the Navy, as quoted by MSNBC in an October 2006 report. "They are heroes, and there's no other way to describe them. They demonstrated enormous personal courage and personal integrity in standing up for American values and the system we all live for."

And some of us fight and die for.

If we become like those we abhor, what has become of us?

Thomas Jefferson said it best: "Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

But has the new Supreme Court decision that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in federal courts begun to pull us back from the brink of tyranny? In the face of the Bush administration's unrelenting attacks on American principles, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, declared: "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren noted, as quoted by Huffington Post, "The Supreme Court has finally brought an end to one of our nation's most egregious injustices. By granting the writ of habeas corpus, the Supreme Court recognizes a rule of law established hundreds of years ago and essential to American jurisprudence since our nation's founding."

These, my friends, are extraordinary times. It is up to us to ensure that the Constitution, and our laws, survive and remain in force.

More documentation here.