I am committed to working towards bringing Bush and company to accountability for their abuse of power and the constitution.

A Special Prosecutor must be appointed to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in torture and other war crimes.

These crimes are being euphemistically referred to as “abusive interrogation techniques” by such respected figures as Senator John McCain. These are euphemisms for torture. Torture is a war crime. Waterboarding is a war crime. The CIA has admitted waterboarding detainees. According to reports Vice President Cheney brazenly admitted authorizing the program that led to waterboarding, other forms of torture too numerous to list, and ultimately, the deaths by homicide of detainees.

The United States is a representative democracy. The actions of our government officials are done in the name of its citizens. War Crimes have been committed in our name. Torture has been done in our name. The only way to clear our name of war crimes is to repudiate them through the aggressive prosecution of each and every person involved to the fullest extent of the law through the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.

If nothing is done, what on earth will stop future administrations from repeating the same or worse?

Marilyn Bagdonas

Firstly, allow me to express my sincerest sympathies to you for undergoing such a terrible, despicable thing. However, I fail to understand why I should not trust the U.N. Too often do we Americans deride other countries for their crimes against humanity, but seldom do we ever admit to our own heinous actions. And yes, because this is SUPPOSED to be a republic, we ordinary citizens are just as culpable for the violations of human rights that are committed in our name as our elected officials and our military.

Secondly, if you payed attention to the World Court’s definition of human rights, you would understand, sir, that psychological tactics are as potentially disruptive as physical torture. For example, the Chinese water torture can induce lasting psychological damage, as well as injecting truth serum.

Thirdly, there is AMPLE evidence that the U.S. government has employed electroshock tactics and other heinous acts of torture and murder over the last 50 years through paramilitary groups that have been sponsored by the CIA. As I mentioned to Billy, Alan Nairn is an expert on CIA interventions in Latin America, and has written extensively on the countless cases of torture and assassinations committed in such countries as Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, and Guatemala by U.S.-trained death squads.

Fourthly, I find it laughable that you insinuate that just because I am a college student, I have absolutely no knowledge of what does and does not constitute torture. I would ask you to please refrain from that nationalistic glorification of ignorance and disdain for intellectuals that is so pervasive amongst the Reactionary Right. I may not have ever been in the military, but I have had plenty of relatives who have been in combat, my grandfather having participated in the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau. If he were alive today, I can safely say that my grandfather would be vehemently opposed to torture tactics being used by his own government, especially after seeing the atrocities he witnessed as a young 18 year old corporal under General Patton.

I would also ask you and anyone else to refrain from employing woefully cliched comments about the military protecting my freedoms. As far as I am concerned, innocent young working class men and women being forced to kill other innocent young working class men and women for the profit of oil barrons and defense contractors does NOT constitute freedom. My father’s parents were social activists who fought tirelessly for civil and human rights for all people until their death. As far as I am concerned, people who have the courage to resist authority when they believe it to be unjust, and to hold our leaders accountable, are the TRUE heroes.

I would ask you not to employ ad hominem attacks against me involving my age. I have the utmost respect and remorse for individuals who, for whatever reason, must serve in the military, but as far as the military-industrial complex is concerned, I quote Bob Dylan:

“How much do I know
to talk out of turn?
You might say that I’m young.
You might say I’m unlearned.
But there’s one thing I know,
though I’m younger than you.
Even Jesus would never
forgive what you do.”

Defiantly yours,

Cal Colgan

While I respect your opinion, I do find it questionable that you believe that Geneva Conventions officials went into Guantanamo Bay and found absolutely no evidence of torture. I specifically stated in my article that Manfred Nowak, the UN Rapporteur on torture, investigated the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in 2006, and found it to be in clear violiation of international human rights laws.

I find your comment that “Blasting loud music and keeping terrorists awake 20 hours a day isn’t torture” to be mired by dubious reasoning. Psychological torture can have nearly, if not exactly, the same hazardous effects on the phyisical and mental state of the victim as physical torture. Sleep deprivation can lead to insanity and other severe health and mental problems. Also, I would like to remind you that sleep deprivation isn’t the only form of torture that Guantanamo interrogators have used. Water boarding and other forms of physical torture have also been used on detainees. Further, I would like to point out that to call the detainees at Guantanamo Bay “terrorists” is to arouse controversy, given the fact that many of the detainees at this facility have never been formerly charged with any crime whatsoever.

If you had read my article thoroughly, you would have realized that Guantanamo Bay is not the only facility that employs torture. There are countless bases and training facilities, both in and outside of the United States, that actively use torture tactics. While I did not name it in my article, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly called the School Of Americas) in Ft. Benning, Georgia, is notorious for training Latin American soldiers in torture and death squad tactics to assassinate left wing politicians, union leaders, healthcare workers, and anyone else who the CIA deems poses a threat to American business interests. The official UN report claims that SOA graduates have been responsible for 75,000 deaths in its more than 40 years of existence, though records from several Latin American countries have much higher figures.

I also referenced political columnist and journalist Alan Nairn, an expert on CIA interventions in Latin America, who has specificially stated that most of the torture sponsored by the U.S. government is committed by foreign interrogators, and not American soldiers. This is why Obama’s Executive Order to “ban torture” by American interrogators will not ban 90 percent of the torture that is conducted by U.S. government-sponsored officials.

Further, I specifically stated when the U.S. government partook in the Conventions Against Torture, it said that it would either prosecute any official who tortured, or would at least extradite them to another sovereign state that would try them for torture. Given this fact, and the information provided by Professor Nowak, it seems clear that former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, and, for that matter, former US Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzoles must at least be sent to a sovereign state for a war crimes trial. This is FACT, not opinion.

Finally, I find it interesting that you claim that my article has been hit with “Bush Derangement Syndrome.” Notwithstanding the fact that Bush and his cabinet members CLEARLY violated both international law and the U.S. Constitution by abusing their war time powers, I would like to remind you that I also took President Obama to task in this article. Therefore, my critique is not so much about the Bush Administration specifically, as it is about the tactics the American government has employed in the past, and continues to employ, under the guise of its “humanitarian” interventionist foreign policy.

I would humbly ask that you please substantiate your claims before claiming that I have taken too much liberties with the fact.

Yours defiantly,

Cal Colgan