Bush's Feeble Torture Dodge

"Well, of course we don't torture them. We call freezing conditions, slaps to the head, and simulated drowning (a friendlier term than water-boarding, we presume) something else in this country.

"We call it 'tough, safe, necessary and lawful,' in the words of White House press secretary Dana Perino. We call it 'fully consistent with the legal standards,' according to Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. But we certainly don't call it torture, because torture is 'abhorrent,' according to the Justice Department's 2004 statements. Torture is 'cruel, inhumane, and degrading,' according to the Geneva Conventions. And, perhaps most importantly, torture is illegal, according to the laws passed by Congress. . . .

"The administration has lost all credibility on this issue. Its rote denials of wrongdoing are simply insulting. Semantics - like simply choosing new words for certain practices once named 'torture' - and stretching for legal loopholes is neither a smart nor effective way for the executive branch to conduct itself. In case the administration hadn't noticed, we're at war, and there are real threats to American security. In order to properly combat those threats, the American people need an executive branch we can trust to obey the guidelines we've set out for it. On the matter of torture, this administration is definitely not the one."

H.D.S. Greenway writes in his Boston Globe opinion column: "In half a century of reporting around the world, I have found that there was usually a feeling that the United States stood for standards of liberty, human rights, and the dignity of mankind. The Bush administration has taken us off that gold standard and drained away much of that reservoir of respect. The horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have eaten away at America's credibility and moral standing, dismaying our friends and empowering our enemies. . . .

"Men and women of good will may differ on how much power the executive branch should have, and how much of our privacy and civil liberties need to be curtailed in an age of terrorism. As the former deputy attorney general, James Comey, who tried to stem the tide of the administration's malfeasance, said: there are 'agonizing collisions' between the law and the desire to protect Americans. But no good will can be ascribed to those who secretly sought to undermine the republic by their underhanded advocacy of torture.

"Instead of entering into an honest debate, the administration spoke of its 'abhorrence' of torture while at the same time secretly promoting it. Not surprisingly, the fine hand of Vice President Dick Cheney and his counsel, David Addington, could be discerned. Despite his bluster, President Bush, 'the decider,' has turned out to be a weak president, riddled with insecurities masked by stubbornness, who has allowed his subordinates to gnaw away at the Constitution."

Massimo Calabresi writes for Time: "The Administration says its firm, absolutist assertions are designed to protect U.S. troops in case they are captured: by insisting the U.S. doesn't torture, the hope is others will feel compelled to refrain from doing so. But in practice, the Administration's declarations have exactly the opposite effect. It's not just that Washington has very little credibility on the issue, given all the evidence linking the U.S. to torture that has surfaced in recent years, including the opinion of the international body charged with observing detainee treatment. More importantly, by continuing to battle with the ICRC and other international organizations over the definition of torture, the Bush Administration is undermining those groups and diminishing their chances of protecting captured U.S. troops in the future."

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson writes on washingtonpost.com: "Jonathan Swift was being satirical with his 'modest proposal' that the Irish eliminate poverty and hunger by eating their young. Let me know if you agree that Swift would endorse my modest proposal: Bush administration officials who claim the 'harsh' interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects are not torture should have to undergo those same techniques. Personally. Repeatedly. . . .

"Until George W. Bush can say, 'Hey, I've been waterboarded, and it wasn't so bad,' or Alberto Gonzales can say, 'To tell the truth, spending those three days naked in a freezing-cold cell wasn't painful or anything,' then I'll continue to believe that history will condemn this administration for a shocking lapse of moral judgment."

The Wall Street Journal editorial board, meanwhile, opines: "On current course, U.S. warfighting doctrine will be as tame as a church social."

The Humorists Get It

There's nothing funny about torture. And yet the most insightful -- and certainly most succinct -- views on the subject, as usual, come from the political "humorists".

Here are cartoons by Stuart Carlson, Ann Telnaes, Mike Luckovich, Steve Benson, Tony Auth, Rex Babin, Bill Mitchell, and John Sherffius.