U.S. troops discovered nearly 200 detainees in the basement of an Interior Ministry building in a Baghdad suburb that had been tortured by their Iraqi captors. According to the NY Times, a joint statement by the American Embassy and the United States military command called the situation "totally unacceptable" and said American officials "agree with Iraq's leaders that mistreatment of detainees will not be tolerated."
What kind of country is Iraq turning in to? Bush proclaimed to the world that Iraq would be better off in a Democracy. That proclamation was based on an understood moral authority. Saddam Hussein gassed his people. Saddam Hussein tortured his people. That wouldn't happen in a democratic Iraq, we told the world. But it is happening in democratic governments, and not just Iraq's.
As Andrew Sullivan notes, our own acts of torture have diminished our moral authority around the world. How seriously will the Iraqis take our condemnation of their torture after Abu Ghraib, after the recently uncovered secret CIA detention facilities, after Bush and Cheney have fought to seek exemptions for an anti-torture bill passed by the Senate?
What kind of country are we turning in to?
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Comments (1)
As for human rights violations in Iraq now versus Sadaam's regime, there's no disputing that Iraq is better off now. In regards to American responses, it's the moral course of action for us to condemn the Iraqi police/military for torture, as well as exposing any possible abuse of our own prisoners. Every public official at any level of power has said "We do not torture." The torture-bill exemptions deal with interrogations; as you can imagine, interrogating prisoners for information straddles a fine line, yet an important one to define.
Posted by connman | November 17, 2005 11:14 AM