As I am sure readers have figured out by now, I am no fan of the Bush Administration or the far right fundamentalist controlled GOP even though I was once upon a time a Republican. Besides the lies that were used to launch the war in Iraq, my biggest complaints are (A) the way this President and administration have destroyed the USA's reputation around the world and (B) the way it has destroyed the rule of law that is critical to a democratic and moral society. Andrew Sullivan has a great post that exposes the manner in which this administration advocates the use of torture and tries to use carefully crafted language to avoid the admitting what is actually being advocated.
As Andrew Sullivan points out:
The phrase "Verschärfte Vernehmung" is German for "enhanced interrogation". Other translations include "intensified interrogation" or "sharpened interrogation". It's a phrase that appears to have been concocted in 1937, to describe a form of torture that would leave no marks, and hence save the embarrassment pre-war Nazi officials were experiencing as their wounded torture victims ended up in court.
The methods, as you can see above in the attached translation, are indistinguishable from those described as "enhanced interrogation techniques" by President George Bush. Andrew continues stating that :
As you can see from the Gestapo memo, moreover, the Nazis were adamant that their "enhanced interrogation techniques" would be carefully restricted and controlled, monitored by an elite professional staff, of the kind recommended by Charles Krauthammer, and strictly reserved for certain categories of prisoner. At least, that was the original plan.
I guess I should not be surprised by any of this inasmuch as the "Christian" Right has used Nazi propaganda techniques in its crusade against gays and gay rights as well (see: http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hatespeech/afa.html). George W. Bush and his Christian Taliban allies have turned the USA into a beacon of shame, not a beacon of liberty.
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