A Time When Torture Was A War Crime

I continue to be dumbfounded as GOP apologists for the lawless Bush/Cheney regime - not to mention their professional Christian allies - continue to try to either deny that illegal torture took place or that somehow it's OK when the USA does it, but not when any enemy does so. The double standard and hypocrisy is appalling and helps to underscore just how morally bankrupt the GOP and its Christian Right allies have become. They whine about abortion and gay marriage, but then close their eyes to incredible evils. There was a time when those who tortured - and this included waterboarding - were tried, convicted and in some cases executed. Unless and until those in the Bush/Cheney regime are held accountable for the horrors that went on at the direction of those at the highest levels, America will never regain its moral integrity around the world. This point needs to be relentlessly hammered home to expose the members of the far right for the foul hypocrites that they are. A reality check of what used to happen to torturers is provided in a piece by Paul Begala at the Huffington Post. Here are some highlights:

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In a CNN debate with Ari Fleischer, I said the United States executed Japanese war criminals for waterboarding. My point was that it is disingenuous for Bush Republicans to argue that waterboarding is not torture and thus illegal. It's kind of awkward to argue that waterboarding is not a crime when you hanged someone for doing it to our troops. My precise words were: "Our country executed Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime we are now committing ourselves."

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I was referencing the statement of a different member of the Senate: John McCain. On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, "Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."

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After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as 'water cure,' 'water torture' and 'waterboarding,' according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning." Politifact went on to report, "A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps."

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Regardless of how expedient it might be to walk away from this terrible phase of American government, we need to expose all of the misdeeds to the light of day and try those responsible, and that includes Bush and Cheney if they knew of the torture and allowed it or worse yet ordered it.