guest post by James Leske
“‘Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain
of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of
our unfortunate brethren who have fallen into their hands,– George Washington
at the battle of Trenton.
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On that cold December day in New Jersey the future president of the United
States set a standard that lasted through the long Revolutionary struggle and
to well beyond. The policy saved lives in many wars. For over 200 years the
official policy that forbade torture stood as a guiding American principle.
While there were exceptions to this rule; official policy was to punish people
who tortured. All that changed with the presidency of George W Bush. Thanks
to freedom of information releases we now know that torture was routinely used
and routinely authorized at the highest levels of the Bush White House. Of course
no one actually called it torture; it was called aggressive interrogation techniques.
Of all the people in American Politics no one has a more intimate knowledge
of how those techniques work than John McCain. His Vietnamese prison wardens
very aggressively interrogated him. They were so aggressive that they broke
his legs. They were so aggressive that McCain cracked and signed a false confession.
This was before the John Yoo memo gave legal cover to such actions.
Earlier in the Republican campaign John McCain did not see the wisdom of the
Yoo memo and flatly equated waterboarding as torture. He took a contrarian stand
against the Republican herd and stood against Gitmo. There was the much ballyhooed
McCain-Graham-Warner bill that “forbade torture.” The bill was very
weak tea to begin with and President Bush’s signing statement negated
any attempt to limit his ability to torture whenever, wherever he liked. McCain
did not utter a peep when the signing statement was released. John McCain talked
a good game; he even “forced” the president to “compromise”
in a made for T.V. event. However, in the end he rolled over and gave Bush everything
he wanted. George W Bush got his own private Gulag. In Gitmo and other places
Bush reigns like oriental despot. His writ is law and his power is untrammeled.
The final degradation of McCain happened just recently. The CIA was just given
carte blanche by legislators to be as bad as they want to be. The proposal that
they follow rules, the proposal that they should be held accountable to the
standers set by George Washington, was killed by John McCain’s vote. It
was an amendment requiring that the CIA adhere to the Army Field Manual when
they questioned suspects. McCain marched in lock step with his fellow Republicans
and voted against that amendment. McCain voted to let the CIA continue to use
torture and abuse on suspects that it detains.
From being a victim of torture John McCain has now become an enabler. He has
given his seal of approval to Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shock,
and physical pain up to that experienced in organ failure. The CIA and its contractors
can continue to repeat the methods exposed at Abu Ghraib. It is full speed ahead
on sending suspects to Syria and Egypt for a little “softening up.”
After 231 years we are now the just like the Revolutionary war British. We even
have our own Hessians: Blackwater USA., KBR, and others. John McCain is just
fine with this.
We are a long way from the man who spoke out against these excesses in February.
There has been a long, slow, slide away from the core values that McCain once
swore to uphold and defend. We are a long, long way removed from the man who
stood in solidarity with his fellow detainees in the “Hanoi Hilton.”
That John McCain served bravely and honorably. That John McCain was an exemplar
of a 200 year military tradition of honor, valor, courage, and country. That
John McCain understood the gross violation of torture. He knew in his bones
how torture soiled everything it touched. He understood how torture degraded
every one involved in it. He could hold his head up high and know that his nation
was better than his captors; that his country stood for higher principles. McCain
knew that the USA objected to torture, that it prosecuted people for the type
of behavior his Vietnamese guards indulged themselves in. That John McCain is
long gone; he has been replaced by a smarmy politician who will pander to the
worst instincts of the Wing-nut right. Just like Mitt Romney he has”doubled
down” on Gitmo. In doing so he has disgraced the uniform he once wore.
In doing so he has besmirched the high ideals set by George Washington and dishonored
the outstanding record of military service his family has provided. More to
the point, McCain has proved himself unworthy of the highest executive office
of the land.
“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any
[prisoner]. . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe
and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should
it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at
such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame,
disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” – George Washington,
charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775
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