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Bush Torture Program Comes Back To Haunt America

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Michael Youther

    Another Bush Administration chicken has come home to roost. On 6/30/09, the U.S. Defense Department reported Private First Class (PFC) Bowe R. Bergdahl was missing from his post in Afghanistan--whereabouts unknown. About three weeks later, after the Taliban posted a 28-minute video showing Private Bergdahl as their prisoner, the Defense Department changed his status to missing-captured.

     Now what are we supposed to do? The "enemy is holding an American as their prisoner. What if they decide to slap him around; or slam him against a wall; or chain him in a stress-position for 40 straight hours in a cold room and throw ice water on him; or what if they decide to waterboard Private Bergdahl six times a day for the next month?

     Thanks to George W. Bush and his fellow war criminals, there is little the United States government can complain about--even if the Taliban subject Private Bergdahl to such treatment; because these are some of the "enhanced interrogation techniques that the Bush Administration authorized and used on prisoners in American custody since 2002.

     Because of the Bush Administration s shameful record of prisoner abuse, any complaint voiced by the U.S. about the treatment of Private Bergdahl will rightly be viewed as hypocrisy by the rest of the world. ...but when did American spokespersons ever let a little hypocrisy stop them from speaking out?

         "[I] would say my personal reaction [to the video] was one of disgust at the exploitation of this young man, --Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, 7/20/09

     Where is Secretary Gates disgust at sending hundreds of thousands of Americans to invade and occupy two nations, which posed no threat to America? We have already sacrificed more than 5000 (and counting) of their lives for no reason--other than to get American oil companies back into Iraq and to secure a route for an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. That is exploitation.

         "I m glad to see [PFC Bergdahl] appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video. They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law. --Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, U.S. military spokeswoman in Afghanistan, AP, 7/19/09

     International law? Obviously, Lt. Cmdr. Sidenstricker didn t get the memo (2/7/02 ) "signed by President Bush declaring that the Geneva Conventions, which outline standards for the humane treatment of detainees, did not apply to captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. --The Washington Post, 12/12/08 (It should be called "othernational law since it only applies to other nations--not the USA.)

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Mick Youther is an American citizen, an independent voter, a veteran, a parent, a scientist, a writer, and all-around nice guy who has been roused from a comfortable apathy by the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.

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