The electrodes' switch is in Washington

Henry Porter
02 May 2004
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=517277

The story of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US and British forces is rightly gaining a demonic momentum. As a US Army report published by The New Yorker followed revelations by CBS and the allegations by the Daily Mirror, President Bush and Tony Blair must be wondering when it is going to end. It is now clear that not only did they fail to find weapons of mass destruction, but that their fall-back justification for the invasion, that of bringing democracy and human rights to Iraq, is little more than a sham.

The abuse, which is described by the US Army report as "sadistic, blatant and wanton", includes beatings, rape and serious assaults with chemical lights. To the Middle East, it all provides a stark symbol of subjugation. Whether or not people in Basra and Baghdad are better off than they were is no longer the point. The gruesome irony that these terrible things occurred at Abu Ghraib, the very prison used by Saddam Hussein's torturers, will not be lost on Arabs.

The Americans have been negligent in the extreme to allow this situation. Try as we might to forget these episodes, we can be sure that they will live on in Arab minds for a generation. Al-Qa'ida and Hamas could not have designed a better recruiting poster.

The Abu Ghraib portfolio is shocking, but not at base so surprising. Since the "war on terror" was inaugurated in the dust of 11 September 2001, the US has permitted itself a much more relaxed interpretation of civil liberties. An individual's rights are not defined by any absolute standard of decency but by his or her allegiance. Both public and media has squared the national conscience on the question of prisoners being held without trial or legal representation in Guan-tanamo Bay. Even the arrest of civilians on the mainland, their detention without explanation or hope of release, has caused little stir.

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with propaganda. Also, thought the photo's of Perle's decapitation were not supposed to be release.

What was your point? You should have put a disclaimer on the video that it was very graphic.

What is the point of this? :shrug:

from the top down! There is a Taoist tenet-"As above-So below".
We have seen a complete neglect of responsibility and compassion in the highest offices in our nation. This is being reflected in the thoughts and actions of people all across our economic, social, and political spectrum's.

Especially this line: "An individual's rights are not defined by any absolute standard of decency but by his or her allegiance."