Bush's War on Terror: Institutionalizing Rape and Torture

Digby reports on the official institutionalization of rape and torture in the "War on Terror":

"A former member of a C.I.A. transport team has described the 'takeout' of prisoners as a carefully choreographed twenty-minute routine, during which a suspect was hog-tied, stripped naked, photographed, hooded, sedated with anal suppositories, placed in diapers, and transported by plane to a secret location. A person involved in the Council of Europe inquiry, referring to cavity searches and the frequent use of suppositories during the takeout of detainees, likened the treatment to 'sodomy.' He said, 'It was used to absolutely strip the detainee of any dignity. It breaks down someone’s sense of impenetrability. The interrogation became a process not just of getting information but of utterly subordinating the detainee through humiliation.' The former C.I.A. officer confirmed that the agency frequently photographed the prisoners naked, 'because it’s demoralizing."

Those complicit in these vile acts, predicibly attempted to justify them:

"Pentagon spokesmen said the procedure was medically necessary because Mr. Kahtani was dehydrated after an especially difficult interrogation session."

However, there appears to be one official with some level of human decency, willing to depart from the official regime of truth:

"Another official, told of the use of the enema, said, however, "I bet they said he was dehydrated," adding that that was the justification whenever an enema was used as a coercive technique, as it had been on several detainees."

In case you were wondering, this was an officially sanctioned act from the Executive Branch of the United States government:

 

The Bush White House vehemently objected to provisions of the law dealing with rape by instrumentality. When House negotiators pressed to know why, they were met first with silence and then an embarrassed acknowledgment that a key part of the Bush program included invasion of the bodies of prisoners in a way that might be deemed rape by instrumentality under existing federal and state criminal statutes.

Those of us who have paid attention to US policy over the years know these actions are nothing new. (Read up on the US' involvement in the Latin American wars of national liberation for the prologue to these crimes). What is shocking is that this marks the first time that such policies have been openly sanctioned and institutionalized. These crimes, anywhere else in the world, would be cause for sending its perpetrators directly to the Hauge.

What is needed (though unfortunately unlikely) is a Truth Comission to investigate and punish these crimes against humanity. Justice demands it.