The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth

Go straight to Abu Ghraib. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.00.

Renewed complaints concerning treatment of detainees/prisoners in U.S. detention facilities have surfaced which allege brutality far worse (and perverted) than previously reported. Still, the administration chooses to remain secretive, and data and documents are not forthcoming. Allegations of rape, torture, and death have been met with stonewalling, denials, and silence.

Congressional leadership – either unwilling or simply due to incompetence – has failed to hold this administration accountable and certainly seems ineffective in securing further information/documentation (including photo’s and video) known to exist.

The ACLU has continued to push for the evidence under the ‘Freedom of Information Act’ but the government remains distant and does not seem willing to cooperate fully.

Eye witnesses have sworn to what can only be considered as barbaric treatment of detainees (some children) including the rape of a young boy.

Controlled or limited access to the detainees by members of the Red Cross – itself an unconscionable and abhorrent act – leads one to assume the government has much to conceal. After all, aren’t they the ones who keep telling us ‘If you have nothing to hide, why worry?’ as they continue to strip away our civil liberties?

In a recent Republican Presidential Candidates debate one of the gentleman refuted John Edwards contention that there are two Americas in existence. He claimed, rather patriotically and with practiced conviction, that there exists only one America. He is wrong. There are indeed two Americas: The America we think exists, and the America that actually does exist.

Who we are is a choice.

When good men, in the face of evil, stoop to the level of their foe, they have ceased to engage in a battle of good versus evil and joined with their enemy, conceding the defeat of their values and ideals.

In 1947 Soldiers who had engaged in the use of ‘water boarding’ when interrogating Allied prisoners were convicted of war crimes. There was no hesitation, nor question, in condemning the practice as torture – until now.

I have been amazed (shocked and amazed) by the willingness of some to resort to actions – abhorrent and inhumane – that would be (and have been) quickly condemned when done by others. The relative ease with which values, long held dear, are put aside, replaced by acts universally recognized as barbaric, causes me pause.

King George has said, “We do not torture”. It is a lie. We do torture.

Torture is no less evil, no less abhorrent, and no less a despicable act when we – America - engage in the practice, than when any other nation does. It should be condemned, and those that practice or condone its use should be prosecuted.

Arundhati Roy, the author of “The God of Small Things”, said “once you’ve seen something, you cannot un-see it”. One can pretend they didn’t see, or profess they didn’t know, or deny they had any complicity, but that too is a lie. Silence is as political an act as any other, albeit the most cowardly.

The ideals and values Americans have long espoused hang in the balance. They will be confirmed or denied by our actions or inactions, and we will bear the burden of living with our choices for many years to come. Virtues and values cannot be claimed only when convenient. We, individually and collectively, either hold dear the rights of human beings or we don’t. And our decision regarding human rights will be known, not by our words or proclamations, but by our actions and practices. We cannot claim to be humane while acting inhumane, nor just while acting unjustly. And, we cannot claim to be lovers of freedom while denying others their basic human rights.