A man who lives with the memory of being a Prisoner of War, the Arizona Senator emphatically stated, torture is ineffective. That is until Presidential politics altered his position. Could it be that candidate McCain did as the current President has done, bow to a constituency that does not demand prosecution for what the United States has defined as criminal since its inception. Opposition to torture was verbalized before the United States became a nation.
The Declaration of Independence reminds residents of this territory, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
In 1863, in the midst of the brutalities of the Civil War, President Lincoln forbade his forces from acts of cruelty, including torture. After the barbarities of World War II, America led an emergent community of United Nations to adopt in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with its provision that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (Art. 5)." In 1975, the United States aided in the United Nations adoption of a separate Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment. In 1988 President Reagan signed and in 1994 the United States ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the most comprehensive legally binding international treaty prohibiting the use of torture. The U.N. Convention's prohibition against torture is absolute, without exceptions.
It was only during the 2006 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (pdf) that the United States turned a blind eye on its history. Perchance the topic of terror, or the threat envisioned as the Twin Towers fell turned Americans against principled actions.
Tax and Terror Codes; Reviled, Renewed, or Rejected?
No one can know with certainty what caused a country or countless within the continent to reject the prescribed canon that is the United States Constitution. Nonetheless, it is clear, the American people do not insist political power be checked. Collectively, cynicism was and is adopted. With that acquisition, the country accepted deplorable directives. The American populace chose to forego authentic representation. Hence, the electorate allowed for the more heinous atrocities that followed.
Today, only personal financial concerns bring people to their feet and out onto the streets. The transition was subtle. Distrustful of government, the public grew to expect the worse. Now we receive it. We pay for torture and are pleased when a President proclaims of "a dark and painful chapter in our history," this too shall pass. Personally, I fear it will not. My fellow citizens did not address my angst when they dumped dried evergreen shrubs on lawns or in a bay.
The President's decision to disregard what he too called interrogation techniques outlined in the official communication that "undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer" does not bring me joy. While I did gladly pay my financial assessments, and I did not voice my dissent for torture with tea, I remain a discontent and distressed taxpayer.
References for a dire reality . . .
- Tax Day Is Met With Tea Parties, By Liz Robbins. The New York Times. April 16, 2009
- Investments Can Yield More on K Street, Study Indicates, One Tax Break Brought Companies 22,000% Rate of Return on Lobbying Costs. By Dan Eggen. Washington Post. Sunday, April 12, 2009; A08
- Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A., By Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane. The New York Times. April 17, 2009
- President Obama's Statement on the Memos. Text. The New York Times. April 16, 2009
- Torture Memorandums. U.S.. Department of Justice. Office of Legal Counsel. The New York Times.
- Justice Department Releases Bush Administration Torture Memos. Bradbury And Bybee Memos Are Released In Response To Long-Running ACLU Lawsuits. American Civil Liberties Union. April 16, 2001
- Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? - Tax Day 2009. National Priorities Project.
- Income Tax Chart – 2009. National Priorities Project.
- War Resisters League.
- Mad as Hell at Teatime, By Eugene Robinson. Washington Post. Friday, April 17, 2009
- What Distracts Us from Impeachment? By David Swanson. The Humanist. November/December 2007
- Declaration of Independence. Indiana Law.
- Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment. Adopted by General Assembly resolution 3452 (XXX) of 9 December 1975. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- United Nations Convention Against Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. United Nations. 1994
- Law School Past Shapes Obama's View On Justices, By Nina Totenberg. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. October 30, 2008
- Transcript: Cheney Defends Hard Line Tactics, Jonathan Karl Interview. ABC News. December 16, 2008
- From Universal Prohibition to Universal Eradication of Torture: Developments of International Law Standards. By the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard Human Rights Journal / Vol. 14. Spring 2001
- Cheney defends war on terror's morality. Office 'consequential' because Bush wanted it. By Jon Ward. The Washington Times. December 18, 2008
- Peer pressure pushes people to go green. MarketPlace. January 6, 2009
- The Influence of Media Violence on Youth. By Craig A. Anderson, Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, and Ellen Wartella. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Volume. 4, NO. 3, December 2003
- Obama Releases Torture Memos, Vows Not to Prosecute, By David Kravets. Wired. April 16, 2009
- Obama: Memos' Release Required By Law. CBS News. April 16, 2009
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