(ThyBlackMan.com) On September 6th, 2006, here is what President George W. Bush said on the subject of torture: “I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world: The United States does not torture. It’s against our laws, and it’s against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it.” That sounds like a measured, factual statement from an American President – except that it was a total lie. The Senate’s 6,700 page report on the post-9/11 interrogation practices of the Central Intelligence Agency released last week revealed the utter stench of the Bush administration’s black sites (secret CIA prisons in foreign countries), enhanced interrogation techniques, and the institutionalized violation of legal rights of people thought to be dangerous. That Senate report has spawned a clash of between conservatives and progressives, political operatives and media members, and members of Congress and the American people. How could someone defend the indefensible? How would anyone explain the inexplicable? President Obama simply retorted that torture is “not who we are.”
Some of the Guantanamo detainees were never charged. Some of them never committed a crime. They suffered, though.
Within secret CIA prisons located in Cuba, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Afghanistan, and Thailand, the Bush administration employed these tools to win the war on terror: randomly placing detainees in solitary confinement in pitch black darkness for several weeks at a time. Severe beatings. Waterboarding. Willful exposure of detainees to hypothermia. Placing detainees in stress-laden positions which broke bones or separated joints. Sleep deprivation. The use of temperature – hot and cold – as a 
weapon. The use of darkness and light as a weapon. Sensory overload or sensory deprivation. The sinister practices of rectal feeding and rectal hydration.
In case you’re wondering, rectal feeding is when you take a list of ingredients (meat, bread, vegetables, spices, etc.), cook them up, purée them in a blender, place the contents in an IV, attach a catheter tube to the IV, bend the detainee over, insert that catheter tube into his rectum, run that tube all the way into his large intestines, and slowly (or quickly) release that food into his body. Rectal hydration was the same thing – only with liquids rather than with semi-solid food. Feeding a human being food via his rectum? That’s about as barbaric as it gets.
It should be noted that these absolutely inhumane practices violate the Convention Against Torture, the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Convention – most of which the United States authored. These absolutely inhuman practices desecrate our own revered United States Constitution. You know what that means? That means President Bush – who was aware that that things were happening, who actually authorized these things to happen – is a war criminal. Vice-President Dick Cheney is also a war criminal. Their army of lawyers who worked tirelessly to get a ruling that torturing potential terrorists was legally ok? War criminals. Every CIA analyst, interrogator, or black-ops specialist who carried out these despicable acts? Ditto.
On the NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Mr. Cheney said of rectal feeding and hydration: “I believe it was done for medical reasons. That was not something that was done as part of the interrogation program. It was not torture, as it was not part of the program.” Attention, Mr. Cheney. Medical experts have empathically and publicly stated that the only reason such atrocities were used was to generate fear and pain.
Upon becoming the President, Mr. Obama quickly moved to end the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques. How ironic is it that Mr. Obama is the man so many Tea Partiers and some Republicans have frequently compared to Adolf Hitler? How perplexing is it that Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act was supposed to include the use of death panels? Wasn’t that what Sarah Palin swore as truth? And speaking of Obamacare, let me get this straight. So certain Republic Congressmen want President Obama impeached, sued, and even arrested for his use of Executive Action to address America’s problems – but these same Congressmen gave President Bush a pass while detainees died, committed suicide, were beaten, threatened, denied legal representation, and denied their day in court for years and years? World-class nonsense.
If rectal feeding is routine, Mr. Cheney should try it. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember the golden rule?
The information which led to Osama bin Laden was gathered peacefully – before the CIA began torturing detainees. That is fact. The Senate’s report on the CIA’s war on human decency will make the world a most dangerous place for Americans.
I don’t want President Bush or Vice-President Cheney charged as war criminals. I do want them pardoned, though. They were wrong. President Obama is right. Torture is not who we are.
Staff Writer; Arthur L. Jones, III
This talented brother is a local Minister, weekly featured Democratic Op-Ed columnist, non-profit advisor, and sees the Braves winning it all this fall. Rev. Jones welcomes your comments! Please email him directly at: tcdppress@gmail.com.
