My Country

”The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) wishes to underscore that the consistency of the detailed allegations provided separately by each of the fourteen adds particular weight to the information provided below.

The general term “ill-treatment” has been used throughout the following section, however, it should in no way be understood as minimising the severity of the conditions and treatment to which the detainees were subjected. Indeed, as outlined in Section 4 below, and as concluded by this report, the ICRC clearly considers that the allegations of the fourteen include descriptions of treatment and interrogation techniques—singly or in combination—that amounted to torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. “

Right or wrong, it’s still my country. This was wrong. No excuses. You can read the report from the ICRC (a small .pdf file) but it won’t change the morality of the situation. The United States of America has been convincingly accused of torturing other human beings.

The captive’s evil is not the question. Ours is.

(Thanks to the Earth-bound Misfit for calling attention to this matter.)

Don Brown
April 12, 2009