"After an 18-month investigation, the Senate's armed services committee concluded that (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld's approval of aggressive interrogation methods (including waterboarding) in December 2002 was a direct cause of abuses that began in Guantánamo and spread to Afghanistan and Iraq. They culminated in the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2003, where Iraqi detainees were found to have been forced into naked pyramids, sexually humiliated and threatened by dogs.
The Bush administration insisted the abuses had been the result of a few 'bad apples' and that those responsible would be held accountable. The committee found neither those statements to be true." (Emphasis Mine.)
Can We start the war crimes trials now? Oh, you want perspective first? Okay, how about this, from Newsweek:
"Waterboarding is a method of simulated drowning that involves strapping down a subject and pouring water into his nose and mouth. As the subject gasps for breath, the water enters his lungs, inducing extreme panic within minutes. These and other Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) techniques were developed from methods used by Chinese Communists against American soldiers during the Korean War. At the time, the United States denounced the Chinese for violating the Geneva Conventions and international law." (Emphasis Mine.)
"When they do it's wrong, but when we do it's right" is the attitude of either a cowardly bully or an idiot, neither of which should be in charge of troops in war (or peace). If torture is wrong when they do it, it's just as wrong when we do it. Period. And if it's a crime justifying a trial when they do it, it's a crime justifying a trial when we do it... no matter who that "we" is.
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