Abuse of Power

No matter how we wish it, torture just won't disappear from US headlines. The Pandora's box that was opened with the revelations of Abu Ghraib continues, even after three and half years, to spill out its contents in the form of government papers, each one more damning than its predecessors. Thursday's New York Times article unearthed two secret opinions from the Bush administration's department of justice, only the latest in what many predict will be more -- and more explicit -- documents about how the Bush administration incrementally legalized a secret regime of abusive, coercive interrogation. The first document allowed for "enhanced" interrogation techniques. The second announced that the use of such techniques did not violate the CIA's standards of interrogation. As the Times reporters wrote: "Never in history had the United States authorized such tactics." But more than the techniques that are coming to light, more than the fact that Steven Bradbury who signed the opinions still heads the office of legal counsel that issued the documents, more than the intricacies of interagency politics, bureaucratic infighting and personal compromise that were so tellingly detailed in the article, there is one astounding feature of this new discovery. And that is the dates of the memos: 2005. The expanding techniques memo appeared in February; the second memo, later in the year. These opinions thus came after the Abu Ghraib scandal, and after repeated assertions by top administration officials that allegations of torture were unfounded, that the United States "does not torture." What these documents make it hard to dispute is the sad fact that the Bush administration willingly misled and deceived the American people about its creation of a torture policy. After the Abu Ghraib photos appeared in spring 2004, the Bush administration defended itself with repeated assertions that, despite the discovery of literally hundreds of images, the pictures were those of lone players, "rotten apples," low-ranking, young military men and women whose antics and anger just got out of hand. When human rights groups and others challenged the rotten apples theory, they were summarily dismissed as liberals exaggerating the facts. And as testimony after testimony appeared from released prisoners, such as the UK's Tipton Three and others, the Bush administration successfully created the impression that if a detainee said it, it was necessarily not credible. Even as new documents -- memos and internal reports -- appeared over the spring, summer and fall of 2004, the Bush administration continued to assert that, despite the evidence, it did not torture. When mounting piles of facts, figures and documents showed otherwise, administration officials stayed on message; they stuck to their story. The stonewalling tactic worked. By election time 2004 -- although the justice department's infamous torture memo from August 1 2002 had come to light, although a December 2002 memo signed by secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld authorizing previously illegal techniques was made public, although evidence of abuse at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib mounted -- George Bush was voted into the White House for another term. By year's end, hope that the administration would reverse its course on interrogation gained strength with a December 30 document, issued by the justice department. The Levin memo firmly and comprehensively repudiated and revoked the August 1 torture memo. But the publicly released memo was a distraction it now appears. For by that time the same justice department most certainly was engaged in the discussions that would lead to the memos uncovered this week. Yet, on Jan. 20 2005, President Bush took the oath of office for the second time saying, with what in retrospect bears marked irony, "On this day, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our constitution." The lesson. In the case of torture, deception and denial has worked. The American people have been betrayed as violently as if by a trusted employee who turns out to be embezzling, a spouse who turns out to be cheating, or an ally that has made a secret treaty with an enemy power. But whose fault is this really? Given the lack of potent protest by Congress and the American people, it's hard to fault the Bush administration alone for the success of its double-speak. The American public and its representatives have let this charade continue under the guise of barely disguised deceptions. For the signs of betrayal that have been there all along, running neck in neck with the denials of indiscretion. As a result, we as Americans bear some fault. Just as does the cuckolded spouse, the boss whose been stabbed in the back or the deserted ally. Deceit has indeed wrought success for the Bush administration. Now, it's time for the American people to stop living in denial, as codependents and, like it or not, enablers. In his 2005 state of the union address, given on the eve of the first of these new opinions justifying the use of torture, the president defended "governments that answer to their citizens ... democracies that respect their own people." It's time for the American people to respect themselves by answering to themselves. It's time to stop pretending that the United States did not create and implement a policy of torture. Only then can we take the steps necessary to set things aright, to find anew that "durable wisdom" that lies in the constitution and the country.