The Man Snowe and Collins Voted For

Rex Rhoades asks "What has Alberto Gonzales wrought?" (registration required)

Manadel al-Jamadi’s hands were cuffed behind his back. Then he was suspended by his wrists in an Abu Ghraib shower room. A half hour later, guards lowered him to the ground, according to an Associated Press report last week, and blood gushed from his mouth. U.S. soldiers then took turns photographing his corpse as they grinned for the camera.

Jamadi may have been guilty of something. He may even have been a terrorist who had information useful to U.S. forces fighting insurgents in Iraq. Unfortunately, he died before any of that could be determined [...]

Good God, what has Alberto Gonzales wrought? His now infamous 2001 memo to the president, essentially setting aside the prohibitions against torture and confinement established in the Geneva Conventions, set the stage for this scandal.

The scariest part of this post isn't the graphic description of abuse, or the fact that Gonzales was rewarded for his actions, or even the lingering questions about what effect the acceptance of torture has on our national morality and international standing. The scariest part is the poll (completely unscientific I assume) on the right of the page showing 40% of Sun Journal readers who responded believe torture to be an effective tool in the war on terror.

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