For a Year and a Half, No Signs of Torture Ending, Willful Self-Delusion That Torture Has Ended

For the past year and a half we’ve watched the White House announce the end of torture and immunity for torturers, two policies that appear incompatible and have proven to be so. We’ve seen the White House claim the right to torture, and seen that greeted with silence and an averted gaze by those pretending torture is over. We’ve seen report after report of ongoing torture greeted with silence from the same pretenders, among whom we must include Congress. And we’ve seen civil liberties and human rights groups that refused to support the impeachment of Bush advocate for prosecutions for a while, but continue to back the wars that create the torture. The ACLU is supporting the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell despite its combination with a war-funding bill. And as the evidence of ongoing torture begins to sink in, we will see anti-torture advocates begin to understand that prosecutions would have to include prosecutions of Democrats as well as Republicans. And everyone knows where that is likely to lead. Here are some of the reports of ongoing torture, in chronological order:

Reuters, February 25, 2009.

New York Times, April 15, 2009.

Chris Matthews interview of Axelrod, video and background info, May 21, 2009.

New York Times, May 24, 2009.

Dan Rather on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, June 2, 2009.

New York Times, June 17, 2009

BBC, June 24, 2009

Washington Independent, June 24, 2009.

Gitmo Is Gitting Worse, July 2009.

Harper’s, July 2009.

SERE Psychologists Still Used in Special Ops Interrogations and Detention, July 2009.

Target Of Obama-Era Rendition Alleges Torture, August 2009.