by Dave McGill

There was a time when America stood for certain ideals. There was a time when these ideals were pursued with an unyielding consistancy. There was a time when these ideals – classically described by Superman as “truth, justice and the American way” – may have even served as an example for other nations to emulate.

There was a time…

In 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney paid a visit to Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was sick in the hospital. It was not a social visit. According to press reports at the time, Cheney was there to get Ashcroft to issue a legal opinion justifying torture. Despite his weakened condition, Ashcroft resisted the pressure from the vice president, but that was hardly the end of it. The next day, Cheney trotted over to Justice and found a more pliable source in John C. Yoo, former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Apparently, Yoo was only too happy to oblige the vice president. The memo of authorization that he dashed off held that it was not illegal to inflict all levels of torture short of “death or organ failure.” Cheney had what he wanted and returned to his office to start pushing buttons.

Ashcroft made no secret of the fact that he resented Cheney circumventing his authority and he sarcastically began refering to Yoo as “Dr. Yes.”

Cheney’s actions, as well as John Yoo’s, were an abomination. Recently, the Obama administration’s Justice Department decided that the enabling memo did not represent professional misconduct, only flawed reasoning, thus compounding the abomination.

The situation perpetuates the fact that, only in politics, can crimes against humanity, invariably go unpunished.

Unfortunately, Cheney and Yoo are not alone. According to today’s L.A. Times , Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia have consistently rendered decisions on the side of the torturers. This, regardless of whether the issues involved terrorism or domestic prisoners.

Scalia surprised viewers of “60 minutes” when he said that torture for the purpose of extracting information, as opposed to the intent to inflict pain, is perfectly legal.

In the case of terrorism suspects, the chances that some of the subjects of torture are innocent is relatively high. This is because of the absence of protective legislation relative to the detention process, contrary to what is applicable to American citizens.

It seems, however, that some members of the right wing believe that Islamics are some sort of lower life form, not worthy of America’s concern. I have also seen that attitude reflected in comments here on Gather.

Islamics are humans however, just as you and I are. It is encouraging to note President Obama’s verbal assertions on torture, but that is just for now, with this man and presumably with his party. The deterioration of civil liberties and human rights in the policies of this nation are still an ugly fact, as reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s “Democracy Index.” which ranked the U.S. in 49th place, tied with Romania.

However, in frustration, all we can say is….there was a time….

Last week, the Department of Defense released the obituaries of eight military personnel killed in Afghanistan, ranging in age from 19 to 30. U.S. deaths in that country now amount to 1,015, according to the website icasualties.org.

On this, the parliamentary election day in Iraq, conditions are not so safe for the civilian population, but the press is reporting that the violence is not discouraging voters from turning out. For American forces, Iraq continues to be safer than the published death rates they would be subject to in the United States. There were no obituaries released last week for the Iraq theater, and U.S. deaths there continue to stand at 4,380, according to the above website.