Americans support Torture

At least a third of Americans approve of human torture. At least a third of Americans would support televised executions. There was significant support for the Singaporean caning of an American expatriate a few years back.

Another third of Americans give little thought or concern to whether the United States tortures people because they believe themselves and their family will never be tortured by their own government. It's someone else's problem.

Only a small portion of Americans are troubled that the U.S. Congress has repeatedly given its approval of human torture, ie. partial drowning, as an "interrogation tool."

We now know the U.S. maintains secret gulags where people are tortured and killed. Ronald Reagan's use of the phrase "Evil Empire" for the Soviet Union was largely based upon the USSR's secret gulags and the Soviet's commonplace use of human torture.

Strangely enough, the same Americans who worshipped Reagan for standing up for human rights in the USSR actively support George Bush and the USA for doing exactly what the USSR did. Strangely enough, the torture techniques now used by the U.S. were developed by the Soviets. Torture Technology Transfer. Handcuffs Across the Waterboard.

How do Democratic members of Congress explain themselves in condoning human torture by the U.S. government?

They change the subject. They say "we must study the issue." They say "we will fix this later." They say "we must look at this in a broader context." They hedge. They waffle. They obfuscate. Anything to avoid making a clear and principled stand.

Here's a simple question. Would Sen. Diane Feinstein support a San Francisco Police Chief who allows officers to waterboard citizens placed under arrest? If not, then why is she supporting an Attorney General of the United States who refuses to even answer the question?

Apparently, Sen. Feinstein believes the Attorney General of the United States should be held to a far lower standard than a local police chief or police officer.

Howbout parents? Should parents be able to waterboard their kids, Sen. Feinstein ?

Howbout a husband? Should a husband be able to waterboard his wife, Sen. Feinstein ?

Attorney General nominee Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if partially drowning a prisoner strapped to a table is torture or not because he doesn't know anything about this "classified" technique. This is odd because most of the U.S. public is familiar with the technique by its Orwellian euphemism: waterboarding. How did every day Americans become 1,000 times more informed about a centuries old torture technique than the nominee for U.S. Attorney General? Is Mukasey that dumb? Or just a dumb liar?

Sen. Feinstein said she is voting for Mukasey because he "is not Alberto Gonzales." Well, no shit. He's not Howdy Doody either. But his non-answers about torture are EXACTLY the same as Gonzales' non-answers. Mukasey is a lip quivering liar who approves of human torture.