When I was in high school in the 1950s, I was an avid reader of tales, both fiction and non-fiction, about World War II. Keep in mind that in 1955, when I was in 8th grade, that war was only 10 years in the past. I was appalled at what the Nazis and the Japanese did to their captives. We were the good guys. We didn’t torture people. We were Americans.
The New York Times has published some of the drawings of Abu Zubaydah, a prisoner captured in 2002 and still held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Mr. Zubadah’s crude drawings show waterboarding (he’s been waterboarded 82 times) and other tortures he has been subjected to.
When I type in “waterboarding,” my spell check shows that as an error. Yeah, it is an error. The United States government is a democracy, acting in my name and your name, and our government did what Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan did during World War II.
I have done some reassessment of George W. Bush, but I will not forgive him for authorizing “enhanced interrogation.” Nor will I forget that Trump wanted to bring back torture, stopped only by Gen. Mattis. I feel ashamed and disgusted by my own inaction. I should have done more. I should have gone to jail protesting this.
No comments:
Post a Comment