John Maxwell: 'Truth is their enemy'
Sunday, October 09
By John Maxwell, Jamaica Observer
All Hell is breaking loose in the corridors of power.
The United States Senate, reflecting the views of most civilised people, voted a few days ago 90 to nine to ban "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in US government custody".
Even the Majority Leader in the Senate, Bill Frist, voted with the majority.
Earlier in the year he had succumbed to pressure from President Bush and the White House to stop the Senate passing such a measure. This time, he seems to have been overcome either by his finer feelings or by the poll figures.
Mr Bush, however, is unfazed. He has threatened to veto the Bill, a waste of time, because the 90 senators voting for it clearly have the votes to override the veto.
So, Mr Bush has at last admitted what we all knew: the Lynndie England's and all the other poor soldiers who have been punished for torturing and mistreating their captives in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere were in fact following orders. Mr Bush has now admitted as much. Which is more than Mr Milosevich, former president of Yugoslavia/Serbia, has admitted in his trial at the Hague for war crimes.
Rest of story at:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/ ... 09T020000-
0500_89980_OBS_TRUTH_IS_THE_ENEMY_.asp
Catherine
