Reading notes

The full truth about Abu Ghraib torture and alleged child abuse must come out. We may not like what we see, and we may not like its repercussions. Indeed its repercussions may be horrendous. But we cannot live in darkness forever. The repercussions of further coverup will be worse, and worse still the longer we leave this unlanced boil to fester.

For 15 months now the Bush administration has insisted that the horrific photographs of abuse from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were the result of freelance behavior by low-level personnel and had nothing to do with its policies. … For some time these implacable positions have been glaringly at odds with the known facts. In the past few days, those facts have grown harder to ignore. …

The only good news in this shameful story is that … six GOP senators led by John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have backed an amendment to the defense operations bill that would exclude exceptional interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay and ban the use of “cruel, inhumane and degrading” treatment for all prisoners held by the United States. The administration contends that detainees held abroad may be subject to such abuse. Attempts by the White House and Mr. Warner to block or gut the legislation failed, and on Tuesday the GOP leadership pulled the defense bill from the floor rather than allow a vote. The administration probably will spend the next month trying to quell this rebellion of conscience and good sense.

Would that the administration itself be overcome with conscience and good sense.

[via muledriver]