Repeat after me:

It's abuse, not torture.

This from Donald Rumsfeld, the man who chose to parse language over whether or not the fighting in Iraq could be considered "guerilla warfare" or not. A reporter reading from the Defense Department's own glossary called him out on that one.

Then came the word "insurgency." He denied it was appropriate until the fighting became more fierce, more like actual warfare than mere insurgency. At that moment, "insurgency" became the term of the moment.

Abuse, not torture.

Put Iraqi military uniforms on those doing the humiliating, plant American faces on those naked forms lying in heaps on the concrete floor, and ask me again whether this is mere "abuse." Remind me why the killing of four Americans and the mutilation of their bodies is any worse than the humiliation, berating and physical torutre of Iraqi prisoners, some of whom died, is any different?

From the beginning of this War On Terror and the sideline Pre-emptive War On Iraq the US government, particularly in the form of Donald Rumsfeld, has gone out of its way to repudiate international law and jurisdiction in any matter involving the United States. We could fight wars unprovoked, take prisoners and hold them for years without charge and without representation, and even brand our own citizens as "enemy combatants," and lock them up, incommunicado, indefinitely.

Rumsfeld made light of the Geneva Convention, which protects our own troops in the event of capture, and allows prosecution, for war crimes, by those who fail to follow its strict rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war. The US has established a worldwide network of extra-judicial prisons, beyond the rule of American and international law. The only comparison that comes immeidately to mind is the old Soviet gulag, where people went to disappear or be murdered.

This sums up proper handling of prisoners:

Prisoners of war must be humanely treated at all times. Any unlawful act which causes death or seriously endangers the health of a prisoner of war is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. In particular, prisoners must not be subject to physical mutilation>, biological experiments, violence, intimidation, insults, and public curiosity. (Convention III, Art. 13).

The United States has participated in some of the most egregious tactics of interrogation and terror during our adventures in Guatemala and other places, where US officials, military and civilian not only engaged in such practices, but taught others how to emulate them.

The ugly truth in all of this is thet United States has, and is engaging in unambiguous war crimes. Donald Rumsefeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush are all responsible and should be indicted and prosecuted.