Rude Pundit - Policy and Attitude

The Rude Pundit (WARNING - never work safe) has pointed out something from Seymour Hersh's New Yorker intreview with Gen. Taguba that hasn't been noted in other analyses I have read - the way in which the treatment of Taguba himself after release of his critical report exposes the way in which the attitudes of Rumsfeld et. al. created a perfect condition for a pro-torture policy:

And isn't that the whole key to what happened at that Hussein-era hellhole remade into an American-controlled hellhole? It wasn't enough to imprison the people there; they had to be made to regret ever having dared to think about opposing America. What Hersh's article tells us is not just that the decisions about the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib came from the highest levels of the Defense Department (and the Bush administration). It's that the very nature of the men who were creating the policy led naturally to the abuses. It's what they know. It's what they do. It's who they are. For if they can treat an American two-star general like a syphilitic camp follower, what chance did Iraqis have?

Yes, the torture that happened in the past - and even more that which continues to this day in the secret camps and undisclosed locations - was caused by bad apples. Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush. They are three people who enjoy the prospect of harming and humiliating others.

These people are war criminals. Period. They were criminals from the day they entered office and they will continue to assault humanity even when they leave.

Anglachel