Bush Admits Ordering Torture

There is no doubt that the United States violated both U.S. and international law by torturing those it had designated as terrorists or enemy combatants -- prisoners taken in Iraq and Afghanistan and others deemed to be terrorists.   The only question was just who ordered the torturing of prisoners.

Right-wingers and Republican-apologists have claimed that the torture was something conceived and carried out at a very low level, and the Bush administration only learned about it after the fact.   Others (myself included) have long claimed that the orders to torture prisoners came from the very top -- the White House, and probably the president himself.   We never believed that low-ranking soldiers and CIA case officers would decide on their own to violate the law.

The most popular form of torture used was "waterboarding".   Both Bush and Cheney have tried to claim that waterboarding was not torture, and Cheney has claimed he was "a big supporter of waterboarding".   But waterboarding is viewed by people around the world, including President Obama and human rights experts, as torture.   The Washington director for Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski, says,   "Waterboarding is broadly seen by legal experts around the world as torture, and it is universally prosecutable as a crime."

So, waterboarding is torture and torture is a criminal act.   Guess who has now confessed to ordering the use of waterboarding.   That's right -- George W. Bush!   And he even has put it in writing.   In his new book Decision Points, which is to be released in a few days, Bush admits the CIA asked him if they could waterboard Khalid Sheik Mohammed and he told them,   "Damn right."   He even says he would do it again (and he probably did).

This is nothing short of a written confession of a criminal act by the former president.   Legal experts are shocked by Bush's confession, and believe it could leave him open to legal action in the future.   David Cole, Georgetown law professor, says,   "The fact that he did admit it suggests he believes he is politically immune from being held accountable . . . But politics can change."

Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that Bush has confessed openly about his crime.   He and Cheney have both considered themselves to be above the law.   Maybe they are, but they shouldn't be.   Anything that is against the law for an ordinary citizen is also against the law for a president (or vice-president).  

President Obama and Attorney General Holder have both said waterboarding is torture and is illegal.   Now George Bush has submitted a written confession that he ordered a prisoner to be tortured with waterboarding.   Isn't it time Bush was arrested and prosecuted?