Finally, a Post about the Torture Memos

Thanks to BoingBoing, I've just been checking out the blog of a woman who goes by LegoFesto. Her blog's reason for being is to show photos of Lego assemblages she has made that reproduce current events, particularly from the Iraq war and the war on terror.

The image resonated because I've been trying to bring myself to write about the hideous stories I've been reading since the release of the Justice Department's torture memos. Among others, these news stories particularly caught my attention:

• The New York Times story on April 17, which revealed that the interrogators knew the tactics wouldn't work on their prisoner because he had already given up what he had to say, but then they used them anyway until he pleased for his life.
  
• The Washington Post story from April 19 that described how the Justice officials specifically tried to make rules for torture methods that would not "shock the conscience" of those who learned about them. (You'll need to sign up for a free account with the WaPo to see that one, sorry.) The story points out that medical doctors were involved in okaying the torture: "Doctors had to evaluate in advance the ability of each detainee to survive the coercion; slaps to the head and gut could not provoke severe or lasting pain; the water used for dousing had to be safe for drinking, and those holding the hose had to stop at two-thirds of the time that normally causes hypothermia."
  

Doctors, for pity's sake. What part of "First, do no harm" did they not understand? Which reminds me, it's probably time to read medical ethicist Stephen Miles's book, Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity and the War on Terror (published back in 2006).

I wonder if any government employees refused to take part in the tactics, and if the amnesty that's been declared for those who obeyed and carried out the orders applies to the employees who refused the orders (assuming there were any).

I believe that when future generations look back on the last eight years, they will be as shocked by what came to pass in this country as we are by any of our worst atrocities. And they will not understand how it could have happened.

They won't be alone in that lack of understanding, because -- like many -- I've felt the same way for years.