Connecting the Dots

Here on earth,
God's work must truly be our own
--JFK inauguration speech (1961)

Congress's definition of torture in those laws
-- the infliction of severe mental or physical pain
-- leaves room for interrogation methods
that go beyond polite conversation
--John Yoo

This is not what God wants!
--See No Evil (2006)
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Thousand of victims of torture under the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (who first sued for redress in 1986) were awarded a settlement by a federal judge January 13, 2011:

"A federal judge on Thursday approved the distribution of $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by thousands of victims of torture, execution and abduction under the regime of the late former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos

"Each of 7,526 eligible members of the class-action lawsuit will receive $1,000 under the plan approved by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. Distribution is expected to begin in mid-February and take about a month" (Judge approves $7.5M payment to Marcos victims.)

The Marcos regime was a U.S. client, supported, trained, equipped and funded with US dollars. Marcos violated human rights under the rubric of defeating Communism, which equated with keeping Marcos in power. While this award is to victims of foreign atrocities, it is the shape of things to come for an America which participated in those same abuses.

It is bizarre that U.S. courts will rule on Philippine torture cases yet turn a blind to U.S. torture policy. Ignoring criminality will not eliminate it. Acknowledgment of torture is not accountability for it (Yousef Munayyer). The U.S. trumpets that it will not appease terrorists, yet we protect torturers.

Appeasing torturers who are every bit as criminally heinous and opposed to U.S. values as are terrorists is hypocrisy.