Kyle Bell

President Bush was in Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday giving a closed-to-the-media speech in which he admitted that he ordered the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Considering the fact that we already knew that this occurred would seemingly make this less newsworthy, but the fact that President Bush admitted to ordering it is a significant development.

“Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” the former US President nonchalantly admitted to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids in Michigan. “I’d do it again to save lives.”

This is not a minor matter. Torture is not only illegal under international law, namely the Geneva Conventions, it is illegal under United States law as well. During World War II, we convicted Japanese and German soldiers that used waterboarding. For those that will say that waterboarding does not fit the definition of torture, I point to the definition set by American law, specifically Title 18 of the U.S. Code Section 2340:

(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under
the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical
or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering
incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his
custody or physical control;
(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged
mental harm caused by or resulting from -
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of
severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened
administration or application, of mind-altering substances or
other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be
subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the
administration or application of mind-altering substances or
other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
personality; and
(3) “United States” means the several States of the United
States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths,
territories, and possessions of the United States.

It could not be any more clear than that statute. By taking the oath of office, the President of the United States swears to uphold the laws of the land, not to pick and choose which ones he likes. President Bush has admitted to breaking the law and treaties (which have the force of law), committing an illegal act in the process, soiling the image of our nation and putting the lives of Americans at risk. Nothing is a greater motivational tool for terrorists than this policy. I am glad that President Obama has put an end to torture, but it is his duty to uphold the Constitution by prosecuting the criminals in the Bush administration that ordered this.