Bush Glibly Admits Waterboarding Prisoners

Last week a comment by former president George Bosh slipped right by most media sources. I guess in terms of the American public’s attention span, Bush is “old news”.

In a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan Bush made the following statement.

“Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed… I'd do it again to save lives."

So here we have a former President of the United States admitting he authorized torture which while sitting as President he denied. Not only is that duplicitous, something I am not at all surprised at by Bush. But this statement it is admitting a war crime and according to retired Brigadier General David R. Irvine, a scholar and teacher of military law and treatment of prisoners for over 18 years, “it cannot be demonstrated that any use of waterboarding by U.S. personnel in recent years has saved a single American life."

In an interview on Huffington Post Irvine further stated, “we are seen by the rest of the world as having abandoned our commitment to international law. We have forfeited enormous amounts of moral leadership as the world's sole remaining superpower. And it puts American troops in greater danger -- and unnecessary danger."

Bush’s glib statement will put American soldiers at greater risk of torture in the future because of the perception that all bets are off when it comes to treatment of prisoners. This is a giant step backwards and it will take a great deal of diplomacy and moral leadership to reverse.

The whole admission just confirms what I long believed, Bush and his administration was lacking in any kind of moral compass other than expediency. His leadership of the country was inept at best and criminal as worst. Perhaps it is time to reexamine his Presidency and more to the point hold him accountable for the breaches in both domestic and international law he and his cronies were responsible for.

I am sure more information will come out and I feel sure the gravitas of this will not fade away anytime soon.