This month, Physicians for Human Rights released a report that proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the U.S. has engaged in a systematic and absolutely brutal program of torture of detainees, many of whom were not guilty of any crimes whatsoever.

Physicians for Human Rights members tracked down 11 men who had been held in Abu Grahib, Guantanamo Bay and in prisons in Afghanistan. The former detainees were given full medical examinations and what they've found is nothing short of horrific. If there was any sliver of doubt in anybody's minds (yes, I'm talking to you folks on the right) that our government has ordered the extensive use of torture in handling detainees, this report should lay that all to rest.

You can read the full report here. You do have to register to download the report, but it's a simple matter of plugging in your name and email address. I can't recommend strongly enough, that everybody read this report and read what's being done in our names.

What I'm going to post here is the preface to the report... It's fairly brief and really cuts straight to the heart of the matter.

This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is scrawled for the rest of these individuals’ lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors.

The profiles of these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted—both on America’s institutions and our nation’s founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.

In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the healing professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit in the willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands they protect.

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

The former detainees in this report, each of whom is fighting a lonely and difficult battle to rebuild his life, require reparations for what they endured, comprehensive psycho-social and medical assistance, and even an official apology from our government.
But most of all, these men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution.

And so do the American people.

The words in this preface seem particulary damning, don't they? The author is flat-out calling the Bush administration war criminals. I don't think that's an accusation this author would throw out lightly, either. This preface you might be surprised to know, was written not by some "lefty radical" like Michael Moore, but by a retired Army Major General named Antonio Taguba. Major General Taguba headed up the Army's internal investigation into the abuses as Abu Grahib. It was from that report that I pulled a ton of useful information for my thesis, actually. Needless to say, Major General Taguba isn't some lefty bomb-thrower. He has proven himself to be an impartial seeker of the truth. And the truth he's uncovered is downright disgusting.