Quotes of the Morning: Fed to the Lions

“Think how far Iraq has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves, and the brutal reign of a barbaric tyrant.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, November 1, 2004

“Because we acted, torture chambers are closed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 7, 2004

“The U.S. Army discovered scores of detainees in poor health at a building run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry during a search for a missing 15-year-old boy, a U.S. general said Monday.
Brig. Gen. Karl Horst of the 3rd Infantry Division said the prisoners were found Sunday ‘in need of medical care -- so I brought medics in.’
Iraqi police went further, telling CNN that many detainees in the Baghdad building ‘had obviously endured torture’ and were ‘detained in poor health conditions.’
The Iraqi Interior Ministry could not be reached for response.
[…]
Iraqi police said the U.S. military ‘raided’ the building, arriving in about 20 vehicles. The building was run by police commandos who work for the Interior Ministry, police said.
Horst denied there was a raid. He said U.S. and Iraqis were working on a joint investigation into the detainees and into the whereabouts of the boy.
Asked what the original purpose of the facility was, Horst replied, ‘I don't know -- that's part of the ongoing investigation.’”
-CNN, November 14, 2005

“Finally we do something right and actually STOP torture in Iraq. I only wish this one case made up for the others..”
-Skippy

“REPORTER: So when you say that you want the U.S. to adhere to international and U.S. laws, that's not very comforting. This is a moral question. Is terr -- torture ever justified? DUBYA: Look, I'm gonna say it one more time. I can -- if I can -- maybe -- maybe I can be more clear. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to law. That oughtta comfort you. We -- we're a nation of law. We adhere to laws. We have laws on the books. You might look at those laws. And that might provide comfort for you. And those were the instructions out of -- from me to the government.
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, June 10, 2004

“Under the dictator, prisons like Abu Gar -- reb -- were symbols of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonored our country and ‘disregardered’ our values. America will fund the construction of a modern, maximum security prison. When that prison is completed, detainees at Abu Garomp will be relocated. Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Garab prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 24, 2004

"They [American troops] took us to a cage — an animal cage that had lions in it within the Republican Palace," he said. "And they threatened us that if we did not confess, they would put us inside the cage with the lions in it. It scared me a lot when they got me close to the cage, and they threatened me. And they opened the door and they threatened that if I did not confess, that they were going to throw me inside the cage. And as the lion was coming closer, they would pull me back out and shut the door, and tell me, 'We will give you one more chance to confess.' And I would say, 'Confess to what?'"
Inside the Republican Palace — the site of Saddam's former office — Sabbar says troops taunted him with a mock execution.”
-ABC News, November 14, 2005

“Sabbar, 37, and Sherzad Kamal Khalid, 35, are in the United States this week to talk about the lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First filed on their behalf against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other military officials.
The suit, which was filed in March and transferred to U.S. District Court in Washington, details alleged sexual abuse, mock executions, water and food deprivation, electric shock and other torture used on eight detainees, including Sabbar and Khalid. It does not mention the lion cage.
[…]
‘They threatened that if I did not confess they would put me in the cage,’ said Khalid, adding that the soldiers kept asking him where Saddam was. ‘I laughed, I thought they were kidding me. They asked where are the weapons of mass destruction. I was very surprised and I thought it was weird.’
But when he laughed, he said, he was only beaten more. And he said they pushed him into the cage three times, pulling him out as the lions moved toward him.
[…]
Saddam Hussein’s eldest son, Odai, kept lions in his compound at the presidential palace, which was taken over by U.S. troops during the war.”
-Associated Press, November 15, 2005

“Ok.. Sorry to everyone about harping so much on the fact that the United States of America is now allowing the torture of prisoners. I know it’s a bummer to read about it so often, but hey, what can I say? When I see everything that this country believes in trampled into the dirt and spat upon by ‘a few bad apples’ (said with a wink, a nod, and a few token court-martials) again and again I tend to get a little upset. This is America. We are supposed to be better than that. I am sick of reading day in and day out about how our country is doing the same things that we used to loathe other countries for. Remember the old Soviet gulags? We run them now. Remember Saddam’s torture chambers that we saved the Iraqi people from? We run them now. Remember the stories of prisoners being abducted in the night in evil old Russia and held for years without right to a trial or even being accused of anything? Our government is claiming that we need to do that now to protect out ‘freedom’.
I’m sick and tired of this. I desperately want to be proud of my government. I love this country and I am proud to be an American, so all of this other sh*t has got to stop. This is America. We believe in freedom. We believe in honor. We believe in justice.
At heart I’m just a geek. I’ve spent way too many years reading comic books about the constant battles of good versus evil. I know the basics. I know that Superman wouldn’t fight for torture. I know that my faith in this nation is simplistic. I know that asking ‘What Would Superman Do?’ is too easy a question, but I also know that it is a mighty good starting point, and when I see us as a nation acting in ways that in the comics would usually bring Superman barreling through the walls to stop it makes me ashamed. This sh*t has got to stop.”
-Skippy

“We do not torture.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, November 7, 2005