Update on the Torture Front

Notice that I've taken down my link to the Stop Gonzales website. That particular battle was lost, due to the fact that a number of Democrats voted to confirm, making a filibuster impossible. The hall of shame on this vote go to Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

All except Lieberman are in the difficult position of being Democrats in Red states (although I don't see how torture is an American value), but Liebermann's vote is unforgivable. By installing Gonzales, we are announcing to the world that the US has no problem with the use of torture. Gonzales has argued that the Torture Treaty does not
bar cruel and inhuman tactics.. Gonzales also provided legal arguments supporting the use of "extraordinary renditions" in which torture is "outsourced" by shipping suspects to countries where it is expected that they will be tortured:

Gonzales, the new Attorney General, argued during his confirmation proceedings that the U.N. Convention Against Torture’s ban on “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” of terrorist suspects does not apply to American interrogations of foreigners overseas.