On Wednesday, September 6, President Bush finally acknowledged one of the worst kept secrets – that his regime has held dozens of “suspected terrorists” in secret CIA prisons abroad and “subjected detainees to tough interrogation.” That last phrase is BushSpeak for torture. He also stated that the remaining 14 detainees have now been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to await trials. According to the Bush administration, those 14 are presently incarcerated at the Navy detention center and they include “high-level al Qaeda operatives responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks, other bombings and foiled plots.”

Lest anyone think that this latest move indicates that the Bush regime is now willing to stop its abuse of prisoners, we need to examine what the regime is really doing. This latest move is meant to explicitly legalize the abuse and to deny rights to the prisoners. He is pressuring Congress to authorize the use of military tribunals to try detainees held by U.S. forces around the world, including more than 400 held at Guantanamo. He also wants to legalize the use of “tough interrogation techniques.” He further hopes to boost his “national security credentials.”

Bush made his intentions clear when he stated, “As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3,00 Americans on September 11, 2001, can face justice.”

So far civil courts have rebuked the regime for trying to avoid regular legal proceedings for most of these detainees. On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress must authorize trials before military tribunals and they must be “fair” under both U.S. and international law. What Bush wants is the ability to try these people before military tribunals where normal legal procedures are bypassed. Such procedures as the right to counsel of your choice, the right to a speedy and public trial, the exclusion of coerced statements and hearsay, the right to examine all evidence against you, the right of cross-examination of witnesses, the right to a unanimous verdict, etc. would not exist in these hearings if the Bush regime gets its way. Even the right to appeal the tribunal decisions would be limited. In essence, the regime wants to legalize the use of kangaroo courts.

By transferring these “high-value” prisoners now, Bush hopes to not only get the legislation he wants to use these kangaroo courts, but he hopes to emphasize his regime’s alleged strongpoint of dedication to protecting national security in the media before the November elections. At the same time as Bush was making his admission about the secret prisons, the administration released information to the media regarding the foiling of 8 planned attacks.

A summary of the CIA detainee program was provided to the media by the National Intelligence Director John Negroponte’s office. The implication made by the regime is that its ability to have secret prisons and to use torture is necessary to make Americans safe. Bush made this clear when he stated, “Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.” We are supposed to agree that only by using these tools can further plots be stopped.

Negroponte’s summary stressed that the U.S. Justice Department reviewed the interrogation techniques used by the CIA and found them to be legal. Of course this is the same Justice Department run by Attorney General Gonzales, the man who wrote a memo describing the Geneva Convention proscriptions against torture as “quaint.” It is telling that the regime is seeking a new law that shields U.S. personnel from civil lawsuits and from criminal prosecutions for violations of the Geneva Conventions.

In addition to its political and legal motives as indicated above, the Bush regime is attempting to scare the public into going along with its crimes in order to keep ourselves “safe.” But protecting Americans can not justify the Bush regime’s actions or make us complicit in them. Yes the crimes of the regime has increased hatred for the U.S. and put people from this country in harm’s way. But are American lives worth more than others? Accepting this premise and your on a slippery slope to justifying murder and torture of others. The Bush regime would love nothing more than for people to accept this Faustian bargain – in exchange for protection we will acquiesce in whatever, wars and other crimes the Bush regime wages and commits in order to “protect” us.

Instead we must demand the moral clarity articulated by former United Kingdom Ambassador, Craig Murray, before the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity by the Bush Administration (www.bushcommission.org):

"Evil begets more evil. If we're supporting a regime—and you must remember most of the people being tortured were Muslims, and most of them were being tortured because they were religious Muslims. If we're supporting a regime like that, is it any wonder some Muslims come to hate us? No, it's no wonder at all. And my charge before this commission is, not only that the CIA knowingly and openly uses information got from torture, that this administration has introduced a dehumanization of our Muslim brothers and sisters which means that anything done to them doesn't count. And that is a step along the road to the ultimate evil. and that, ladies and gentleman, is I believe where we are…Which is just to say I don't believe it works, but even if it did work, I would personally rather die than have anyone tortured to save my life."

The author, Kenneth J. Theisen, is an organizer with THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT! DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME! To find out more about how to drive out this regime, please go to worldcantwait.org.