The Bush administration struck a new note of irony and hypocrisy this week – if that is possible. In a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Scott McCormack told reporters Nov. 20 that "I would put the record of this administration up against any American administration or any other government around the world in terms of promoting universal human rights and pushing for human rights."
Such a challenging proposition requires a very selective presentation of the Bush record or presupposes an atrocious human rights record on the part of any past US president – perhaps the most accidentally honest thing McCormack could have ever said.
For its part, the Bush administration set human and civil rights back by a century at least. From the failure to respond in any meaningful or urgent manner to Hurricane Katrina to launching the war in Iraq based on lies, the major events of the Bush era are a poor basis on which to tout the quality of the administration's human rights record.
In addition, administration policies on torture during interrogation, detention of suspects without trial for years at Guantanamo and other US prison camps, the elimination of habeas corpus rights and the process of handing suspects over to governments that find torture less controversial (known as rendition) show the Bush administration violated and sought to dismantle international law and US commitments to that law.
It wasn't just a few bad apples who tortured prisoners either. According to a report released over the summer, the US Army General who investigated allegations off torture in Abu Ghraib described the actions of military personnel and civilian authorities in the administration of war crimes.
Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the original investigation at Abu Ghraib, leveled the accusation in the new report. "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," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
In a related matter, a federal judge this week ordered the release of several terror suspects held at Guantanamo. The judge told the Bush administration that the prisoners had been held for years without cause, without trial, and based on secret evidence and administration claims that could not be challenged in open court. The judge called the administration's case for holding the five men indefinitely and without trial a "thin reed."
The list is long. During the height of its power and influence, the Bush administration interpreted the Constitution in creative ways that supported torture policies, violation of human and civil liberties, and the concept of the "unitary executive" with exclusive powers and rights. The devolution of democratic rights under Bush will take years to repair and fortunately has been prioritized by the incoming Obama transition team.
