Granma on Torture

The latent seeds of Auschwitz

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In response to the Nazi atrocities, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, and every government is obliged to follow it, whether in wartime or in peace.............

However, since 2001, many testimonies regarding the practice of torture by the United States demonstrate premeditation in the manipulation of domestic and international laws.

Using the same methods it uses to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, the United States cites the "necessity" of torture in terms of obtaining information that might prevent an attack against it, or alleges the need for "interrogation" because of supposed connections to Al Qaeda, or gives itself the "right" to effect or order extrajudicial executions of anybody who may affect its imperialist interests.

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U.S. MEDIA ADVOCATES TORTURE

...In the November 5 edition of Newsweek magazine of that year, its editor, Jonathan Alter, wrote ......, "We cannot legalize physical torture; it’s contrary to American values. But even as we continue to speak out against human-rights abuses around the world, we need to keep an open mind about certain measures…. And we'll have to think about transferring some suspects to our less squeamish allies…"

That same day, The New York Times published an article titled "Media stoke debate on torture," which provided a long list of articles in the U.S. media advocating torture, including the TV networks CNN and Fox, newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, and others...............

If the name Auschwitz provoked panic among the people of countries occupied by Hitler’s troops — because that is where the cruelest methods of extermination were practiced, no matter the nationality, political affiliation, religion, origins, gender or age of victims, where more than 4 million people died — then humanity should also be shaken on hearing the name School of the Americas, a sinister "educational" institution where individuals are taught to torture and to plot military coups hatched in Washington.

The terrible irony of the current debate is that in the name of eradicating future abuse, they are attempting to erase past abuses from history..................

. The seeds of Auschwitz are latent.