"Bad Apples"

Who is Responsible for Our Crimes?

Recently it was reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee has concluded that the torture techniques used by the American military and intelligence services was not just a coincidence. In fact the torture of detainees was not the result of just "a few bad apples" employing random acts of sickness, but the committee concludes that torture was a policy that was delberately authorized by high up bad apples in the Bush Administration, like the most rotten of all Administration apples--former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

So what is the consuming public supposed to make of this?

It has been known for some time that not only Rumsfeld and the other "bad apples" high up in the Administration approved of torture, but that President Bush also approved of those torture techniques. The Commitee findings is clearly stating the obvious when it reports that torture was approved at the highest levels.

But a little more investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee could have likely uncovered some other important details regarding America's torture policy.

A deeper investigation by the Committee would have likely shown that not only is the President a liar and fully responsible for his Administration, but that Congress is also a part of the government and should have fulfilled its Constitutional duty of checking the inhumane and unlawful acts of torture authorized and approved by the Administration. Not only were the higher up "bad apples" in the Administration approving of torture and carrying out various acts of war crimes against humanity, but the "bad apples" in Congress were deliberately looking the other way at the same time. A more thorough investigation by the Committee would have likely uncovered that the torture and the war crimes were not only the fault of the Administration but also the fault of Congress for its inaction and "lap dog" compliance to the President.

But there is plenty of blame to go around for the torture and war crimes authorized and implemented by the American Military Industrial Complex. A lot of "bad apples" in the American corporate media should also share a big part of the condemnation. The American managed media did their best to deliver "inbed" reporting that misinformed and deliberately misled the American consumer for most of the the last 8 years of the Bush Administration. The watch dog media were simply poodles pissing all over the truth.

Ultimately, though, a deeper investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee would have placed a good deal of the blame for America's torture policies and the war crimes on the backs of tens of millions of "bad apples", the American consumer. Americans used to be citizens but that word can no longer describe a people that live merely to consume. Consumers don't have rights but are rewarded by their ability to consume. The American consumer consumed the lies, the death, the destruction, and the torture of the Military Industrial Complex and allowed it all to happen. That is the fault of Americans and that is what the Senate Armed Services Committee should have uncovered and reported on.

So, it is not just those "bad apples" in the Administration, in Congress, and in the media that are responsible for the crimes against humanity committed during the Bush years. But the American people must accept blame for allowing, and often approving, the terrible and sordid activities of the Bush Administration. Sadly and truthfully, it is the people that allowed the Bush Administration to lie, terrorize, torture, and pre-emptively kill. We cannot just shift the blame to higher level "bad apples" and play let's pretend. Rather Americans need to take full responsibility for their crimes.

A true accounting of America's criminal activity would require an international war crimes tribunal, reparations, and changes in our laws so that this sad period in American history would be less likely to be repeated. There can be some good that arises from this terrible stain on our national character, but it requires that all those "bad apples" responsible for America's crimes accept and submit to justice.