It must now be painfully obvious that American foreign policy is having a dramatic effect on the intensity of dismay and hatred expressed around the world in recent years.
The well documented legally defined torture policies that include demeaning strongly held religious beliefs is fomenting the increase in acts of retributory violence around the world.
This affects everyone on both sides of the "war on terror" - those who support the administration, and those against the policies of the administration - i.e. the enemies of freedom.
Comments posted recently at Clarity and Resolve are representative of the current atmosphere that has been dangerously growing:
Mohammed Hanif, Pakistan: "They should be hung. They should be killed in public so that no one can dare to insult Islam and its sacred symbols. It shows America has no respect for Islam and Muslims."
no-name idiot, Gaza: "The Holy Koran was defiled by the dirtiest of hands, by American hands."
Mohammad Ghafoor, Pakistan: "Demonstrations serve no purpose. We should do something practical. I am ready to blow myself up for the sake of my religion."
student death cultists, Yemen: "Death to America! We will not falter, we will not tolerate insulting the Quran."
Abdul Moomen, Afghanistan: "We want action taken against those who are trying to demean our great religion."
Yaser al-Za'atrah, Jordan: "We hate America because it does not stop offending us. We hate it because it doesn't stop making fun of us, our religion and our identity."
There have been thousands of acts of violence documented since the world trade center demolitions, many more than during previous years.
Terrorism since Sept. 11 2001
The "war on terror" has escalated the frequency and instensity of attacks so much, that the administration has seen no choice but to stop counting and reporting them. (Reason given, was that they couldn't trust their own reporting)
(After terror attacs recently tripled) the department said it had decided not to publish statistics after widely publicized errors were found in figures for 2003 that had to be revised."
One plausible redeeming action would be to immediately impeach the administration, investigate, and press appropriate charges. There is abundant public domain evidence towards the case for impeachment.
All prelegal defining, and attempts to circumvent the Geneva conventions by declaring suspects as non-combatants, is a creative and tenuous interpretation of the intent of these most important international standards of morality. An action in international, or US courts could not be defeated by these arguments - their very existence is evidence of intent to commit these crimes.
International morality is a standard that even the legal wizards of Washington cannot twist their way around. There are no words that can be played with here.
If America can quickly show due contrition by taking definitive action, some shred of dignity might still be salvaged.