Torture and Our Damaged Credibility

There are many reasons why a policy of torture is wrong. By any measure, the Bush Administration does not help our foreign policy by trying to protect the government's right to use torture and then denying that we torture. Google, today, has over a thousand news outlets from all over the world carrying the news that Saddam Hussein claims he was tortured by the US. Here's an account by the BBC about the US denying Saddam Hussein's claims:

US dismisses Saddam torture claim

The US has vigorously rebuffed claims by Saddam Hussein that he has been beaten and tortured by the US.

The ousted Iraqi leader used his war crimes trial in Baghdad to accuse the US of mistreating him while in custody.

[snip]

"I have been beaten on every place of my body, and the signs are all over my body," he [Saddam Hussein] told the court.

The sound feed to the television coverage - being seen across Iraq - was cut several times during his outburst, the BBC's Quil Lawrence reports from Baghdad.

This has been seen as an attempt to keep Saddam Hussein from upstaging the testimony of the witnesses, he says.

The prosecution gave little credence to the former president's claim he had been tortured, saying he was being held in an air-conditioned room when some of Baghdad had no power.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar Mousawi said the claims would be investigated and that he would ask for Saddam Hussein to be transferred to Iraqi custody if there was any truth to them.

I'm not inclined to believe Saddam Hussein. But that's not the issue. The issue is that Bush has so damaged the credibility of the United States that a headline like this makes people all the world hesitate when they see such a headline. Five years ago, such a claim would have been easily dismissed. That is no longer the case.