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Returning a bit to the Chris Satullo column from earlier today, I wanted to take note of this story; apparently, we’re trying to help create “the miracle of Abu Ghraib” south of the border…

Videos showing city police practicing torture techniques on a fellow officer and dragging another through vomit at the instruction of a U.S. adviser created an uproar Tuesday in Mexico, which has struggled to eliminate torture by lawmen.

…

One of the videos, first obtained by the newspaper El Heraldo de Leon, shows police appearing to squirt water up a man's nose – a technique once notorious among Mexican police. Then they dunk his head in a hole said to be full of excrement and rats. The man gasps for air and moans repeatedly.

In another video, an unidentified English-speaking trainer has an exhausted agent roll into his own vomit. Other officers then drag him through the mess.

“These are no more than training exercises for certain situations, but I want to stress that we are not showing people how to use these methods,” Tornero said.

He said the English-speaking man was part of a private U.S. security company helping train the agents, but he refused to give details.

…

Some human rights groups complained when the U.S. Congress dropped a requirement for independent verification of human rights improvements from a US$400 million drug-war aid bill, most of it for Mexico.

Even though we have been having an ongoing debate in this country for the last few years over whether or not we, in fact, condone torture (within the rarified circles of punditry and politicians more than anywhere else), court ruling after court ruling has acknowledged that, yes, in fact, we do.

And like many of you I’m sure, I was always taught that we weren’t supposed to do that. In fact, we were supposed to oppose countries/regimes that engaged in that sort of thing every way we should short of waging war against them (or taking that most drastic of all steps if all else failed, in concert with other reasons actual or imagined).

But one of the true obscenities of the horrific Bushco regime has been its tacit endorsement of torture as an instrument of policy, no matter what they say (and why should we accept the word of liars anyway, especially on this?). And another obscenity is our wearisome acceptance of it, amidst dealing with the avalanche of bad outcomes due to the incompetence and malevolence of our ruling cabal.

Yes, we can’t control what people in government do at every moment. But we can stand up and bitch when enough is finally enough; the existence of torture in our name anywhere in the world is horrible, but now it is officially in our own hemisphere and sanctioned by “(an) English-speaking man (who) was part of a private U.S. security company helping train the (Mexican) agents, (though)…he refused to give details.”

Here’s a link to our elected representatives. Before you head out of town for the holiday, or fire up the grill, head to a swimming pool or attend a parade, contact them and tell them about this story. And tell them you don’t condone torture in our name, regardless of where in the world it is taking place.

Ever!

(And tell them to return that human rights verification to any "drug war" money they ever appropriate in the future, as long as you have them on the line.)

And then, drop Chris Satullo a line and tell him about it.