I haven't spoken yet about the Iraqi Prison Torture scandal yet, but I think I'm going to change it now.

It's official. The Ugly American is back. In fact, we're worse than Ugly: we are now right up there with the worst figures of history. This is not behavior worthy of us, it's worthy of Genghis Khan, Vlad Tsepesh, Mao Zedong, Nicolae Ceaucescu, Stalin, and even (don't call Godwin on me, it's true) Hitler and his SS death machine.

If lies about the casus belli of Gulf War II weren't enough, now George W. Bush has war crimes on the list of impeachable offenses that can be laid at his feet. Ultimately the behavior of the armed forces reflects on the values of the Commander In Chief, and this is horrifying behavior.

The current Administration must be held accountable for this. Luckily this is not Mao's China, Stalin's USSR, Ceaucescu's Romania or Hitler's Germany. We have elections here. If enough people vote against George W. Bush and vote for John Kerry, no amount of electronic ballot stuffing or election day shenanigans can entirely thwart our will. It might be tempting for some to vote for Ralph Nader as a protest against both Bush and Kerry, but the fact of the matter is that in this case, a vote for Nader is not just a wasted vote. A vote for Nader this time is a vote for Bush. Arguably it was the case in 2000 as well.

In the case that Bush is returned to office, articles of impeachment against him, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz and Attorney General Ashcroft should be drawn up at once.

(UPDATE 2:20pm PDT)
The Memory Hole has some very important documents about the current Iraq Prison scandal up:

The Army report on the torture incidents
The pictures. Warning: these are pretty graphic and probably work unsafe.