Obama continuing shameful Bush practices

The Obama administration announced yesterday that it will maintain the Bush Administration practice of denying U.S. constitutional rights to terror detainees held in Afghanistan. This comes on the heels of an Obama executive order three weeks ago that allows the CIA to continue using renditions. Despite Obama's campaign promises to change the way the US deals with terror suspects, it appears that no real changes will be made.

In a related story, The Pentagon announced that they had completed an Obama ordered review of Guantanamo Bay conditions and that prisoners there were treated according to the Geneva Convention. But in his new book Inside the Wire, Sgt Erik Saar paints a different picture. Saar sites examples of beatings and sexual humiliation, casting doubt on the truth of the Pentagon Report.

I was constantly disgusted by the way the Bush administration's thuggish approach to terror suspects. The use of torture, the use of rendition, the denial of rights flew in the face of what I thought this country stood for. I was ashamed that our country was doing those things. And, yes, I understand that there we are holding some very dangerous people. We are also holding some very innocent people, and without the burden of due process, the military does not have to even worry about which is which. In the mean time, our reputation as a paragon of liberty and virtue is getting tarnished beyond recovery.

I voted for Obama because I really thought he would change these practices. But the biggest change I am seeing if from Obama to candidate to Obama the president.