Another rationale bites the dust

President Bush, State of the Union address, January 28, 2003:

"Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)"

torturing children while their parents are made to watch	"A British television station reported Friday that a young Iraqi girl held at Abu Ghraib was stripped naked and beaten while her brother heard her scream from another cell." ABC
electric shock
burning with hot irons	"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — his job in jeopardy — says the prisoner abuse scandal is going to 'get still more terrible.'" ABC
dripping acid on the skin	"Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees." Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, Investigation of the 800th Military Brigade
mutilation with electric drills	"The photographs show a 52-year-old former Baath Party official, Nadem Sadoon Hatab, who died at the detention center last June after a three-day period in which he was allegedly subjected to beatings and karate kicks to the chest and left to die naked in his own feces." ABC
cutting out tongues	"Senator Lindsey Graham says Rumsfeld also was preparing the public for more disturbing events. "After the hearing, the South Carolina Republican said 'the American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience.'" ABC
and rape	"...threatening male detainees with rape...sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick." Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, Investigation of the 800th Military Brigade "A Senate aide said videotapes are believed to exist showing rape and the corpses of what are possibly murder victims." ABC
If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning	"This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation.... You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off? ... I think a lot of the American culture is being feminized. I think the reaction to the stupid torture is an example of the feminization of this country." Rush Limbaugh