This story from Time gets straight at the problem. The Bush administration has said the US does not torture, but leaks from the Red Cross say that they do and the Red Cross is designated by the Geneva Conventions to monitor detention facilities. So, the US does torture. The article also says why disagreeing with the Red Cross is so bad:
It’s not a minor dispute. Every time Bush asserts that the U.S does not torture, he is not just undermining his own credibility, he’s diminishing the Red Cross too. “It’s a downward spiral,” says Elisa Massimino, Washington Director of Human Rights First. “If I’m the ICRC and I’m visiting [abused] prisoners in, say, Egypt, the Egyptians will say ‘What are you going to do? The U.S. says this isn’t torture’.”
Worse, if a dictator in some god-forsaken part of the world captures an American soldier, the U.S. may protest. But it is the Red Cross’ assertions of a violation that will be the immediate point of pressure on the captors. “What it virtually guaranteed is that dictatorships will cite the U.S. government’s own arguments to defend themselves and that will make it harder for the ICRC and everyone else to condemn and shame those governments,” says Tom Malinowski, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch.
If the President wants to be believed, he needs to be much more open. In his last speech, he did not agree to show the memos that allegedly allow torture to the Congress. If it’s a question of believing Bush or the Red Cross, it should be obvious who I would believe.
Petunias 