People can do unspeakable things when they believe they won’t be held accountable for their actions. Civilians do it. Soldiers do it. Presidents do it. The difference with Presidents is that they have the power to cover up and pardon their own crimes. They don’t have to hope they won’t be caught. They can sign their own immunity into law.

1. Assert that we must abandon our sense of decency if necessary to put the screws to the bad guys.
2. Tacitly approve of torture while maintaining enough plausible deniability to keep oneself out of war crimes court.
3. When the truth comes out, throw your loyal subordinates under the bus to leave them to feel the disgrace that you deserve.

Taxi to the Dark Side is a documentary about detainee abuse and murder at the hands of American soldiers: how it started; how it was allowed to continue; and its consequences for detainees, soldiers, officers, members of the Bush administration, and the perception of America to the rest of the world.

This is what our fear and jingoism have wrought. Human beings deserve better than this sort of treatment, and we as Americans deserve better than leaders who tell us that this is acceptable.

Please watch this film.