Why the "War" on Terrorism is failing

The Human Rights Watch today said that the American policy of torturing prisoners backfires, and creates more terrorists. This should be expected, and is one of the main arguments I have against the war in Iraq.

Scott McClellan, Press Secretary for the White House, came out swinging.

"When a group like this makes some of these assertions, it diminishes the effectiveness of that organization," he said. "It appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts.

"The United States does more than any country in the world to advance freedom and promote human rights."

This has been the usual response; a variation on the "dissent hurts the troops" comment we've been given recently. Might I remind you that freedom of speech is something to be very patriotic about, and trying to discourage public discourse is just about as un-American as you can get.