Wire report
George W Bush’s impunity led to Trump’s lawlessness | Kenneth Roth
The reluctance of later administrations to repudiate Bush-era torture and endless detention laid the groundwork for recent violence If George W Bush’s abusive response to the September 11 attacks had been prosecuted rather than swept under the rug, Donald Trump would be less able to pursue his lawless policies. We can’t rewind history, but we can learn from our historic failure. Twenty-five years ago, on a clear and crisp morning, I was sitting in the Human Rights Watch office in the Empire State Building with an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center towers as al-Qaida operatives flew two commercial jets into them. The horror of the attack required a response, but Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, chose to react by throwing out the rulebook. They deployed torture and endless detention without trial in Guantánamo. Continue reading...
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The reluctance of later administrations to repudiate Bush-era torture and endless detention laid the groundwork for recent violence If George W Bush’s abusive response to the September 11 attacks had been prosecuted rather than swept under the rug, Donald Trump would be less able to pursue his lawless policies. We can’t rewind history, but we can learn from our historic failure. Twenty-five years ago, on a clear and crisp morning, I was sitting in the Human Rights Watch office in the Empire State Building with an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center towers as al-Qaida operatives flew two commercial jets into them. The horror of the attack required a response, but Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, chose to react by throwing out the rulebook. They deployed torture and endless detention without trial in Guantánamo. Continue reading...
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According to The Guardian’s source item, George W Bush’s impunity led to Trump’s lawlessness | Kenneth Roth, The reluctance of later administrations to repudiate Bush-era torture and endless detention laid the groundwork for recent violence If George W Bush’s abusive response to the September 11 attacks had been prosecuted rather than swept under the rug, Donald Trump would be less able to pursue his lawless policies. We can’t rewind history, but we can learn from our historic failure. Twenty-five years ago, on a clear and crisp morning, I was sitting in the Human Rights Watch office in the Empire State Building with an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center towers as al-Qaida operatives flew two commercial jets into them. The horror of the attack required a response, but Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, chose to react by throwing out the rulebook. They deployed torture and endless detention without trial in Guantánamo. Continue reading…
Context
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Primary source: George W Bush’s impunity led to Trump’s lawlessness | Kenneth Roth via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- George W Bush’s impunity led to Trump’s lawlessness | Kenneth RothThe Guardian - 2026-09-11T13:00:05+00:00
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