In the spring of 2004, I was involved in a movement to protest the College's invitation of Antonin Scalia to speak on campus. Distributing materials that merely quoted from Scalia's own decisions was sufficient to provoke an emotional response from one of the leaders of the College Republicans. This person said that he or she took this protest very personally, for this was a man he or she greatly admired and whose values he or she largely shared. Many of us, myself among them, believed this was an unreasonable attempt to pull at heartstrings. Scalia, we argued, was a public figure. There was nothing unreasonable about disseminating what we believed to be less savory pieces of his writings; after all, they were part of the public record.

I was thus most disturbed to see the hypocrisy of the College Republicans as they posted several slanderous posters around campus this week. One of these posters featured pictures of human skulls and bones, as a worker in uniform shoveled dirt over them, presumably in a mass grave. The poster featured the following slogan: "Leftist Ideas: Progressing Toward Tyranny" and the caption "Murders by 'Progressive Social Movements' in the name of 'helping the people.'" What then followed was a list totaling 97 million dead in China, the Soviet Union, Cambodia, North Korea, Africa, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Vietnam and Latin America. This poster represents a transparent attempt by the College Republicans to tie those of us in the United States who would characterize ourselves as supporters of such "progressive" social policies as Social Security, Medicare, equal rights for homosexuals, a woman's right to choose and affirmative action to "leftists" and consequently, to "murderers."

Before I confront the hypocrisy of the substance of these charges, I think it should be said that by the same charge, movements that claimed to represent freeing people from oppression, as the American Right does today, have included such notable governments as Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. I should also point out that it was a Democratic President that led America to victory in World War II and that it was a "progressive social movement" in America that pushed for divestment from South Africa; it was also a "progressive social movement" that eventually took over the reigns of power from South Africa's racist regime. This is not an issue of tit-for-tat, however. The American Right is no more linked to Nazi Germany than the American Left is linked to Maoist China.

What is most disturbing is the ways in which the College Republicans' posters self-righteously misrepresent the American Left. Contrary to what the sign might lead you to believe, "progressives" from such organizations as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among those who are urging our leaders to penalize China until China cleans up its human rights record. Democrats were among those who urged President Bush not to take his eye off the ball in North Korea. The lack of self-critique on North Korea in this respect is baffling. What was formerly, under President Clinton, an oppressive regime negotiating for humanitarian aid is now a nuclear power unwilling to negotiate under President Bush.

This characterization of "leftist ideas" is an outrage, and only points further towards the kind of hypocrisy the Republican Party is engaging in today. Rather than looking at America's record of torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the recently discovered secret CIA detention facilities in former Soviet bases in Eastern Europe, the College Republicans are trying to change the subject and point the finger, dishonestly trying to tie Democrats to these past outrages (but what more could you expect from the party of Tom Delay and I. Lewis Libby?). As President Bush once tried to say, but couldn't quite articulate: "Fool me once shame on you … Fool me twice, shame on me." We will not be fooled again. Progressives have always stood against torture, whether in China, the former USSR, Afghanistan under the Taliban or Guantanamo today. Unfortunately, the current administration does not share our views.

As Mark Danner explained in his visit to campus last week, America's torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib was systematic, it was organized and the official response was insufficient. Now, the Republicans may try to block an investigation into the CIA's secret detention facilities. Rather than investigate the allegations of abuse, they are pushing to investigate only the circumstances under which the information regarding the existence of these facilities was obtained. If they are willing to block an investigation into the substance of this leak, as opposed to merely agreeing to it and then stonewalling, as they have done in the Senate inquiry into the misuse of intelligence in the lead up to the Iraq invasion, we can only presume the worst.

Some Republicans have understood the grave problems posed by the support of torture. Senator McCain has put forward an amendment in the defense appropriations bill definitively enshrining in law that the United States cannot torture or otherwise treat detainees inhumanely. The amendment passed 90-9, an astounding feat given that Washington has become more polarized than ever by the unbelievable excesses of the White House. Yet according to CNN, Vice President Cheney has led an effort to allow the kinds of treatments currently used at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib in some cases. Apparently some other Republicans also stand against such "progressive social movements" opposing torture."

In a Nov. 8 White House daily press briefing, a reporter asked White House spokesman Scott McClellan to comment on this issue:

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's made it very clear that are we do not torture.

QUESTION: What's the vice president doing?

MCCLELLAN: I just told you.

QUESTION: No, you did not.

MCCLELLAN: If you...

QUESTION: I'm not trying to be...

MCCLELLAN: No, I'm not going to let you -- are mischaracterizing what this is about. It's put in the statement of administration policy, April. And look, you can keep showboating for the cameras, but we made clear what our views are.

MCCLELLAN: Go ahead, Bill. Well, you are. Let's be honest about it.

QUESTION: No. I'm being honest. I want an honest answer from you.

MCCLELLAN: And you got in the statement of administration policy.

QUESTION: That is not -- that is not...

MCCLELLAN: You got in the statement of administration policy. There are already laws on books that cover these issues.

QUESTION: Do you know the administration's...

MCCLELLAN: Yes. And that's what it is.

QUESTION: Well, give it to us, then.

MCCLELLAN: Go look on our Web site. I'll be glad to provide it to you. And I just told you what it is. Are you not listening? I just told you what it is.

QUESTION: Scott, the Department of Defense is revising...

MCCLELLAN: I think you need to calm down a little bit and let me respond. Go ahead.

American "progressive social movements" do not support torture. Dick Cheney, and some Republicans, however, may.

While the College Republicans do not stand with the White House in opposing a ban on torture they have posted propaganda implying that some of the very "leftist" movements opposing torture are in fact guilty of mass murder." It's time for the American people to stand up and fight. Nothing is more American than fighting torture. We demand an end to this slander. We demand an end to torture. We demand answers.

Kornblith can be reached at rlkornblith@amherst.edu