The War on Terror is really Control through Fear...and nothing more. Besieged by invisible enemies, many are willing to give up Liberty for Security. Benjamin Franklin said that those who would give up Liberty for Security deserve neither. And perhaps this is the goal of those who control the Terror Alert Level: To dismantle Liberty. They can sidestep the Law, the Constitution, and Decency just by raising the Fear level. And they use this Fear to defend unspeakable acts.
Torture is perhaps the most barbaric act I can think of. A bullet to the head at least brings a swift conclusion for the victim. But Torture treats the victim as a plaything. Saddam Hussein, perhaps the one man in Iraq who knew everything, was not subjected to Torture to learn his secrets. He was afforded the protections of the Geneva Convention. So why were others, with little to no knowledge of secrets, treated so harshly? I can only surmise that it was masochism and immoral intent of the captors.
This War Crime has yet to be given the full attention it deserves. It has yet to see true Justice served. Torture is not an American value. And no amount of Fear can cover it up, or excuse it.
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I agree that the shift to torture as "acceptable" is happening in our country, but I believe part of the reason is that the Bush supporters - the authoritarians - would excuse anything that this administration does.
Some of them would likely find torture allowable even if our government were not permitting it, but the mere fact that the administration has allowed torture makes it acceptable to them.
Authoritarians are like children in that anything their "leader" does is absolutely correct, no matter what it might be. Their so-called leader is a father figure to them, and "father" can do no wrong. Any act committed by their leader is thereby rendered legal and acceptable in their eyes, simply because he is the one committing that act.
Bush has allowed torture; therefore torture is now "okay". They will go to any lengths to prove this, even if it means making up ridiculous scenarios involving terror suspects.
We saw this kind of behavior in Nazi Germany. No, I'm not equating George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler. But I am equating the authoritarian followers of Hitler's to the authoritarian followers of Bush. They are the same kind of creature, and react the same way. "The leader is always right, even if he's wrong."
The problem we are having in this country right now is that our "President" is committing illegal acts and getting away with them - for the simple reason that the nation's police work for HIM, not for our nation.
I hope things will change in 2009... that remains to be seen. If they do not change, America as we know it is finished.
Great Topic, Erik, Happy to see you writing here.
Mini, well said, as always.
Violence in the name of peace.
Authority, by who's authority.
The Founding Father's would be aghast and ashamed of what has been done to the 'piece pf paper' they wrote.
I could not agree more, thanks for accepting, erik. The goal of terrorists is to use limited means to create maximum fear (decency notwithstanding and with points for creativity) and thus bring about a political or military change through bypassing beurocracy or legal government. Hey, wait....that sounds suspiciously familiar.....what the.. DAMMIT, MAN!...the war on terror should really the War OF Terror and the war in Iraq should be the war ON Iraq. Our government is using the tools of the terrorist against us to do things in our name. Torture is the single most telling act sanctioned by this president. It is tantamount to wiping your ass with the constitution, then flushing it down the toilet. It is an embarrassment to this country and all the men and women who fought to keep this from occurring here fifty years ago; and citizens of this great land need to take some stock in themselves and stand the fuck up for what is right. (pardon my french, but I'm always a bit squirrely on this particular topic)
Oh and thanks for the awesome contri....keep it up, America needs to be talking about this!
I used to tutor math at a college years ago, and when students would come in, looking overwhelmed with the class and mathematics in general, I would ask them a question. "How do you eat an entire life-sized chocolate elephant? Answer: One bite at a time."
Any enormous task taken one small bite at a time can be dealt with, if you look at it that way. If you look at the whole thing, it can seem insurmountable.
Unfortunately, I believe the Bush administration is also working from that idea. They didn't take away our civil liberties in one fell swoop - same with their power grab. They have been taking things away one small bite at a time... which makes it seem more palatable to the American public as a whole.
It is the old "frog in hot water" analogy brought to life.
The problem we have is that they have done their homework. They have eased us into it slowly, and we ended up so entrenched in the muck that we can't find a way out. They have buried us in scandal, but done it so quietly and efficiently that we didn't respond... we didn't jump out of the heating water. We have allowed ourselves to be boiled, bit by bit.
The economy is so bad that people are having to scramble to survive, and when you keep people so busy just trying to get by... they haven't the time or energy to deal with what seems to be an insurmountable problem.
There is more that I want to say on this issue, but I will flesh it out, and post it another day.
Suffice to say... we have a lot of cleaning up ahead of us. And it will have to be done... once again.... one bite at a time.
I still use that bit of wisdom today. Life is full of big challenges which can only be approached one step at a time. Sweeping this thing under the rug is what has been done, and what we can not allow.
The biggest argument in favor of torture is that torture has never gone away. The title is authentic, but I feel the real danger is that warmongers are trying to change the discussion from "torture" to defining an "acceptable level of torture". It's pathetic, really, to read Muckasey saying it certainly would be torture if HE were waterboarded, but somehow it might not be in "legal terms". The implications of this attitude are enormous with regard to NSA surveillance and a variety of civil rights infringements. It sets the tone that as long as the government can get the issue into a "gray area", they can then ignore the Constitution or essentially "rewrite" the Constitution by allowing an extended public debate that reaches no decisive conclusion. This is one issue that the Democrats had better put to rest, once and for all.
Erik, you raise an excellent point in that Saddam was afforded representation and a "fair" trial. He was not tortured, held in some dark cell to sleep on concrete or denied his legal rights. His interrogator relied on "trust", not torture, to get information.
And now, for the latest on torture. It seems that torture was considered "legal" (according to Muckasey) at the time the CIA waterboarded 3 high-profile suspects linked to al Qaeda. Muckasey has determined any hearings or investigations would be basically pointless. Is anyone surprised? Cheney's Lawyer has made certain there is always a loophole to exaggerate and/or exploit and Gonzales laid out the groundwork like a good soldier before high-tailin' it outta there.
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