Thoughts on Torture

I've repeated - I don't know how many times - before that we don't do the things we do because of who "they" are but because of who we are. Dick Cheney insists to this day that, because it yielded actionable intelligence, our torture of prisoners was justified. I think we all need to think about who we are and what, if anything, we stand for.

The Geneva Conventions are pretty clear that placing someone in fear for their life or of being maimed is considered torture throughout the world. We can call it 'aggressive interrogation' if we want to, but in the World Court it's called torture. People who torture are criminals. In fact, given that it's hard to think of anything more terrifying than being killed or maimed, it could be argued that people who torture are terrorists... terrorist organizations... state sponsored terrorism.

We did it. We need to face that we did it, and we need to stop doing it. I was going to say that we need to promise not to do it again, but historically we are also faithless liars. (Seriously, sending prisoners to countries where we know they will be tortured and then using the resulting intelligence makes us what?)

Does the end justify the means? If it does then any behavior can be justifed by a successful outcome. Is that who we are? It kind of looks like that's who we are.

Pardon My Incredulity

So... I am asked to believe that the U.S. backed Iraqi police have elicited unforced confessions confirming U.S. allegations of Syrian support of terrorism which are being broadcast on U.S. sponsored Iraqi television.
I don't know if this link still works... it's a report in the Washington Post last month on the continued employment of pre-OIF police interrogators and their continuing use of pre-OIF methods. Any of those guys look a little the worse for wear to you?
At least one Iraqi blogger also has reservations about the validity of these "confessions."

I could swear that I've seen instances of captives being paraded in front of cameras to confess to all manner of things before... sometime... somewhere...

Basic Principles

I told someone recently that we don't do the right thing because of who they are... We do the right thing because of who we are. When I was a child I learned that principle as the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I bring this up because I saw this piece on the Administration resisting limits on the torture of detainees.
I know... really... that one can obtain information by torture. Everyone knows that. Saddam Hussein knows that, Stalin knew that, Hitler knew that, Tojo knew that... you get the picture?
I understand that sometimes good information is urgently needed to preserve life... I understand the horrible temptations to sink to their level.
Would someone remind me, please? "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

What Can You Say About the Administration?

The insights into the Bush White House just keep on coming...
I'm pretty much over Bernard Kerik... I mean why would anyone want to do a background investigation of the nominee for the Secretary of Homeland Security? I hate the use of "Duh!" as an expression, but...
Today I'm reading where we've continued to do business with a known Russian arms smuggler, Victor Bout... a "Merchant of Death" no less... and once again a Halliburton subsidiary is involved (insert look of surprise here).
The piece that I took a little bit personally was the one about Jenna Bush getting a teaching position in a D.C. public school. I thought about doing that for awhile five years ago, but with a record of reckless driving and DUI convictions in the early 1970s I was kind of "iffy" on whether I could be relied upon to mold impressionable young minds. So... is it me?... is it California?... is it D.C? Is it politics?
I need to mention this business of prisoner abuse... and here... at Gitmo, in Afghanistan, in Iraq?... but it's always the aberrant behavior of a few troops... nothing systemic... and if you do manage to get something out of them by whatever means... well, it would be a shame to let that information just go to waste... Please! We're doing it! Cop to it! Geez, you people in D.C. are worse than my kids about taking responsibility!