We tortured

April 7, 2009 in Political Animals | 1 comment

What John Cole said:

We tortured. You can not read this report (warning- .pdf) and tell me it was just “enhanced interrogation techniques.” This was not, as Rumsfeld asserted, akin to standing at a desk all day long.

We tortured these people, and who knows what else we have done. The details need to come out, and there need to be prosecutions. This was not a few bad apples at Abu Gharaib. This was systemic torture, and it goes to the highest levels of our government.

And yet, the wingnuts will still insist that we did nothing wrong — that everything we did was justified. One need look no further that the nearest wingnut to see the moral rot that infects this country.

One of Cole’s commenters explained the wingnut mindset perfectly:

I have had this debate many times with acquaintances.

When I say “we committed war crimes,” I am told “How dare you say that about Americans?”

When I present the Geneva Conventions on torture, I am told “That’s not US law.”

When I present the Constitution and show that the Conventions do have the force of law, I am told “That wasn’t torture.”

When I provide definitions of torture that match what we did to detainees, I am told “That’s what they say, and they are trained to lie about it.”

When I discuss the physical evidence and statements made by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others, I am told “We are protecting America by getting information to stop further attacks.”

When I provide evidence that torture doesn’t produce actionable intelligence and that humane treatment does, I am told “But these are bad guys, I can’t believe you have sympathy for them.”

When I point out that none of the detainees have been put to trial and that the majority of detainees didn’t do anything, I am told that “We meant well.”

When I reiterate that the Geneva Conventions specifically refute any “meant well” defense, I am told “Obama is a socialist who wants to grab our guns.”

Repeat as necessary.

The wingnuts will insist that even discussing this is “unpatriotic” or “treasonous”. They do not see torture as something that shames the United States, nor do they see it as something that needs to be rooted out and stopped. They get aroused when they imagine a Terrifying Brown Person™ being tortured.

The extreme right in this country is made up almost entirely of people who are utterly devoid of morals. Why are their complaints and assertions given any credence whatsoever?

  1. Billy Joe on April 7, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    I went to Cambodia in Feb. and visited the notorious S-21 prison, which is basically a converted school turned into a torture facility where something like 20,000 people were killed in various manners. Only a handful of people (7?) made it out alive. The people killed there were killed for all sorts of reasons: they were educated, they stole paperclips, etc. It’s sort of a creepy glimpse into the type of society the craziest wingnuts seem to desire.

    The rooms often contain paintings of the horrific deeds done inside of them. One of the rooms was used for waterboarding and, in addition to having the original waterboarding apparatus, there is a painting showing how it was done to the prisoners. I can’t find the photo on the web now, but I can mail you my pic of it later, if you’d like to post it.

    Cambodians know waterboarding is torture. I don’t understand why more people, when confronted with wingnut insistence that waterboarding is not torture, don’t challenge the wingnut to subject himself to it. Especially the Republican ghouls in Congress and in the wingnut media/blogosphere.