Dog and Pony Shows

Will criminals in the Bush Administration be punished? The idea is ludicrous. Some time during the Obama Administration it will be revealed that everything Bush did was carried forward by the scholar president, including torture.

The U.S. tortures people. Has for decades. CIA has studied the art, made it into a science. They have trained others in its practice, right under our noses.

The debate about protecting ourselves, getting “actionable intelligence” is a diversion. Torture is about breaking people, and not about gathering information. Only very strong and patriotic people continue to resist prolonged bombing and torture campaigns. The Vietnamese people showed amazing courage. Their example came to be called the “Vietnam Syndrome” – we could not break their spirit and will to resist – our will was broken! George H.W. Bush took credit for “kicking” the Vietnam Syndrome, his greatest accomplishment as president. He put us back in the game again.

The Iraqis appear to be buckling, though I mean them no disrespect. They put up fierce resistance for several years. It’s hard to know what the Afghanis will do, but they seem resilient. Their lives are already brutal and short, so deprivation won’t much affect them. It could be long and bloody. And torturous, for them.

U.S. foreign policy is hard-wired, and is largely unaffected by elections. The public is ignorant and fickle, and leaders do not look to us for guidance. They manipulate us, divert our attention but do not care what we might think about things.

So it is safe to say that torture has not ended. It has only gone underground again.