Is This Torture?
From the Washington Post.
Even if you think it's no big deal to condemn a man to death, is it becoming of a country alleging to spread "freedom" to behave in such a manner?
Even if you think it's no big deal to condemn a man to death, is it becoming of a country alleging to spread "freedom" to behave in such a manner?
posted by lifeintheG at 4:42 PM
4 Comments:
How often and at how many different prison facilities do things like this have to occur before it becomes a pattern of abuse? Clearly, a staggering number of US soldiers in charge of prisoners are disobeying orders and acting like renegade torturers, or this type of behavior is allowed, encouraged, or at the very least ignored up the chain of command. Either we've got a total lack of military discipline, or a total lack of clarity on the part of the military as to the principles our country stands for. And THAT is what is so disturbing, to me anyway. And I think that's what reflects badly on the United States and erodes our moral and ethical high-ground.
Not to mention the article states that the two CIA men responsible for this man's death were promoted after the incident.
My two cents:
Obviously, the one thing we can all agree on is this - where torture is going on, it has to be stopped.
That said, I think the worst way to combat it, aside from doing nothing, is to make false historical comparisons (Pol Pot, Stalin, what have you), because then you get a reaction something like this:
"What? How dare you! Gitmo and the Killing Fields are in no way similar!"
"You're ignoring the fact that torture is going on!"
"A few isolated instances does not constitute 'torture,' and you ought be ashamed of using such a ludicrous comparison."
"Don't question my patriotism! I believe torture is beneath America!"
"What torture?!..."
And so on. Point is, all invective aside, everyone is right - a comparison between the US and governments that have practiced and actively promoted genocide is, well, wrong; and those who get worked up over the use of the comparison (at least those in the mainstream media) seem to have missed a huge, glaring central point: we've got to stop abuse, where and when it occurs.
Given that, however, the surest way to pis people off is to lump them together with idiots. And any variations on this theme...
The United States is (worse/just as bad as) (Pol Pot/Hitler/Muammar Qadhafi), etc...
...will automatically distract people from the ultimate goal: stop whatever is giving power to the comparison.
(And to exonerate myself, I don't think Durbin falls into that category, and I'm quite disappointed that no one in the Senate - Rep., Dem., or otherwise - had the balls to stand up and say, "This is a shameful twist on the Senator's words, which were only used to suggest the _shocking_ idea that we should take care that torture is not practiced in American detention camps. If anyone is seriously opposed to this idea, let me know.")
To your final point there - yes. Finally. He didn't say we are as bad as those people. He was saying that if you read some of the things we have done, one might think the only people capable of that sort of thing would be one of those people. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Nazi analogies because a) what happened to Durban, and b) because it diminishes the Holocaust (or Killing Fields or what-have-you.) It's clear that nothing we're doing is even close to any of that.
That said - he didn't say we were all the way bad. He just said that you might think that only they would be capable of this sort of thing, not us. And another place where Nazi analogies hit a little too close to home is the new study that shows that doctors are helping with the interrogation of prisoners. It's NOT the same as Josef Mengele, but it's on the same road, isn't it?
It's NOT the same. Don't go fucking crazy. But it's still not right.
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