Tortured Logic

It has now become painfully apparent that the CIA, in pursuit of Bush administration war policy, used torture as an accepted interrogation technique.

And lied, wilfully, to the American public about the full extent of said use.

Now comes the scramble, mostly on the right, to justify that…

to make it OK.

But many of us know that it’s not OK.

If it were, then why the painstaking attempts at covering it up when it was taking place?

I saw the Bill O’Reilly talking points clip in which he says, “it is morally correct to [use torture] to protect innocent lives from barbarians.”

He justifies the use of torture because he knows people who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attack.

Now let’s consider that for a moment…

We, meaning us in the U.S., aren’t alone on this planet.

We’re not the only ones who’ve lost loved ones in war.

In fact, there are many who’ve lost them at our very hands.

So, does that mean that the Iraqi version of Bill O’Reilly would be correct in saying the same thing…

that it’s “morally correct” to use torture against Americans?

No, of course in that case it wouldn’t be.

Well, then according to what tortured logic is it OK for us to use it?

There is strong evidence that torture does not “protect innocent lives from barbarians.” That the only thing it does is extract words out of the mouths of its victims in order to make the suffering stop.

Even Senator John McCain, a man who knows a bit about torture, said as much.

So, why then, did the CIA persist in its use? Why would they sacrifice our values for no real useful purpose?

Perhaps, retributive justice?

You see, back when this was going on, our collective anger at the rest of the world, especially the Muslim world, was at a fevered pitch.

We wanted blood.

It’s kind of like when Michael Brown’s stepfather yelled to the crowd, “burn this MF down!”

We were collectively yelling, “burn those entire MF’ing countries down!”

Do whatever it takes to exact justice on those who had the gall to attack us on our own soil.

That anger was understandable, both in the Brown case and in the 9-11 one.

But it doesn’t justify lawless action…and that’s what torture is.

Why?

There were times when it was commonplace…but we recoil at those barbaric times. In fact, just hearing about what was done in those “dark prison” dungeons is revolting, isn’t it?

If you say not, then you need to go see a professional about that.

I’m pretty upset about this torture report. What upsets me even more deeply is the reaction, or lack of reaction, of many towards it. It’s as if it really doesn’t matter.

We got rough with some bad guys, so what?

You see, the “so what” is, IMHO, that the very fact that some would justify torture as being OK when it comes to us…but a horrible war crime when committed by anyone else…points to a serious problem in the American mindset, at least the one held by around 150 million of us…

This idea of America being so “exceptional” that the rules just don’t apply to us.

That’s a dangerous concept for anyone living outside of our borders.

One that might make them not like us all that much…

perhaps even want to destroy us.

In fact, it’s a mindset that makes the world a more dangerous place for all of its inhabitants.

The very fact that we think the rules are suspended when it comes to us, lends to a mindset that devalues other people.

But we know that’s not true, right?

At least I hope we do.

This torture report could potentially be the dawning of that realization.

The dawning of the concept of The Big US.

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