The Irony Of It All

I am no huge fan of Andrew Sullivan. He is a bit too creepy for me. But every once in a while he makes an intelligent point, this being one of them.

It does seem to me that one cannot wrap ones self in the flag and talk about his heartless Vietnamese guards on the one hand, to elicit sympathy, while on the other hand giving a wink and a nod to a President and Vice President who seem to have an unhealthy interest in and sympathy for torture. The color and ethnic background of those who are to be tortured ought to not be relevant. Torture is either unacceptable and a war crime, or not, regardless of the race, sex, age or national origin of the victim. It cannot be more horrific to torture a well-bred American than it can be to torture an illiterate Arab or dirt-poor African.

And yet, our current administration seems to find a host of reasons, improbable as they may be, why we ought to be able to torture, sometimes to death, pretty much anyone we decide to. Please note that the Chinese have followed that moral compass for many decades, but should they be our teachers, our mentors? Is that the level of morality we aspire to as Americans? How is it that Republicans can claim high ground on "values" and "morality" on the one hand, and behave as homicidal thugs on the other, in the name of our government? Not in my name, not in the name of my government.

I have friends who were tortured, both in Indian, Chinese and Tibetan prisons. They survived, but showed the scars of the experience. Blood clots that need to be drained periodically in one case, shoulder problems, no teeth, nervous disorders. That other nations have and continue to torture their citizens and those of other nations is not the point. There is good evidence that torture has more value as perverted entertainment for the guards, than as a means of gaining good information. Getting good information takes more work, more intelligence, and more often kindness than the opposite. I am afraid my impression of our current administration is that our President and Vice President appear to enjoy the idea of inflicting pain on defenseless prisoners. Those in other countries can see that, why is that so hard for our own people and our own press to grasp? Are we, as a people, so traumatized by the September 11th attack that we are still in the grips of a national psychosis?

I am in hopes that we can recover. So is the rest of the world. They miss our moral leadership.

Arthur