Ernest Canning at Brad Blog
Part I addresses the relatively public involvement of the U.S. military and private contractors at Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq. It will dispel the notion that the Bush White House sought out independent legal opinions from the OLC before deciding to torture.Part II will discuss the CIA's dark beginnings, including its recruitment of former Nazis, its devotion to covert "psychological operations" as a founding principle, the experiments on unwitting subjects that were part of a maniacal quest to crack the code of human consciousness, and the scientific studies that led to KUBARK, the CIA's torture manual.
Part III provides a vital historical account of CIA torture applied by surrogates in developing nations as a component of empire, an account that belies the suggestion made by the The New York Times that CIA torture first arose as an aftermath of 9/11.
Part's IV and V will address the CIA's involvement in extraordinary rendition and an ultra-secret system of “black-sites” into which “ghost detainees” would disappear. It will show how the techniques used on "ghost detainees" are the culmination of a half-century of CIA research and practices...
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire
“In addition to the previous complaint filed against Bush administration lawyers, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has opened an investigation "into torture allegations against US military personnel at...Guantánamo..."
ReplyDeleteNationally this shows a great double-standard, and the willingness to betray their guiding principles in a public manner, when it suits them. Internationally, it showed that the US would talk about being the beacon on the hill, but really was just as willing to be oppressive and corrupting as any other country, making their message ring hollow. Granted, everyone knew that the US was willing to get as dirty as anyone else, but they always tried to keep it quiet and hidden. "Plausible Deniability"
Getting rid of it, hopefully, will make more than just the US think about these policies. Canada, for instance, has worked with the US in sending our own citizens over to Syria and Egypt to be tortured, on the flimsiest of evidence. So we have no moral authority to look down on the US for this. We have an enemy to fight in extremism, but we can't fight it with our own version of extremism, ignoring the morals and principles we claim to stand for. It's not just an American problem it's a worldwide problem having to remove terrorists, then gaining information about terrorist activities to stop attacks in the future in a way that doesn't conflict with the morals and principles we claim to represent.
"It's not just an American problem it's a worldwide problem having to remove terrorists, then gaining information about terrorist activities to stop attacks in the future in a way that doesn't conflict with the morals and principles we claim to represent."
ReplyDeleteindeed, it is a very real problem. sadly, i don't see the morality in leadership where it's needed to address it. when so many of our government officials play politics for personal gain and so few seem to have any common sense, much less personal integrity and social morality, i don't hold out much hope. and that is an international situation. i can't imagine what could change the course that we are on politically across the globe, short of an evolutionary leap in human conscience or consciousness, either one. i suppose anything's possible, but i don't count on it.
thanks much for your comments.
blessings,
m