Torture
Political odds, ends
I didn’t vote for him on November 3, but Mike Bloomberg has done the country a service and I wanted to acknowledge it. In stark contrast to his predecessor, the insufferable demagogue Rudy Giuliani, Bloomberg has voiced support for Eric Holder’s decision to try KSM and other 9/11 defendants in a civilian court here in New York. One now sees
Against torture
To the best of my knowledge, Dick Cheney has never personally interrogated a terror suspect. Nor have former California congressman Duncan Hunter or most other right-wing pro-torture pundits. But Ali Soufan has. He makes the case against torture based on direct experience that very few people will ever know.
Torture and health care
Re the blizzard of torture-related documents in the news in the last few days, Andrew Sullivan offers the essential commentary (even while on leave): Understanding the current right’s embrace of total state power against the individual takes time to absorb. But liberal democracy has no more dangerous enemies than these. [Update: More here and here.] And I’d add that the
Torture’s supporters cont.
Because congressional hearings on the torture memos are now underway, and because Cheneyites like Frank Gaffney are all over the airwaves spreading lies and propaganda about the wonderfulness of the Bush administration’s torture program, and because TV hosts like MSNBC’s David Shuster are proving utterly incompetent in their framing of this incredibly high-stakes issue, Andrew Sullivan’s latest anti-torture post —
The “ticking bomb” fraud
Charles Krauthammer has penned the ultimate insidious apologia for torture. Dan Froomkin has penned the ultimate demolition of Krauthammer’s logic. Andrew Sullivan lands the final blow. This is the stuff Jon Stewart needed to say to Cliff May.
Torture’s supporters
In a debate with Joe Conasan this evening on Chris Matthews’ “Hardball,” Michael Smerconish, right-wing Philadelphia pundit, argued that if you do the math, the waterboarding done to KSM and Abu Zubaydah only amounted to 88 minutes or so. “That’s not even two hours!” he exclaimed. Now there’s a novel new legal standard. Points for creativity.
The torture chronicles
As usual, Andrew Sullivan remains one of the best sources for facts on, and outrage against, the deplorable torture policies of the previous administration. While I want to see accountability for war crimes as much as anyone, I can certainly understand why President Obama is picking his battles very carefully right now. Releasing those critical, unredacted torture memos required a big
Three dangerous ideas
1. Torture is justified, or can be called something other than torture. Read Mark Danner’s essential NYT op-ed. 2. Antisemitism is “understandable.” So says British moviemaker Ken Loach. Does he believe that going out and harassing Muslims after a terror attack is “understandable”? I very much doubt it. 3. One-party dictatorships have rights; civilians who raise grievances against them do