Friday, November 02, 2007
'Waterboarding is torture. Torture is unacceptable. Period.'
A simple argument from Ted. But not simplistic. He's right. It is torture -- and until Mukasey stipulates that it is, he doesn't deserve to be attorney general. ...
... The administration is once again making extreme either-or arguments about the issue -- allow waterboarding or people will die. From the president of the United States of America:
I'm fascinated with the 'American people have got to understand' part. It's another example of the administration thinking that it has deep insights about how the cruel world really works -- and that we don't understand. A Hub Blog relative first noticed this we-know/you-don't attitude soon after 9/11, when the president roughly warned he would have to make tough decisions that the American people wouldn't like or understand. It didn't have to be said. But it was said. Why? Who knows. But it has that element of swagger to it that I now associate with boneheaded blunders. ...
Update - A good editorial about the tough spot that Mukasey and our intelligence officers are now in, thanks to the administration's swagger, ultimately. But I don't see how what he says before a hearing and then after a hearing makes a difference in terms of liability. ...
A simple argument from Ted. But not simplistic. He's right. It is torture -- and until Mukasey stipulates that it is, he doesn't deserve to be attorney general. ...
... The administration is once again making extreme either-or arguments about the issue -- allow waterboarding or people will die. From the president of the United States of America:
“My view is this: The American people have got to understand the program is important and the techniques used are within the law."
I'm fascinated with the 'American people have got to understand' part. It's another example of the administration thinking that it has deep insights about how the cruel world really works -- and that we don't understand. A Hub Blog relative first noticed this we-know/you-don't attitude soon after 9/11, when the president roughly warned he would have to make tough decisions that the American people wouldn't like or understand. It didn't have to be said. But it was said. Why? Who knows. But it has that element of swagger to it that I now associate with boneheaded blunders. ...
Update - A good editorial about the tough spot that Mukasey and our intelligence officers are now in, thanks to the administration's swagger, ultimately. But I don't see how what he says before a hearing and then after a hearing makes a difference in terms of liability. ...
