Carpe Datum

Spinning Torture

Atrios provides some well-written context for the latest news from Iraq:

I'm amazed at the number of right wingers (see Thomas, Cal below and too many hacks around the web to mention) who think that when we talk about US soldiers torturing inmates that it's important to provide context by reminding people that, well, you know Saddam Tortured People Too! Aside from the obviously bizarre low bar we've now set for ourselves, this isn't about how we here at home react to these pictures - it's about how people in Iraq do.

Aside from the horror, this is just a complete and total failure of leadership at every level. It's a failure of leadership which is going to lead to more and more of our troops getting killed. It's a failure of leadership which is going to chip away at our fast-eroding moral authority. It's a failure of leadership which completely undercuts the now-stated purpose of being in Iraq - spreading the flowers of American Democracy. [...]

We'll presumably have the military and economic superiority for a little while longer, but for American Exceptionalism to persist to any degree, we also need [moral superiority].

He also points to Digby, who says:

I'm once again struck by the moral surety of these religious Republicans who don't seem to be upset by the deviant behavior graphically shown in these pictures and who don't seem worried in the least about how they are going to explain it to their children. It seems like only yesterday that every other word from their mouths was "deplorable," "reprehensible," "despicable," "disgusting," and " "revolting," as they relayed their shock and horror at the stunning news of a 50 year old man having an affair with a young woman in his office. If I recall correctly, this was considered to be an act of such depravity that they didn't know how the nation could survive if the perpetrator wasn't removed from office.

I listened yesterday as Al Franken's dittohead pal tried to chastise Al, saying something like, "Boy, you sure like talking about all those graphic descriptions of torture and rape. What is that? Do you get a kick out of it or something? Do you really get a thrill out of talk that makes us look bad?" Where to start with this moronic level of dialogue? The reason we liberals talk about it is because we're outraged and appalled, and we want to grab every Moron American by the collar and force them to see what they voted for and what they say they support in the polls. Why is it that to be critical of this administration is to be UnAmerican?

Then there's the selective outrage argument. Conservatives say, "Sure, I'm mad about the torture, but I am more outraged about what happened on 9/11. Why aren't you?" This pretends that you can't be mad about both. It also brings out the moral equivalence thing as above, "Hey, at least we're not *worse* than Saddam." Sorry, I'd like to set our standards a bit higher.

Finally, here is a don't-miss compilation of Bush quotes. This guy mentions "they're better off now that there are no longer any torture chambers and rape rooms" in just about every speech regarding Iraq, and he hasn't changed his speech a single iota since this tragedy exploded. It's like the administration feels like as long as it stays "on message", no matter the reality, they've got a good chance to win in November.

Posted by Observer at May 7, 2004 08:39 AM