Bravo to this essay from the Daily Brew, which says what needs to be said:
Posted by Observer at May 8, 2004 10:51 AMWe Are All Wearing The Blue Dress Now
Whether Republicans like it or not, if George Bush is elected in the fall, the entire world will view the election as American approval of the torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. It might not be fair, it might not be reasonable, but it is nevertheless reality.
Apologies, prosecutions, firings and courts martial will not be enough to expunge the stain this scandal has placed on the honor of the United States. The pictures are simply too graphic. The abuses are simply too horrible. If George Bush is elected President, the entire world will view the election, at a minimum, as tacit approval of these events.
This election will thus no longer merely determine the Presidency. This election is now much larger than the office. The United States' place in the family of nations is now on the ballot. This election will determine whether the United States will ever again have any standing or moral authority in the rest of the world.
The United States cannot simultaneously stand against depraved sexual torture and the wanton abuse of human rights, while electing the commander in chief upon whose watch these events occurred. The seven hundred thousand or so viewers of Fox News may be able to rationalize such cognitive dissonance; the six billion people who make up the remainder of the world will not.
The stakes are thus immeasurable. For better or for worse, a strong, just and moral United States is not simply a luxury. Instead, it has become a precondition for human progress. For better or for worse, the United States has become the indispensable nation. Our economic, technological, and military position in the world insures that we will remain as such for the foreseeable future.
The only question that remains, therefore, is whether the United States will have a moral authority on par with our economic and military dominance. That question will be answered in the fall. The election will determine whether America can ever again be seen as a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope and freedom the illuminates the entire globe.
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While I think the people responsible for this stupidity should be punished, after seeing the pictures I just can't think that embarrassing someone is somehow equal to or worse than truly torturing them with electric shocks, etc.
Posted by: B Humbaba's wife on May 8, 2004 07:25 PMD'oh, that was me, B had changed my saved personal info...
Posted by: Humbaba on May 8, 2004 07:26 PMIf you still think that "embarrassment" is all that happened in those prisons, you must be simply avoiding what you don't want to read or believe. I'll be interested to see your reaction to further revelations that are apparently forthcoming.
Posted by: Observer on May 8, 2004 08:32 PMI find it mildly interesting that there is this huge reaction to this when US citizens in US prisons are treated just as bad and worse all the time to no uproar at all.
Reading that some of the prisoners were beaten or kicked after they participated in a riot doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm not saying it's right, but it happens everywhere in the world and it doesn't surprise me.
Posted by: Humbaba on May 9, 2004 01:00 AMI find it mildly interesting that there was this huge reaction to Clinton getting a blowjob but now all of a sudden the moral standard is set to "Turkish Prison Guard" among conservatives. I am beginning to wonder exactly what it will take to stir outrage among conservatives over this?
To be fair, groups like "Amnesty International" have been pissed about prison conditions in the US for a long time, but the reality is that no politician can win with a platform of prisoners' rights, not in the day and age of the Victim (which conservatives are experts at playing).
When Clinton did his thing, a lot of liberals were saying, hey, look, it's a workplace affair, and these things happen, but to conservatives, it was the end of the world. "What will we tell the children?" they cried, when the president of the United States is so morally bankrupt? Conservatives blamed everything, from the divorce rate to Enron on the "poor moral climate" under Bill Clinton.
And let's be clear: I was also embarrassed for Clinton and thought he should resign in disgrace. I'm starting to think that might have been a mistake to think that, but that was my gut reaction at the time. But what Bush has presided over is FAR FAR WORSE and FAR MORE DAMAGING to America in the eyes of its citizens and the world.
Bush has based this entire war on the premise of a moral crusade. He has repeatedly mentioned how proud we should be that we have gotten rid of the torture chambers and rape rooms over there that Saddam used to run.
Now that that's all gone, now that we know there are no WMD, now that we know there is no link to Al Qaeda, can someone please explain to me why we're there?
Posted by: Observer on May 9, 2004 07:19 AMTo be clear, I never cared that he had an affair or got a blowjob. It's what powerful men often do.
Posted by: Humbaba on May 9, 2004 09:08 AMI probably need to be more careful. In the future, when I mean "Bush supporters", I'll say that instead of ruining a perfectly legitimate word like "conservative".
Posted by: Observer on May 9, 2004 10:04 AMI don't remember my history well enough to remember what the Nurnberg trials dished out to various Nazis for this sort of thing. This isn't embarrassment. It is public repudiation of everything I, at least, was brought up to think of as something this country stood for.
Don't get me wrong: I think every member of the Baath party should be executed. I also think approximately every member of the White House staff and occupants should be executed too, and the billions they have funneled to themselves and their CEO goodbuddies needs to be taken away from them, and leave *them* trussed up with wire in a dress in a Baghdad prison.
Posted by: Vengeful Feff on May 9, 2004 05:30 PM