Torture and Truth
Tomorrow I'm going to see Mark Danner talk about his book, Torture and Truth, America, Abu Ghraib and the war on Terror.
I've got a lot of questions I want to ask, if you have any you want to ask, please post them.
I want to know how he would respond to views stated by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North. When talking about America and torture they use positioning techniques that minimize the involvement of Americans and seek to avoid demanding true accountability in favor of apologizing and making false comparisons. One argument suggests "if you publicize Americans torturing Iraqis you are jeopardizing the troops because they will be retaliated against." To make that case they linked the release of Abu Ghraib photos to the Berg beheading as a proof point.
Hannity has also used the "It's not THAT bad." technique to downplay US torturing.
In addition to hearing how Danne would respond to those guys I'd also like to hear his response to the scenario often used to justify torture, "The terrorist knows where the Nuke is and it will go off in 5 hours and will blow up New York city. What are we supposed to do, ask politely and if he doesn't respond just let millions die? Shouldn't we torture him? Is the life of one terrorist really more important than the life of millions of innocent children? What would you do?"
I especially want to get at how to respond to people who create scenarios where torture is deemed necessary and is in fact a-okay. People like James Inhofe.
I want to understand people who believe that torture is essential to winning the war in Iraq as well as the "Global War on Terror" or GWOT.
On the religious side, in a presidency increasingly invoking the involvement of a Christian God in all decisions, where does torture fit in? How is it justified?
Soldiers tortured this person to death
Soldiers tortured this person to death
I've got a lot of questions I want to ask, if you have any you want to ask, please post them.
I want to know how he would respond to views stated by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North. When talking about America and torture they use positioning techniques that minimize the involvement of Americans and seek to avoid demanding true accountability in favor of apologizing and making false comparisons. One argument suggests "if you publicize Americans torturing Iraqis you are jeopardizing the troops because they will be retaliated against." To make that case they linked the release of Abu Ghraib photos to the Berg beheading as a proof point.
Hannity has also used the "It's not THAT bad." technique to downplay US torturing.
We've learned the difference between mistreating, which is wrong, and atrocities. Because this is an atrocity what they did to this guy (Berg).Oliver North uses the "it's just a few bad apples" positioning method favored by President Bush.
In addition to hearing how Danne would respond to those guys I'd also like to hear his response to the scenario often used to justify torture, "The terrorist knows where the Nuke is and it will go off in 5 hours and will blow up New York city. What are we supposed to do, ask politely and if he doesn't respond just let millions die? Shouldn't we torture him? Is the life of one terrorist really more important than the life of millions of innocent children? What would you do?"
I especially want to get at how to respond to people who create scenarios where torture is deemed necessary and is in fact a-okay. People like James Inhofe.
"These prisoners, you know they're not there for traffic violations. If they're in cellblock 1-A or 1-B, these prisoners, they're murderers, they're terrorists,they're insurgents. Many of them probably have American blood on their hands and here we're so concerned about the treatment of those individuals."
I want to understand people who believe that torture is essential to winning the war in Iraq as well as the "Global War on Terror" or GWOT.
On the religious side, in a presidency increasingly invoking the involvement of a Christian God in all decisions, where does torture fit in? How is it justified?
Soldiers tortured this person to death
Soldiers tortured this person to death
3 Comments:
Don't know if I should ever trust this blogger comment thing again after it posted me 4 times earlier, but I'll try again.
There seems to be bloodlust in the very air we are breathing. Sane people are outshouted by the rabid fanatics. The witch must hang, the pogrom must start, the evildoers must pay.
Some author was writing about being in Ireland during the worst part of the fighting. He described one day where there was almost a universal acceptance that someone ... anyone ... was going to die that night. The atmosphere built to a fever pitch, fighting broke out, a man died. The release and calm that ensued was almost orgasmic.
Bloodlust must be satisfied. Torture seems to be part of it. Will sanity return before we are all dead?
Weird, my first comment hasn't shown up to be counted yet...should I take it personally?
Ellroon. Don't take it personally. It took me 4 times and 8 hours to get THIS post up!
Thanks for posting. I'm going to see if I can get permission to video tape this guy.
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