TW: Cilizza reviews some recent poll data regarding Americans opinion on torture. Recall I framed my view along these lines a couple of weeks ago (see "torture" posts).1) was what the U.S. did torture?
2) if so was it a potentially temporary reaction to the post 9/11 stress?
3) should the U.S. torture?
The results below seem to indicate Americans are not stupid, if it walks like a duck, it is a duck. The U.S. engaged in torture. What is unclear is whether Americans believe torture is a necessary evil to protect their own security. As I have opined previously societies generally and the U.S. is no different will swap much liberty for the prospect of security. I suspect that tendency was much higher immediately post 9-11 than it is today although some (i.e. Cheney et al.) will err on the side of security without fail.
I remain aggressively opposed to torture. As for investigating how torture became an instrument of national policy, the fact that such an investigation is a "dead political loser" speaks to me of the necessity for the investigation. America must face up to the harsh realities of how we reacted post 9/11 and address whether we would do so again in similar circumstances. Else this issue will become a partisan football which will not only harm our national security and our international reputation but a cancer that will infect our ability to operate cohesively as a nation.
I am under no illusions that Democrats are innocent relative to torture. Post 9/11 politicians of all stripes did things they would not have dreamt of doing months before. What matters most is the future without understanding how we got here it is impossible to plan where we go from here.
If the U.S. wants to condone torture in the pursuit of perceived security lets do so in the open and as a matter of public policy, not in the shadows so that some of us can B.S. ourselves into thinking we are still exceptional to those despots who did (and still do) it elsewhere.
From Cilizza at WaPo:
"60% of Americans said that the use of "harsh interrogation procedures" including waterboarding is torture (Democrats 75%/Republicans 44%/Independents 58%)
when asked whether they approve or disapprove of the use of these techniques
50% approving/46% disapproving. (Democrats 26%/Republicans 78%/Independents 53% approving)
57% of people oppose the prosecution of Bush Administration officials for their roles in the interrogations and an even higher number -- 65% -- believe that no prosecutions of military and intelligence officials should take place.
...Those twin observations go a long way to explaining why President Barack Obama and his Administration have expressed very little interest in prosecuting those involved with the interrogations despite urgings from the liberal wing of the party to do just that. "
From a purely political perspective...the prosecutions are a straight loser, forcing a divided country to re-engage with a period of time they would much rather just forget."
ps the photo above is from our days dealing with the Filipinos post the Spanish-American War when we took possession of our first colonies, we did some seriously bad stuff in that country, waterboarding being the tip of an iceberg.
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