Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Action Required

Immediately upon inauguration, Barack Obama announced that the use of torture was banned, to thunderous applause. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; a dark day in our nation’s history was over, a chapter closed.

Well, not so fast. A small band of Bush loyalists began prating about Obama’s actions making the nation less safe, and glorifying the use of torture as somehow having prevented a host of undescribed disasters following September eleventh. The media, instead of ignoring them, saw a delicious conflict which they could feed on and have been running with it ever since.

Obama is saying only that “we prefer to look forward” and the torturers are glorifying and defending their actions. The result is not pretty. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday contained the following question,

"Obama has said that under his administration the United States will not use torture as part of the U.S. campaign against terrorism, no matter what the circumstance. Do you support this position not to use torture, or do you think there are cases in which the United States should consider torture against terrorism suspects?"

Support for not using torture has dropped from 58% in January to only 50% now. For "cases to consider" the response has risen from 40% to 46%.

Put another way, in January we are against the use of torture by 58%-40%. We still are, but in June the margin is down to 50%-46%, which is getting pretty marginal. Of course, I thought the January margin was rather sickening, but my point is that the numbers are going the wrong direction. A full half of this country is unwilling to take a stand against the use of torture.

It also asked,
"Do you approve or disapprove of Obama's decision to close the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early next year?"

In January 46% approved, and 45% still do. The disturbing part of the response is that in January 39% disapproved and now a full 50% do. More people want to keep Guantanamo Bay open than want to see it closed.

What happened to all of the thunderous applause that followed the announcement about banning torture? What happened to electing a president based in part upon his promise to close Guantanamo?

If anything ever illustrated the need to investigate and prosecute the misdeeds of the past, it is this. It is that all of this ineffectual condemnation of these misdeeds without action, all of this talking and allowing “point-counterpoint” discussion, all of this permission of endless self-justification by the perpetrators of the misdeeds; all of this “normalizes” those misdeeds. Those polls tell us exactly why we need to appoint a special investigator and bring to justice those who ordered torture, and those who performed it. We need to release photos, and we need to hold trials.

With all of this actionless prating about it, we are slowly moving toward becoming a nation of torture. Guantanamo Bay is becoming a symbol of who we are.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous1:03 AM

    It appears that the people answering the polls do not fully comprehend what torture really means - either that or we have a nation of sociopaths who lack the basic ability to empathize with the suffering of others. I suspect that this lack of comprehension is two-fold: first, "simulated drowning" is so clinical, and I suspect that few of them comprehend the level of pain and suffering that it causes. The second part, however, is that few of them understand that authorizing the use of torture on anyone authorizes the use of torture on them and their family, friends and children.

    The use of torture is a crime. If someone like Cheney believes that the pain of suffering of another person is worth the potential gain, then he should at least be prepared to sacrifice his own freedom for the same cause. If it isn't worth that much, it shouldn't be done.

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