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Dante's Inferno
Author: BobR
Date: 02/06/2009 13:39:31
The prison at Guantanamo Bay has been the source of many sleepless nights for those in this country and the rest of the world who value freedom and fairness. It's bad enough that people have been held there for 7 years without a chance to refute the charges against them; no charges have been made. It's bad enough that they are viewed by some as "prisoners of war" when no declaration of war has been made, and there can be no definitive end to our efforts to control terrorism. It's bad enough that this is being done in our name and our only recourse all these years has been our ballot.
No, on top of all this is the common knowledge that it is no better than Abu Ghraib under Saddam Hussein.
Appearing on - of all places - the Daily Show, author Karen Greenberg describes how torture turned Gitmo into a version of Dante's Inferno:
We all remember the justifications, the various apologists trying to claim water-boarding wasn't torture, the memos leaking faster than a rusty rowboat. We remember the euphemistic term "enhanced interrogation techniques" which the previous administration tried to imprint on the mental consciousness of the country with mixed success.
Cheney - like a latter-day Rasputin - is still out there trying to cover his tracks, terrorize the nation, and - in general - justify his bloody past. By now most of you have heard or seen his latest prognostications:
So not only is he unapologetic, he has plans to make money describing the brutal programs he's created over the years.
One certainly hopes there's a special ring in Dante's Inferno for Cheney and his ilk; those among us who find a certain satisfaction in poetic justice hope he gets a taste of it before he leaves this earth for good.
No, on top of all this is the common knowledge that it is no better than Abu Ghraib under Saddam Hussein.
Appearing on - of all places - the Daily Show, author Karen Greenberg describes how torture turned Gitmo into a version of Dante's Inferno:
"They're told, 'Look, you don't have to follow the Geneva Conventions'" Greenberg continued, "'but it would be good if you could sort of, you know, be with the spirit of them.' And they look around and they're like, 'What does that mean?'"
"Make this prison Geneva Convention-ish," Stewart suggested.
"It was an 'ish' situation," agreed Greenberg, "and that does not compute for the military. ... Their idea is ... 'We know how to follow rules, that's our job, we're professionals. We don't, you know, improvise when it comes to the law.'"
"When does the word come down," Stewart asked, "that, 'Hey, you know what? We're actually not going to make it even Geneva Convention-ish. That was the honeymoon period. Now, let's make it more Dante's Inferno-ish.'"
Greenberg replied that starting in mid-February 2002, "they bring in a whole other crew" of higher-ranked officers "and it becomes their show. And they're the 'interrogation' military unit, and they take over."
We all remember the justifications, the various apologists trying to claim water-boarding wasn't torture, the memos leaking faster than a rusty rowboat. We remember the euphemistic term "enhanced interrogation techniques" which the previous administration tried to imprint on the mental consciousness of the country with mixed success.
Cheney - like a latter-day Rasputin - is still out there trying to cover his tracks, terrorize the nation, and - in general - justify his bloody past. By now most of you have heard or seen his latest prognostications:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.
In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.
[...]
He expressed confidence that files will some day be publicly accessible offering specific evidence that waterboarding and other policies he promoted — over sharp internal dissent from colleagues and harsh public criticism — were directly responsible for averting new Sept. 11-style attacks.
Not content to wait for a historical verdict, Cheney said he is set to plunge into his own memoirs, feeling liberated to describe behind-the-scenes roles over several decades in government now that the “statute of limitations has expired” on many of the most sensitive episodes.
So not only is he unapologetic, he has plans to make money describing the brutal programs he's created over the years.
One certainly hopes there's a special ring in Dante's Inferno for Cheney and his ilk; those among us who find a certain satisfaction in poetic justice hope he gets a taste of it before he leaves this earth for good.
