The Furious Spinner

I don't think Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Cheney, and their minions really get it. I've watched them, and I've listened to Rumsfeld and his people answer questions about the use of torture. You can see it in their eyes: they don't understand the uproar. Of course, they don't. The American people sat idly by while Bush and his cohorts said they weren't going to follow the Geneva convention when it came to Al Qaeda prisoners. The American people sat idly by while Bush and his cohorts got the Patriot Act enacted into law. Anyone protesting these things was accused of being a terrorist or of not being patriotic. The majority of the American people saw what Bush was doing and what he was saying, and they shrugged and said, "So what? They're terrorists. I don't care what happens to them." They have forgotten that due process must apply to everyone if it is going to apply to anyone. Why can't people realize ahead of time that some day they might be the ones who are in need of due process? Bush and his people believe they have the consent of the American people to behave inhumanely because they haven't heard anything to the contrary.

This story from The Guardian talks about how U.S. soldiers are routinely taught to torture; Abu Ghraib was not an anomaly. (Did any of us really think it would end there?) According to this story, the right wing is already saying, "Let's move on, kids. Torture ain't that bad of a thing."

Part of the problem is that Americans often believe they're a kind of chosen people: they think they are the best, the brightest, the mostest, and that our way of life is the only "right" way to live. With a mindset like that, anything can be rationalized. "We're bringing Democracy to their country, so in the long run they'll be grateful." "We got rid of Saddam Hussein, so of course they're grateful we invaded their country to save them." "It's for their own good." It's a kind of religious fanaticism tacked onto politics and foreign policy. It is definitely not a good thing.

The right wing is waiting for us all to have "torture fatigue" and start ignoring what's happening overseas? Well, I'm waiting for everyone to have "Bush fatigue." I know I've got it bad.



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