Former commandant of the United States Marine Corps Charles Krulak and former CENTCOM commander Joseph Hoar have written this editorial in today’s Washington Post. It addresses the Bush Administration’s policies on the use of torture, recognizing from personal experience with combat that torture is next to worthless as a method of intelligence gathering and serves only as a method of terrorism itself. While it might create a level of “security theater” designed to assuage a panicky public, it creates a whole new set of problems: not only does counterterrorism seem to embolden and strengthen the resolve of the insurgents, it all but guarantees that these same methods will be used against our troops now and forever.
Sadly, 43% of Americans approve of the use of torture (scroll for it; it’s a long way down the page), and, as my post below discusses, collectively we are deliberately ignorant about the things we do, deliberately in denial about the reality of the situations that confront us, easily spooked into panic-drive over-response, and able to gin up our own fantasies and mythologies to justify that.
Comments:
Bravo! I just wrote a small piece about the American People’s ignorance and lack of ability to think for themselves.
It’s good to see you blogging again, Brian!
Posted by Sarah [URL] on 05/17/07
