Torture Nation

The White House is peddling its rationale of its self-proclaimed right to torture whoever they damn well please.

The article is wrong, though, in its suggestion that the reason the White House is flogging this argument is to prepare for the trials of those who have been tortured. Oh, that may be what they are telling the reporters on background. And there may even be some truth to that. But it is not the real reason.

The real reason why the White House is trying so desperately to establish that torture is legal is that they are hoping to avoid a future spectacle when they are the ones on trial for war crimes. But it doesn't much matter, for that may be unavoidable. Waterboarding is torture. It has been torture since it was first used in the Spanish Inquisition 500 years ago. It is more sophisticated a torture than thumbscrews or hot irons, but it is torture.

The White House's rationale boils down to "it's not torture when we do it." Which is akin to their other arguments that "it's not a violation of your civil rights if we listen to your phone calls or search your home without a warrant." It is a full-scale adoption of "situational ethics", something Republicans once derided.

The White House and the GOP are populated by moral pygmies. (That distinguishes them from the Democratic party, which is populated by moral cowards.)