CIA Torture Doc Dump
Government secrecy is a load of crap. While it may have some benefits, time and again, when revealed, it is an excuse to cover up criminal activity. What we know is that we bartered away any sense of having a higher moral ground than the enemy. That we became terrorists in the ideal of "fighting terrorism". It's not new. It's what we've always done. We just made it official policy. "Secretly".
And it got us nothing. I know the CIA and the government officials that gave the orders claim they had to. That we got valuable intel from the process of torture. But that assessment is (at best) in dispute. Where's the proof? Well, turns out, that's classified. How convenient. Isn't that how we got in this jam in the first place?
And the argument that revealing these documents would put us in jeopardy with our enemies and our allies? Revealing our crimes??? What about the idea of not committing them in the first place? We can't undo our past actions, but now, we could start dealing with the world in a more honest and honorable fashion.
But we won't. If the CIA has taught us anything, it's that we can rationalize anything we wish to. From the wholesale slaughter of the native American tribes, to cops terrorizing, imprisoning, and executing people on the streets. From slavery in the Old South, to today's slavery in prisons. From theft of national treasures abroad, to the rapists that are today's Wall Street bankers.
We are like Islam. Declaring our love of humanity, and our peaceful intentions, while using it as a cover to act out our most violent and vile fantasies. We know how to get away with it. It's what we've mastered over the years. It's America's greatest legacy.
And where is our torture program most heartily defended? Of course, in the right-wing Christian pulpits:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/12/08/conservative-christian-pat-robertson-defends-torture-video/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4QVl9nXREho
And it got us nothing. I know the CIA and the government officials that gave the orders claim they had to. That we got valuable intel from the process of torture. But that assessment is (at best) in dispute. Where's the proof? Well, turns out, that's classified. How convenient. Isn't that how we got in this jam in the first place?
And the argument that revealing these documents would put us in jeopardy with our enemies and our allies? Revealing our crimes??? What about the idea of not committing them in the first place? We can't undo our past actions, but now, we could start dealing with the world in a more honest and honorable fashion.
But we won't. If the CIA has taught us anything, it's that we can rationalize anything we wish to. From the wholesale slaughter of the native American tribes, to cops terrorizing, imprisoning, and executing people on the streets. From slavery in the Old South, to today's slavery in prisons. From theft of national treasures abroad, to the rapists that are today's Wall Street bankers.
We are like Islam. Declaring our love of humanity, and our peaceful intentions, while using it as a cover to act out our most violent and vile fantasies. We know how to get away with it. It's what we've mastered over the years. It's America's greatest legacy.
And where is our torture program most heartily defended? Of course, in the right-wing Christian pulpits:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/12/08/conservative-christian-pat-robertson-defends-torture-video/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4QVl9nXREho
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