![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by caraher on June 18, 2008, at 0:06:54
On the Daily Show Monday, Jon Stewart's guest was one of the US prosecuting attorneys fired for his refusal to prosecute "voter fraud" cases because of insufficient evidence. A longtime enthusiastic Republican, he received his appointment in 2001 with the new administration (this is apparently routine; new presidents traditionally name the prosecutors at the beginning of their terms). The guest summed up his experience something like this: "I thought I was joining the Jedi, but it turned out I was working for the Sith lords."
Here's a lovely discovery on the part of the US Senate Armed Services Committee (as recorded at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/41394.html ):
"We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC (the Red Cross) is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military lawyer who's since retired, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantanamo Bay prison to discuss employing interrogation techniques that some have equated with torture. Her comments were recorded in minutes of the meeting that were made public Tuesday. At that same meeting, Beaver also appeared to confirm that U.S. officials at another detention facility Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan were using sleep deprivation to "break" detainees well before then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved that technique. "True, but officially it is not happening," she is quoted as having said."
Doing his duty as a member of the "liberal media," a commentator at the LA Times ( http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rutten18-2008jun18,0,6744652.column ) offers this advice about how Congress should proceed:
"Part of the hysteria over all this that you see in places like the Wall Street Journal editorial pages stems from an anxiety that congressional inquiries, like that of Levin's committee, will lead to indictments and possibly even war crimes trials for officials who participated in the administration's deliberations over torture and the treatment of prisoners.
It's true that there are a handful of European rights activists and people on the lacy left fringe of American politics who would dearly like to see such trials, but actually pursuing them would be a profound -- even tragic -- mistake. Our political system works as smoothly as it does, in part, because we've never criminalized differences over policy. Since Andrew Jackson's time, our electoral victors celebrate by throwing the losers out of work -- not into jail cells."Because, after all, whether or not to torture or commit a war crime is nothing more than a policy matter...
Posted by Sigismund on June 18, 2008, at 15:30:13
In reply to Jedi or Sith?, posted by caraher on June 18, 2008, at 0:06:54
>Because, after all, whether or not to torture or commit a war crime is nothing more than a policy matter
It can become that if we wish, and it seems we did, but why? Apart from the charm of it?
The information from torture (Stalin purges, witchcraft trials) is not generally reliable.
So there is some other reason, but what?
It felt good (a no brainer) but was that that it?No, it's theatre. We need our theatre to maintain our faith, and bugger the consequences.
Posted by zeugma on July 26, 2008, at 6:06:59
In reply to Re: Jedi or Sith? » caraher, posted by Sigismund on June 18, 2008, at 15:30:13
No, it's theatre. We need our theatre to maintain our faith, and bugger the consequences>>
Good point. The ritual waterboarding (there was a recent discussion, in Congress, about whether this torture more resembled the technique pioneered by the Spanish Inquisition, or that used by the Khmer Rouge; the panel seemed to conclude that our variety approximates the latter) is so manifestly a substitute for the katharsis Aristotle speaks of as central to the life of the polis, and that is so beautifully viewed in say "Iphigenia Among the Taurians."
The British of Shakespeare's era had the same idea. "Edward II" (at least in the Derek Jarman film) is tortured by a poker up the a**. The power of the State needs to be shown, but the point of katharsis is that one empties oneself of one's own emotions and replaces them for a time with the victim's subjectivity. That, thought Aristotle, is a prerequisite to life in the polis, and he was right.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Politics | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.