I used to think that our military and intelligence personnel conducted business in a way that no American could ashamed of. God, was I ever naive. Since 9.11, the Bush Administration has taken off the gloves. In the name of extracting information, the CIA now apparently knows and respects no limits. The problem has become so widespread that the FBI has ordered it's personnel to have no part of these proceedings.
The current Administration has created an aura of permissiveness within the intelligence-gathering community. Why is it acceptable to torture civilians? 9.11. How can we justify degrading and dehumanizing other human beings? 9.11. How can we live with the reality that we are depriving individuals of their human rights virtually indefinitely? 9.11. How can we rationalize setting up our very own officially-sanctioned concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay? 9.11, silly. Oh, Administration officials will attempt to maintain a degree of plausible deniability on the subject of the humane treatment of detainees, but the post-9.11 reality is that virtually anything goes. Our government's "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality, coupled with it's generalized and unfocused rage and anger over 9.11 has provided the intelligence-gathering community with virtual carte blanche.
It's a lot easier when you define them as "detainees" or "terrorists", eh? It sure beats the hell out of thinking about them as "people". People have rights; "terrorists" and "detainees" deserve whatever they have coming to them, no? Of course they do. Why? 9.11, stupid.
Is it even possible to "humanely" torture someone? Donald Rumsfeld thinks so, and the CIA seems to agree. Have we really come to this? Have we allowed the anger and rage from 9.11 to cloud our judgement to such a degree that we would become like those we seek to defeat? And are we willing to overlook our government's wantion disregard for the human rights and well-being of those we have seemingly permanently incarcerated? Are we willing to become the mirror image of our enemy in our to win the war against terrorism? This would seem to be the case, and we are much the poorer for it.
