Hey, I'm feeling pretty good about being an American today, because our legislative leaders decided to ban torture on any detainee in US custody. This ban prohibits the use of cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. Well, that's a relief. I'm kind of confused, since Condi Rice just spent the last week in Europe telling anyone who would listen that the US doesn't torture, why lawmakers would feel it necessary to pass a law saying just that, but hey things are going so well here in America, maybe they just didn't have anything else to do. After all, next year they're all up for re-election, maybe they are just trying to look busy.
The White House has been opposing this legislation for months now. That really confuses me too, because these are the very same people who have been saying that we don't torture. I truly believe them. Pretending to drown a person isn't really cruel is it? It's just water, and hey a little baptism is really good for a person, these terrorists might just decide to convert to Christianity. Standing for hours in the same position isn't cruel, Donald Rumsfeld does it all the time. And what's so degrading about putting a dog collar and a leash on a naked person? I saw that in a magazine once, and the people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Donald Rumsfeld probably does that too.
When you think about it, a little discomfort in a war isn't so bad. In times of war, probably every nation does things that are a bit unseemly. Even the French who seem so dignified and liberal have done some pretty disgusting things. But how bad is torture and degradation when compared to a 500 lb bomb dropped in a populated city? What makes torture unpalatable when it is perfectly acceptable to blow the living crap out of your enemy with missiles and grenades? Is torture worse than being riddled with bullets from an M-16? All modern armies commit unspeakable acts. If you give an 18 year old an automatic weapon and permission to use it, you've done a really stupid thing. And if the Bush Administration hadn't made it a point to wave their dicks around and blatantly disregard those polite little rules called the Geneva Convention, who would have even cared?
You know, right now here in Washington, I'm pretty uncomfortable. It's so freakin cold in my house, that I have on two pairs of socks, long underwear, those lycra work-out pants, and really-ugly-elastic-waist-old-lady-stretch pants. When I walk, I can barely even bend my knees. I have a t-shirt, a thermal undershirt, a sweater, and a hooded sweatshirt. My gas bill from November was extremely painful. I don't know which discomfort is worse, paying out the nose to stay warm, or lugging around 30 extra pounds of clothing. And you think dog collars are degrading? The old-lady stretch pants are humiliating, but they are the only pants that will fit over all the other layers.
But hey, we're at war, so I guess I shouldn't complain about a little discomfort.
John McCain and the other Senators are really feeling good about themselves right now. They're feeling really comfortable because they passed a law protecting prisoners of war from dog collars and brutal treatment. But more than three years ago these same lawmakers voted to give the Bush Administration the green light to shoot and explode and bomb the living shit out of other human beings. Human beings who had not harmed us in any way. Maybe the cold is affecting my reasoning in some way, but I'm failing to see how this can be called a victory, or progress by any stretch of the imagination. Let's say that our lawmakers voted to never again to use missiles or tanks, or even harmless little machine guns against any other nation that hadn't used them on us first. What if they voted never again to wage war in some fight that didn't directly involve the US? What if our wise leaders decided to withdraw all of our armed forces to truly defend the country, and not position our lethal missiles and bombs on every troubled country on the globe? If the Department of Defense existed to solely protect the country, we could save so much money, that we might be able to give every American a decent education, or decent healthcare, maybe even a trip to freakin DisneyWorld. Or a little heat in December?
