"Cool Hand Barack?"

Man sues police for making
him walk home in his polar bear
pajamas after false arrest.

President Obama released the most revealing and terrible torture memos in spite of the objections of four former CIA heads. This was an act of incredible political bravery. Does this sound like the act of a man who it is said would prefer that the torture issue just be ignored so we can move ahead? I don’t think so. This is a most interesting situation that makes one pause to try to assess just what is going on and just what Obama is trying to do. There is, of course, the possibility that he truly doesn’t want to deal with the issue of torture. Personally, I do not find this credible. Torture is illegal and a war crime. Obama knows this. According to our own laws and Constitution, we are legally obliged to investigate and possibly punish such activity if it occurred. Obama has to know this as well. Some seem to think that by releasing the memos he can also placate the CIA at the same time by announcing that the CIA operatives involved who were merely following orders will not be prosecuted. But it was clearly established at Nuremberg that “I was just following orders,” is not an acceptable defense. Obama has to know this. Even so, is there a possibility that by not prosecuting the agents and others actually responsible for these illegal and totally disgusting acts he can thereby maintain good working relations with the CIA? Doubtful, because unless Obama has dictatorial powers we don’t know about, it isn’t really just up to him to decide not to prosecute. This would be a violation of our own laws. It is most probably the job of the Attorney General to decide whether these people should be prosecuted or not. Obama might order him not to do so, but he would be violating the law. I would assume that Congress might, itself, want to insist on prosecution, and the American Public, too, might insist, in which case Obama could not realistically object. Obama has to know this as well. Then there is also the possibility that some have said that Obama has left the door open to prosecute those who actually wrote the memos in question as well as those who ordered the torture to be carried out (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Rice, and others?). I think this is quite likely what is involved, but someone other than Obama himself will have to insist on an independent investigation and possible prosecution. I’m sure Obama is also aware of this. I believe Obama believes these prosecutions should occur but does not believe that he should be the one to instigate them, as it would be too divisive for the country and he would appear to be vindictive. If the American Public, Congress, and/or the Attorney General insist there be an investigation and possible prosecutions it will probably happen and Obama will be not seen as entirely to blame (of course there will be some who will blame him not matter what).

There is another aspect of this torture business that puzzles me greatly. Unless those who ordered the torture, and those who actually carried it out, were incredibly uninformed and/or stupid, they must have been aware that the evidence is pretty overwhelming that torture just does not work. So either (1) they were unaware of the evidence against torture, or (2) were aware of it but refused for some reason to believe it, or (3) they knew it didn’t work and just did it anyway. As I cannot believe they could have been totally unaware of the evidence against torture, I conclude that both 2 and 3 were involved. This disturbs me greatly as it indicates (to me, at least) there must have been an element of sadism involved on the part of both the creators of the memos and the practitioners. Indeed, I suspect that in all cases of torture there has to be an element of sadism involved. There were and are cases of individuals simply refusing the order to do such things (just as there are conscientious objectors and such). I find it strange, for example, that people like Richard Armitage and Colin Powell, and no doubt others, did not resign over this. I find even more bizarre and difficult to explain the behavior of the Doctors and Psychologists who were involved in this totally unacceptable, repugnant, inexcusable, and unforgivable behavior. Individuals capable of doing such inhuman and brutal tasks seem to somehow emerge when the (perceived) need arises. Where do they come from? How does this process work? In this case I have an image of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the others sitting around in the White House discussing their collective sadism, sending their order to the CIA, who then know just the people to select for such work, not an image I relish, nor one I wish to see repeated. I do not believe these people should go unpunished for their vile and illegal acts, and I want desperately to believe that Obama agrees with me.

On a much, much lighter note, I spent all of the afternoon yesterday, “Among the Gently Mad,” that is, book people (see Nicholas A. Basbanes, Henry Holt and Co., 2002). Happily, before joining the mad throng at the book sale, we had a fine lunch at Café Campagne, a French Restaurant near the Pike Place Market. I had Penn Cove Mussels that were quite delicious. Linda had Oeufs en Meurette, which thrilled her to no end, although I don’t understand how a couple of poached eggs on a piece of garlic toast could bring about such ecstasy (it was the red wine, veal stock, and dried cherry reduction sauce). After lunch we took our trusty folding chairs and joined the line of those foolish patrons of this annual event. We joined the line about 1:00 p.m. even though the sale did not begin until 6:30 p.m. (I told you they are all gently mad). About 5:00 p.m. I enjoyed my dinner, sitting in the car. I had an expensive American meal, a plastic container of carelessly cut melons and fruit that were all unripe to a degree seldom attained even by our modern supermarkets. This was accompanied by the piteous and constant whining of a Whippet left locked in his master’s car (you can’t win ‘em all). Then the scramble was on, hundreds of eager book buyers crawling around on the floor of an abandoned airplane hanger, peering into boxes of books, and banging into each other in narrow lanes of books on tables, each looking for their own special bargains, the equivalent to them of the statue with the emerald eyes. It is always jolly fun (in my case I do it for love). We accomplished our task quickly this year, didn’t really do very well, but beat it to the hotel with our two huge boxes of books with a huge sigh of relief. Unfortunately, this ridiculous event occurs twice a year.

On the way to our hotel I witnessed something that almost brought tears to my tired old eyes, and reinforced my belief that this is, indeed, the best country on earth. We were parked at a street light, waiting to proceed. But just then some special theater event for young children let out. There were two police officers directing traffic so we had to wait. There was a lot of traffic with cars waiting to go in all directions when the officers waved them on. The children had to cross these busy streets. Three very cute little girls had to cross right in front of us. I watched them as they gingerly approached the curb and looked carefully around. They then spontaneously held hands and started across: one Black, one Asian, and one White. This was not in response to any directions from adults, truly a sight to cherish.

LKBIQ:
A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.
Sun-tzu

TILT:
Eating Polar Bear liver can be fatal to humans because of far too much vitamin A.