Letters to the Editor
Carl Pultz
Published Letters: 9 Editor's Choice: 2
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The institutionalization of torture
[Read the article: Abu Ghraib and Salon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Having wished that Salon would simply post the whole sorry mess of photos and documents, I’ll accept that it's probably wise for you to take a more cautious approach. Once the vetting is complete, and you’ve published selected, interpreted excerpts, I hope Salon will do a more complete “dump” for the sake of further analysis.
Meanwhile, for all the truth in Ms. Walsh's reflections of how the torture scandal demeans our service members and makes all American citizens somewhat culpable for these actions, there is a deeper, more ominous pattern emerging.
For decades, our secret services (CIA, etc.) have routinely used torture of the now familiar sort, in collaboration with other nations and who knows what other free-lance paramilitary entities. We’ve known about it, but as this activity was limited in scope and officially “off the books,” the Pentagon and civilian leadership has had the protection of institutional deniability.
Yet, since torture is ineffective for the stated goals of fighting terrorism, and actually amplifies the risk of more attacks, what could be the reason for the administration’s persistence? As with domestic spying and the questionable utility of having more data than can be analyzed, why are these policies being so vigorously pursued? The answer becomes obvious.
This is not war-fighting nor police work. Torture is punishment. Spying is repression. These once exceptional activities are now being brought in from the cold, along with the rejection of international laws and the un-Constitutional abrogation of treaty obligations, to gradually become official doctrine. The existence of the PATRIOT Acts proves these doctrines are not meant solely for the pursuit of foreign aggression. Exceptional domestic powers claimed for wartime expediency become unexceptional once the state of war is made permanent, and the threats of enemies within erase the border between foreign and domestic.
The expansion of these powers of threat and control across the spectrum of American life is a fundamental challenge to Constitutional governance, a challenge to every legal and moral standard we live by. It’s a challenge to our liberties, not just those of our demonized foreign victims. It builds a new structure of governance, new norms of behavior, that gradually replace the foundations of the old republic.
The institutionalization of torture is bad enough. The underlying reason for it is simply ghastly, and of enormous import to every American. While we’ve lived in the fog of our carefully crafted self-image, many non-Americans have seen these trends all too clearly, and have rightly feared Washington’s power and hegemony. Now, it is time for we Americans to be afraid. Very afraid.
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Berlin, etc.
[Read the article: Destination: Berlin]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For an engaging, brief, thoughtful meditation on Berlin, and for a bracing tour through some other urban disasters and triumphs, I highly recommend ‘The City In Mind’ by James Howard Kunstler.
Also, Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, wrote at length in his memoir ‘Inside the Third Reich’ about the plans they made, and only partly achieved, for an imperial capitol filled with monuments to the Fuehrer. Fascinating and spooky.
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Self-determination
[Read the article: U.S. generals call for Democratic takeover]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Either partition it into three countries or go into a loose confederation and have assurances on the sharing of natural resources," Eaton agreed. "I think that is the best we can get out of this deal now."
*We*? The USA? Why in hell are we owed a good deal? Why aren't the Iraqis owed a good deal? They're the people who have suffered other nation's solutions for 100 years. People who built a vibrant, advanced, secular, and potentially wealthy, independent state despite the burden of a cruel dictatorship. Why can't they sort it out?
Well, of course, they can. It just isn't in Washington's interest for them to succeed on their own. And it's the job of the military to sustain that policy, under either party. So, either get a new world-view, generals, or dig in.
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A reviewer Gored
[Read the article: Too much Gore]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well! Good thing poor Allen got that off his chest. Otherwise, he might explode in fury at the excesses of another writer who's darker moments our critic seems quick to imitate.