YOU TALKING TO ME?
Another slope and more contented cows.
THE CIA TORTURE FILES
A couple of things are clear. George W. Bush lied to the nation when he denied torture was being used. The US did to prisoners what repressive regimes have done elsewhere. The torture did not yield significant information. Senator Feinstein is correct, the US is big enough to admit wrong. Damage has been done. The torture empowered our enemies. It is and was dirty business.
SEASONAL AFFECTATIONS
The Christmas scenes are from the Cambria Garden Center displays, always a favorite.
THROWBACK EXPECTATIONS
A family gathering about this time of year in 1985 as we were expecting the arrival of Katherine, our second daughter. She arrived a few days before Christmas or she just might have been named Noel. As I recall Lana had just felt a couple of kicks.
See you down the trail.
See you down the trail.
It seems like 1985 was a big year for both of our families!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why no one is being held accountable for the actions of the CIA. Let's start by water boarding Dick Cheney and see what he knows.
ReplyDeleteI'm for waterboarding Cheney irrespective of this issue. The entire Iraq adventure was his design and Pres Bush was tardy in appreciating how WRONG he was.
ReplyDeleteBrent Scowcroft stopped the USArmy from following the "elite troops" of Sadaam Hussein back to Baghdad in Feb 1991 for the specific reason of leaving a Sunni bulwark against Shia Iran. WTF did we expect a majority Shia population to do once liberated from Baathist party oppression? The mess is orders of magnitude worse, and still being played out.
Tom's summary re: EITs/(Torture) is consoling in its certainty, but I think the facts lead to somewhat murkier places. Presidents have no business telling any of us the "truth" about intelligence collection, in part because it is ridiculous to think that Presidents ever know "the truth."
The USA has done more humanitarian "good" in the history of ....well .... history. And doing that in an ugly and dangerous world requires confronting ugliness and danger in kind. If we choose that path, which inevitably requires means justified by the ends, then we should not be feint hearted or lilly-livered about it. We should resolve to commit the sin eyes open and suffer the consequences, even if embarrassing. (Israel and the Mossad "get" this.)
Marching into hell for a heavenly cause is not a Quixotic ideal; it's a fucking reality every day for brave men and women who know exactly what they are doing, and, most importantly, WHY. We should hope and pray they have the grace to survive hell and stay true to the WHY.
If, on the other hand, we choose to turn a blind eye to ugliness and danger because it requires fighting evil where it lives, then do not bemoan the result. Rejoice in clean hands as you live with the knowledge that feint hearts and lilly livers enable depravity and true evil to flourish.
John Brennan's news conference today should be required viewing. He is a damned fine man in a tough spot. Say a prayer for him and all who serve in this ring of hell.
Tom, your photos are excellent. They bring back memories of when the thousand acres across our road had not yet been subdivided and cows watched us fetch our mail. Also the garden shop yuletide tableaux are delightful. As for torture, we knew enough from leaked news back then to know it was going on but protests were to no avail. I just wish we'd had Bush's and Cheney's brains checked by a competent proctologist before they took office.
ReplyDelete