You know, we act like these revelations about Americans torturing Muslims is somehow
bad news for the Bush administration - like they're upset by them. But it seems to me that they welcome the reputation of being torturers. On some level the revel in it. They certainly could stop the torture easily enough. But they don't. My question is, why?
A couple of reasons suggest themselves. One is that they think that they understand the "Arab mind" - and that the Arab mind is weak, no matter how macho their rhetoric may be. It could be that the Israelis have told them, "this is how you break Arabs - put the fear of torture and sexual humiliation in them." This theory is similar to the strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction during the cold war, in which it was official U.S. policy to make the Russians (and the rest of the world, for that matter) think we were nuts enough to actually
use nuclear weapons. To a lot of people, this was a successful poker hand we played - and that making people think we're crazy, sadistic cowboys works to our advantage in the world. To me it seems just plain nuts and most likely to cause people to hate us, and thus most likely to attack us. But maybe I'm wrong about that. I certainly haven't been trained in the elite schools of foreign policy where the neocon professors spin their Straussan theories of world domination.
It is also possible that a world in which terrorism is a fact of life works to the Bush administration's perceived advantage. Of course it doesn't work to our advantage (we poor slobs who simply live in the reality created by these masters of the universe) but they may not give a bleeding shit about us, all that flag-waving aside. As was stated by a member of the Bush administration in that memorable NY Times magazine article by Ron Susskind before the election, they consider themselves to be the "actors of history," and we are merely by-standers and stenographers of their dictation. Perhaps they see some higher good eventually coming out of their actions - or perhaps the only higher good they care about is maintaining their grip on power. A world bent out of shape with irrational fear serves their purposes. So, encouraging Muslims to commit acts of terrorism against us may further their agenda. In this light, the torture of Mulim prisoners makes perfect strategic sense. The more the Arabs set off their pitiful little car bombs, the more they commit desperation suicide bombings, the more they hijack planes and slam them into skyscrapers - why, the more the American populace cries out for "Strong Leadership" in the fight against terror. And certainly, no one is better stocked for a terrorist war than the Untieds States of America. President Cheney probably knows that as much as his enemies would like to kill him, he is probably the safest man in America. Certainly no one is better protected or has an arsenal to match the one at his fingertips.
Um, why else would the administration want to encourage terrorism? Well, for the reasons stated above - plus, militarism in general is a wonderful profit making machine, and president Cheney is certainly in the right business to create a lot of wealth for himself and his friends. A bunch of foaming-at-the-mouth Arabs is certainly good for business in that respect.
I mean, maybe these guys are just a bunch of sadistic crazies, I don't know. But I think we may be being naive to think that these "revelations" about torture are something that is "bad" for the administration, or beyond their control. I think it is even possible the Seymour Hersh is being played by sources in the administration, much as I respect him and his reporting. They could certainly shut him up if they wanted to. They've disappeared higher profile people than him, so I can only speculate that his reporting is useful to them in some way, some way that Hersh himself is unaware of.
Another guess would be that extreme right wing factions in Israel have infiltrated the government of the United States more deeply than any of us have guessed - and from their point of view, every act of terrorism directed against the United States is one less act of terrorism directed against them. From their way of thinking, a war between Israel and America against the Arab world is much more winnable than a war between Israel by itself and the Arab world.
It is also possible that Bush is in bed with the Fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia - and a wider war against Israel is what they're ultimately seeking. In which case, reports of torture leading to more terrorism may be seen as a step in that direction
So, there are scenarios you can come up with in which an increase in terrorism is seen as a positive positive development to some people. If these kinds of strategies are truly being implemented, the Abu Ghraib and Bagom "scandals" make sense as conscious media plays, because they seem certain to lead to new acts of terror. I know it seems be beyond the pale to imagine that human beings could actually be so deranged as to utilize such evil tactics, but...
I was talking politics with a friend the other day, and as usual, it got to the head shaking point where there was little left to say, and she said, "You know, if these guys were actually space aliens, the current political situation would make a lot more sense..." and we looked at each other and started cracking up. Cuz it's true. If you look at Bush and Cheney as pod people from another planet bent on our destruction, it's a lot easier to make sense of what's going on. The tumblers start clicking into place. I, personally, cannot get my mind around the idea that if you pulled these guys' fake heads off it'd reveal that they have reptile heads, but you know what? At this point it makes as much sense as anything else.