By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth - George Carlin
The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity. - George Bernard Shaw
In modern politics, marketing is king. Both parties engage in it with a passion in an effort to frame a debate in terms that are most favorable to its adherents. But at what point does framing become euphemistic? And what if that euphemism becomes obfuscation whose real goal is to make a topic toxic to the public discourse? I believe that is what we’re seeing with the debate on torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques" (now crassly termed as EIT).
Cheney and his supporters which include the Torture 13, recently highlighted in Marcy Wheller’s excellent piece, are after exactly that goal. For Cheney et al, it is the worst sort of Orwellian doublespeak. Using a terminology that has been sanitized and clinical takes away from the absolute violence that has been conducted on detainees, outside the reach of the American legal system, or for that matter, basic humanity.
And along with obfuscation comes confusion. News is coming out now that there is even some debate as to when the term even began. All of this is being done with a single goal in mind; the escape of prosecution for deeds the intellectual authors knew were illegal from its very conception.
As has been pointed out by both conservative and progressive writers alike, those who planned this were looking from the beginning for legal cover for what amounted to a political tactic to produce false confessions in order to promote a linkage between the 9/11 bombers and the regime in Iraq which did not exist. They knew the lies these men and women were spouting were false from the beginning and they didn’t care. Let that sink in for a second.
To now claim the authors should not be brought to justice or that we should move forward from the past only adds to the confusion and amounts to a tacit approval. This is not about political victor’s justice, as it’s been hinted at by complacent Congressional Republicans (and not a few Democrats). This is simply a basic law and order issue. Laws were broken. A trial is necessary to determine who was responsible and to what degree others participated. I only wish those pushing for truth commissions or other legal finding of fact were to put it that bluntly.