Robert Scheer: Where Is the Outrage?

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Where Is the Outrage?
Posted on May 27, 2008

By Robert Scheer

Are we Americans truly savages or merely tone-deaf in matters of morality, and therefore more guilty of terminal indifference than venality? It’s a question demanding an answer in response to the publication of the detailed 370-page report on U.S. complicity in torture, issued last week by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Because the report was widely cited in the media and easily accessed as a pdf file on the Internet, it is fair to assume that those of our citizens who remain ignorant of the extent of their government’s commitment to torture as an official policy have made a choice not to be informed. A less appealing conclusion would be that they are aware of the heinous acts fully authorized by our president but conclude that such barbarism is not inconsistent with that American way of life that we celebrate.

But that troubling assessment of moral indifference is contradicted by the scores of law enforcement officers, mostly from the FBI, who were so appalled by what they observed as routine official practice in the treatment of prisoners by the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo that they risked their careers to officially complain. A few brave souls from the FBI even compiled a “war crimes file,” suggesting the unthinkable—that we might come to be judged as guilty by the standard we have imposed on others. Superiors in the Justice Department soon put a stop to such FBI efforts to hold CIA agents and other U.S. officials accountable for the crimes they committed.

That this systematic torture was carried out not by a few conveniently described “bad apples” but rather represented official policy condoned at the highest level of government was captured in one of those rare media reports that remind us why the Founding Fathers signed off on the First Amendment.

“These were not random acts,” The New York Times editorialized. “It is clear from the inspector general’s report that this was organized behavior by both civilian and military interrogators following the specific orders of top officials. The report shows what happens when an American president, his secretary of defense, his Justice Department and other top officials corrupt American law to rationalize and authorize the abuse, humiliation and torture of prisoners.” .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080527_where_is_the_outrage/

[xchrom]

1. recommend -- this only serves to remind me

that we are making little to no headway on impeachment.

[panader0]

2. I've got plenty of outrage

and it's not only about torture. Everything bushco has done since taking office has been outrageous. From the outrageous way the 2000 election was stolen to the first things he did, like tax cuts for thr rich, to the secret energy panel, to the lead-up to this horrible war.

[glowing]

3. Sadly, I've had hotly debated discussions with people who think that it

is absolutely ok for us to be torturing other people if it means saving their thin skinned hides. Its disgusting that Bush has actually allowed people in this country to think that it is acceptable to do this. Those are the un-American people I wish would leave this country.. and take their Bush with them.

[Doctor_J]

7. So ask them if it was OK that the VC tortured McSame

[specimenfred1984]

12. So have I, most people don't even know what torture is

or what it would be like to try to get useful intelligence from a prisoner. Sadly, most people are just dumb fcks who think beating or threatening someone will produce a result they'd like. Nothing could be more wrong or immoral.

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. K & R

[nichomachus]

5. I think most people are just numb -- or have been numbed

Being outraged is like looking at the sun -- you can do it, but not for long. I don't know when I ran out of outrage, but I think it was quite a while ago. I really don't know what I feel right now. But I do know that, if these criminals were brought to justice, I would gladly pull the switch to send them to hell.

[Doctor_J]

6. Most people get their "news" from hate radio

which is the single most important cause of the demise of the US over the last 20 years.

[truth2power]

9. Hate radio. That is absolutely the critical factor as far as I'm concerned...

Some people are listening 24/7. It's brainwashing, pure and simple.

[Hydra]

8. This has been my constant question since the torture is proven

Before that, people insisted on giving Bushco the benefit of the doubt and telling me to shut up about it being official policy.

Well, the Doomsayer was right again. The most appalling thing, though, is that there are no torches or pitchforks. There's barely a whimper of outrage.

I'm beginning to believe more and more the idea that most Americans are savages, feeling that we are beyond the laws of the world, and that our mission to subdue the world is somehow holy.

Disappointed, disgusted, outraged...all of these things describe what I feel about what we are doing as a nation and a people.

[rdenney]

10. America does have an obsession with pushing our system on other countries..

we fought two wars to prove that communism is an evil empire....then we imprison more citizens then they do.

[Hydra]

11. I had a revelation about that one day

It occurred to me that the people running our country were looking at China and thought to themselves, "We can have capitalism/consumerism without the hassle of rights and human liberties- what a perfect thing for us!"

Still, there is no excuse for us putting ourselves beyond the law while demanding it be applied to our enemies. We were supposed to be a nation of laws...but I guess people like it better when we "Win."