Nothing Said About Torture
Except when John McCain spoke of when he was broken by the Vietnamese. He said the torture broke him and he did what ever they told him to do.
That's the thing about torture. To my thinking, McCain is now in a zero sum situation. Either the torture did not get him to tell the truth, or it did.
In the Republican Military Commissions of Guantanamo, John McCain would be a self-confessed war criminal. He would be a man who purposely targeted civilians in an illegal war.
If he says that he only signed his "confession" in order to gain a small measure of respite from his continuous abuse, then he needs to be held to account for his support of the CIA secret prisons, the abuses that were begun and continue to be U.S. policy under the administration of George W. Bush. In the words of Desi Arnaz, he got some 'splainin' to do.
During the hurricane of hooey that is our political convention process now, I didn't hear any of the Democrats calling for the closure of Guantanamo, I haven't heard anybody screaming out for the people who have instituted this reign of terror as our national policy to be brought to account and justice.
If I missed it, please point me to those calls. Please.
I've seen torture. I've looked right into its ugly face. I've been close enough to be spattered by the messy results.
The fact that torture is not being a major issue in this campaign sickens me. I am also sickened by the recognition of the need for torture to be an issue in this campaign.
I'm not sure what sickens me the most. I don't write about it much, because there is an intense and deeply personal price to be paid for visiting those places. Mostly I do a lot better when I can "not think about that today," to cite one of my favorite philosophers, Scarlett O'Hara.
That John McCain was tortured to the breaking point was a crime. That anyone has been tortured to the breaking point by our policies is also a crime.
It's also a sin. Fucking. Mortal.
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