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Title: M. Collins: Forget the Torture Tapes
Source:
Scoop
URL Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0801/S00011.htm
Published: Jan 1, 2008
Author: Michael Collins
Post Date: 2008-01-02 21:33:00 by Split
Keywords: None
Views: 156
Comments: 13
There's a reflexive tendency to think the worst of the Bush-Cheney administration when scandals like the torture tapes emerge. This tendency is well justified. This administration's defining moment was the Iraq invasion. Over time, it caused death to 1.2 million civilians and the injuries of 1.1 million noncombatants. Just last week we found out that there are now five million orphans in Iraq. How can the administration and their enablers ever top that? Why shouldn't we expect the worst immediately when we hear yet another accusation of criminal or unethical conduct? Destroying torture tapes pales by comparison to these tragedies, all a result of the illegal invasion: Have you heard or read that 9% or Iraq's population is either dead or injured to date due to the 2003 invasion? This is rarely addressed by U.S. media or politicians. The announcement that 19% of Iraq's population now consists of orphans hasn't hit mainstream media's radar yet. This shocker seems destined for the same fate as the death and injury figures. Snuff Tapes and One Dead Terrorist Dominate Coverage Odd isn't it? All this emphasis on the CIA's destruction of Abu Zubaydah torture tapes instead of the pervasive and ongoing human loss and suffering visited on Iraq by Bush and Cheney? Let's take a quick look at the tape controversy and see if there's some relationship to the dismissal and denial of the infinitely larger outrage. Abu Zubaydah was either a terrorist kingpin or a seriously disturbed individual with multiple personality traits. He either provided a wealth of information or he was a useless informant. His torture was conducted either with or without the full knowledge of Bush-Cheney. The destruction of the torture tapes was either approved by Bush-Cheney in advance or it became known to them after the fact. We're either seeing a major cover up or flawed White House public relations in the wake of Rove's departure. By applying "the law of subsumption," (i.e., thinking the worst of Bush-Cheney is almost always correct given prior performance) this side show can be wrapped up promptly. Bush and Cheney were desperate to justify their disastrous Iraq adventure. There were no WMDs, there never had been any connection between Saddam and 911, and the excuse of bringing democracy to Iraq had no legs. Why are we there? How do we explain the Iraqi resistance? What if the people discover it was really all about oil? Simple and Grotesque at the Same Time But there was a deal killer right from the start. The FBI's top al-Qaeda expert, Dan Coleman, didn't mince words: "This guy is insane, certifiable, split personality." In Zubaydah's long term diary, he named his personalities: "'hani 1, hani 2, and hani 3,' - a boy, a young man and a middle-aged alter ego." Coleman's CIA counterpart came to the same conclusion. (This is all documented by Ron Suskind in The One Percent Solution.) Bush blew the war that never should have been. He was desperate. Abu Zubaydah experienced the very worst timing in his life and wound up as a key excuse for the program of illegal detention and torture. Next outrage. Who knows why they taped the torture? What difference does it make? How much more evidence do we need to demonstrate the absolute betrayal of the United States by a cult of supreme narcissists? We can grasp that these are "high crimes" even if our elected representatives can't. The relationship between this "key operative's" story and the media and political blackout about the death and suffering of millions may be this simple. Keep people involved in appalling minutiae and avoid the larger charges which nearly everyone would see as an utter outrage. In a sense, it's the same strategy employed by the media and politicians in presidential campaigns. Never mention the real problems, the overwhelming challenges. Keep it focused on "experience," the "horse race," polls, and who apologized to whom. But never address the salient issues. That would be telling. I Still See Dead People As interesting as all this tape business is, what difference does it make in the larger context - the tragedy that is and will continue to be Iraq? The thought of five million orphans in a nation of 26 million people is simply too appalling to fully comprehend. An equivalent number in the United States would be 57 million orphans. Can you imagine that? Video taping torture, the destruction of evidence, and the exact role of the White House in the entire affair are indicative and emblematic of the larger problems. These acts represent a gruesome metaphor. But it's just more of the same outrageous behavior we've seen for years. The overriding crime is over a million deaths plus the suffering and abandonment of millions more, all due to a foreign policy based on lies and deception. This was done against the prevailing views of the military and the people of the United States. Millions of Iraqi civilians are dead, suffering and abandoned. How will they vote in their new democracy? 
Caravaggio
Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.
Opinion Research Group Sept. 2007
Iraqi anti corruption board Dec 15, 2007
A justification for this insanity was both essential and time-critical. Voila! We've captured Abu Zubaydah! Isn't he a top al Qaeda operative? 
This analysis was quickly discarded and replaced by a self serving political fantasy. The key al-Qaeda operative was now in custody! A fourth personality was created for Zubaydah when Bush described his special prisoner as "one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States."
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#1. To: Split (#0)
I wanna be Cheney's dentist. Just for starters. That torturing nazi bastard.
Honi soit qui mal y pense
this is a really worthwhile article. I thought I had learned to focus and ignore the distractions they throw at us, but I fell for this one.
Great article - prioritizes the various transgressions of the Bush cabal and their co-dependents in Congress! Thank you for posting. Finally someone has separated the chafe from the wheat. While MSM and the sold out DC punks prattle on and on about torture tapes and federal prosecutors being dismissed our nation has been forced to continue 2 useless and unnecessary wars - the Iraq occupation is the absolute worst of the 2 but the Afghanistan debacle is also picking up steam. What a friggin' waste of time listening to the media hair do's pretending they are doing "investigative" special reports on wee small bonfire issues while ignoring the 2 raging forest fires that our consuming our nation's credibility and our treasure and young GI blood as well as destroying 2 foreign nations and their peoples who did nothing bad to us. How come Feith and Wolfowitz have not been arrested and brought to trial for treason along with the people who worked for them at the Office of Special Plans? Why haven't Bush and Cheney both been brought up on charges of impeachment and had their sorry butts removed from the Oval Office. Why weren't both Tenet and Meuller summarily fired on Sept.12, 2001? Why haven't the people who allowed 9/11 to happen and 2 useless wars to be started for bogus reasons not been forced to pay consequences for their gross negligence and/or treachery as the case may be? Instead we hear ad nauseaum torture tapes where did they go, who destroyed them ( DOH - the answer is the CIA did it because the CIA always does bad nasty things - do you need to be a Sherlock Holmes and strike a congressional committee to come to that obvious conclusion?) and why did the politically appointed federal prosecutors get fired ( DOH! who friggin' cares? they are political appointees! that's what happens to political appointees with the changing of the guard!). We've got a foreign entity controlling our government and sending our nation to fight its wars. We have dual loyalty treasonous policy level apparatchiks heading our government agencies and having access to all our personal information, and Anderson Cooper and Keith Olbermann and Chrissie Matthews are beating their breasts with angst 24/7 fretting about federal prosecutors and torture tapes??? What's wrong with this picture? Thank you, Michael Collins, for helping us recognize what's trivial evil as compared to really really really big evil.
It's not clear that he's sane enough to be desperate.
ping
Fox News Channel is the television version of Free Republic
Once the internecine blood stops flowing they will most surely vote for a Sharia based government. Excellent article, but I take issue with one word (not bad for me). Desperate. There was nothing desperate about the pre-emptive invasion. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld simply dusted off plans laid a decade before. They were slobbering in anticipation of Iraq regime change and the establishment of the first imperialist province from the moment of the SC decision. There was no desperation present, just excitement over what they viewed as an unbelievable opportunity. We viewed 9/11 as tragedy, the neocons viewed it as an incredible stroke of luck.
Republicans (Democrats for that matter) ....... HAD ENOUGH?
I'll take exception to one word in your post, the last one, "luck".
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today! Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today! No argument here, robin. But, the statements I made have been unarguably documented. Your implied speculation will almost assuredly never be verified.
Republicans (Democrats for that matter) ....... HAD ENOUGH?
I'm satisfied with what evidence and well-sourced eyewitness testimony remains, combined with some deductive reasoning and political knowledge; but I take your point.
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today! Powerful article - thanks.
Join the Ron Paul Revolution
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
It's sickening. The article is excellent, but I also take exception with his characterization of Bush or Cheney as desperate.
#2. To: Split (#0)
#3. To: Split (#0)
(Edited)
#4. To: Split (#0)
Bush blew the war that never should have been. He was desperate.
I've already said too much.
#5. To: Split, *Ron Paul for President 2008*, *Jack-Booted Thugs*, *libertarians* (#0)
#6. To: Split (#0)
How will they vote in their new democracy?
#7. To: iconoclast (#6)
The Revolution will not be televised!
#8. To: Split, Red Jones, Zipporah, aristeides, Dakmar, Peppa, Cynicom, richard9151, Mekons4, ghostdogtxn, ... (#0)
This administration's defining moment was the Iraq invasion. Over time, it caused death to 1.2 million civilians and the injuries of 1.1 million noncombatants. Just last week we found out that there are now five million orphans in Iraq.
The Revolution will not be televised!
#9. To: robin (#7)
I'll take exception to one word in your post, the last one, "luck".
#10. To: iconoclast (#9)
will almost assuredly never be verified.
The Revolution will not be televised!
#11. To: Split (#0)
Freedom*Peace*Prosperity
#12. To: Split (#0)
#13. To: robin (#8)
This administration's defining moment was the Iraq invasion. Over time, it caused death to 1.2 million civilians and the injuries of 1.1 million noncombatants. Just last week we found out that there are now five million orphans in Iraq.
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