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On Torture and War, Obama Sounds Increasingly, and Disturbingly, Like Bush

Submitted by dlindorff on May 14, 2009 - 9:46am

by Dave Lindorff

In reversing himself and declaring that the US government will not release further photos in its possession of torture being practiced on captives held by the US military and the CIA, President Obama is sounding increasingly like the Bush/Cheney administration before him.

It may well be that, as Obama says, release of those photos could lead to anger in the Islamic world and perhaps to recruitment gains among groups like Al Qaeda that are attacking American troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, but this is only true because at the same time, the Obama administration is opposing taking any legal action against the people who authorized and promoted that torture.

If the Obama administration were to open a full-scale legal investigation into torture, with an independent prosecutor assigned to go after anyone who violated the Geneva Conventions and the US Criminal Code outlawing torture and the authorization, condoning or covering-up of torture, quite the opposite would happen: people in the Islamic world would see that this nation was coming to terms with those who abused the law.

As things stand, we have a only few people at the very bottom of the chain of command who are doing jail time or suffering administrative punishments for committing acts of torture and abuse which they believed had been ordered and authorized by leaders in the military, the Secretary of Defense's office, and the White House, but not one of those in authority who set the torture of captives in motion has been called to justice. Obama has endorsed that situation by again referring to the torture as just the actions of "a few people."

It was hardly that, however, and he knows it. Torture was a major part of the Bush/Cheney so-called "War" on Terror, and was being conducted on an industrial scale, with White House lawyers providing legal cover, the Secretary of Defense sending memos urging every more aggressive techniques, and government doctors and psychologists working assiduously to make them more "effective."

The illogic of Obama's position on these photos is stunning. Since we know the photos exist, the refusal to make them public can only feed a sense that they must be worse than the horrific photos of torture at Abu Ghraib Prison which were already released. Nobody is going to assume that the photos in the White House's possession are less offensive than what has already been discovered and made public--for why would the administration be worried about that?

The truth is always better than a cover-up, and what we now have the president advocating is a cover-up of American torture.

But that's only part of the president's slide into Cheneyism. We have the president now calling for the possible indefinite detention of terror suspects--an idea that only insures that there will always be an incentive for recruiting more terrorists (to avenge those in captivity)--and that makes a joke of our own Constitution, which guarantees everyone--not just citizens--the right to a trial, the right to a presumption of innocence, and protection from "cruel and unusual punishment," which indefinite detention certainly is.

The war in Afghanistan, which now must be called Obama's War, thanks to his policy of escalation, is also becoming Cheneyesque, with the firing of Gen. David McKiernan, and his replacement as head of the Afghanistan War by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Gen. McChrystal hails from the Special Forces, and played a role in the torture that was integral to the US war and occupation in Iraq. Far from being put in charge of operations in Afghanistan, where public backing for the US military is virtually non-existent at this point, McChrystal should be facing investigation and possible prosecution here at home for his role in torture of captives.

It has never made sense to initiate a war in Afghanistan in order to go after a band of criminal terrorists hidiing out in the mountains. Bush and Cheney turned what should have been a focused hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists into a war on the Taliban government and ultimately the people of Afghanistan. Obama has continued that error, and now blithely hyphenates the terms Al Qaeda and Taliban in defining the "enemy" of American forces in that country.

Such a war can never be won, and can only lead to tragedy, not just for the people of Afghanistan, for whom it is already that, but for American troops and ultimately for America itself.

It is a war that never should have been fought, and which now should be ended as rapidly as possible.

Obama at this point, by covering up for official torture, and by signing on to and expanding the war in Afghanistan, is dooming his presidency, further staining the reputation of the United States, and ultimately furthering the decline of the country that was set in motion by his predecessors.

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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Lindorff, where in the world

Submitted by Bill Harding on May 14, 2009 - 5:37pm.

Lindorff, where in the world do you get your “facts?”

Your statement:

It has never made sense to initiate a war in Afghanistan in order to go after a band of criminal terrorists hidiing out in the mountains. Bush and Cheney turned what should have been a focused hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists into a war on the Taliban government and ultimately the people of Afghanistan. Obama has continued that error, and now blithely hyphenates the terms Al Qaeda and Taliban in defining the "enemy" of American forces in that country.

is not only dead wrong, it is a cleverly worded half-truth promoted by the Far-Left in an attempt to defend the indefensible, and a feeble (albeit transparent) attempt to place the blame for the current conflict on the "evil" USA. What Bush and Cheney actually did was to virtually ignore the real threat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in order to promote an illegal, and senseless, war in Iraq.

Facts:

1) Ties between al Qaeda and the Taliban http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,425702,00.html

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban militants based near the Afghan border and their Al Qaeda allies are the most likely suspects behind a massive truck bombing at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, officials and experts said Sunday. At least 53 died in the explosion, including two U.S. Defense Department employees and the Czech ambassador.

2) “criminal terrorists” and the “Taliban Government” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban

According to Human Rights Watch, bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties are reported to have "sharply escalated in 2006" with "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants. By 2008 the Taliban had increased its attacks using suicide bombers and the targeted killing of unarmed civilian aid workers such as Gayle Williams.

3) “Taliban Government” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban

Instead of an election, their leader's legitimacy came from "Bay’ah" or oath of allegiance in imitation of the Prophet and the first four Caliphs. On 4 April 1996, Mullah Omar had "the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed," taken from its shrine "for the first time in 60 years." Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted "Amir al-Mu'minin!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a de facto pledge of support.

4) “criminal terrorists” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban

The worst attack on civilians came in summer of 1998 when the Taliban swept north from Herat to the predominantly Hazara and Uzbek city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in the north. Entering at 10 am on 8 August 1998, for the next two days the Taliban drove their pickup trucks "up and down the narrow streets of Mazar-i-Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved — shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys. More than 8000 noncombatants were reported killed in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan. Contrary to the injunctions of Islam, which demands immediate burial, the Taliban forbade anyone to bury the corpses for the first six days while they rotted in the summer heat and were eaten by dogs. In addition to this indiscriminate slaughter, the Taliban sought out and massacred members of the Hazara, a mostly Shia ethnic group, while in control of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Taliban and al Qaeda share the same religious hatred of their own mainstream Islamic (and other non-radical) countrymen, AND the Western “infidels.” They are both criminal organizations which employ the tactics of terrorism, and are equally culpable in the 9/11 attacks on the USA.

The Taliban’s leader is Mullah Omar, another fine gentleman in the mold of OBL, and one of NATO’s most wanted terrorists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Omar

The Taliban was never elected to power in Afghanistan, but took theocratic and dictatorial control of the Afghani government by force, and through the use of terrorist tactics on their own people. They continue to use those tactics (on schoolgirls no less) today in their quest to regain power.

The Taliban is NOT “hiding out in the mountains,” but is gaining very visible strength in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taliban spokesmen have recently threatened further attacks on US soil, and they have both the technology and finances to carry out those threats. http://homelandsecurityus.com/?p=2591

al Qaeda has not been eradicated, and the rapidly-growing Taliban still supports their "cause." Together, they present a very real threat to the Western world and to the United States in particular. Allowing them to regain control of the Afghani government, and ultimately the Pakistani government (and its nuclear arms cache) would lead to catastrophe (possibly nuclear) for the Middle East, and the Western World.

According to this collection of recent polls, a majority of Americans understand the possible consequences, and agree with, and support, the approach that President Obama is taking with respect to the containment of the Taliban: http://www.pollingreport.com/afghan.htm

Nation's which aid Terrorists in attacks on the USA...

Submitted by Jim on May 15, 2009 - 1:34am.

...have declared WAR on the USA.

Those governments should be immediately removed via War.

Does anyone disagree?

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Further, I'm not talking about the anemic War Bush pursued in Afghanistan. I'm talking about:

A War, which in its initial stages, is an earthshaking and blitzkrieg like one (on a scale which this planet has never seen).

I understand that I am staking out new territory here. I'm open to correction from both the Left and the Right, but:

The USA response to a Government Sponsored Terrorist Attack like 911 (which is of mythic proportions both in extent and with respect to the compressed time scale involved) should be met with a War which begins similarly.

The safest world for every earthling is one in which Governments do NOT align with terrorists lest they be immediately pounded.

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A few notes:

  • The War does NOT have to begin immediately after an attack.
  • The War does NOT have to remain in high gear.
  • The Scale of the War DOES include massive expenditures to keep civilians safe.
  • Etc.

Governments have to know however, that providing aid for massive attacks on USA soil will end their reign (with an initial blow that will cause the world to pause).

Is the Far Right willing to pay for such a War? NO. The rest of us should be however.

Terrorists should work alone.

Jim

Jim...

Submitted by grinch (not verified) on May 15, 2009 - 1:45am.

both Attila The Hun and his boss Kublai Khan would most seriously agree. I'm with them.

A mind once expanded can never return to its original dimensions.

Anne Hathaway: 1556-1623

 

The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.