Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - cia secret prisons, leaks, and the war on terror

roachboy · 12-06-2005, 11:11 AM

the only bit of advertising for "democracy" american style more damaging than the fact of rendition, torture, potentially endless detention without any hope of due process (and so without any hope of determining actual guilt) and so on is the bush administration's seming obsession with justifying all the above, more often than not in narrowly legalistic terms.
but the legal justifications are transparently idiotic and everyone but blind supporters of this administration knows that--which positions them behind the thinking exhibited by the administration itself.
the real justification for the actions undertaken by the bush squad lay elsewhere.

when condy rice was in germany, her basic argument in defense of american policies of rendition, torture, and the possibility of endless detention without due process (and so without any hope of determining actual guilt) was "we are doing this to save lives" in the context of a life-and-death struggle between the american imperial machine and its hallucinated negation----"terrorism"--this is the defense given by every regime that has usurped dictatorial prerogatives to itself---every last one of them has attempted to frame its actions in terms of a life-and-death struggle that overrides the niceties of law and ethics.

the other interesting point in her defense is that the only lives that enter into consideration are those of people not directly affected by the bushpolicies at the heart of this controversy---apparently, if you are suspected of activities that the bushpeople do nto like and you get swept into their legal black hole, your life is of no consequence---regardless of your actual role, regardless of whether you were involved in "terrorist" activities, or look like someone who might be, regardless of guilt or innocence--you cease to exist and so you cease to matter. perhaps you cannot violate the rights of people whose existence you erase. maybe questions of guilt or innocence are irrelevant in some basic way in any event---maybe ultimate justice lies with some god and so what temporal powers do to human beings is ultimately of no real consequence.

12-06-2005, 11:11 AM	#15 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	the only bit of advertising for "democracy" american style more damaging than the fact of rendition, torture, potentially endless detention without any hope of due process (and so without any hope of determining actual guilt) and so on is the bush administration's seming obsession with justifying all the above, more often than not in narrowly legalistic terms. but the legal justifications are transparently idiotic and everyone but blind supporters of this administration knows that--which positions them behind the thinking exhibited by the administration itself. the real justification for the actions undertaken by the bush squad lay elsewhere. when condy rice was in germany, her basic argument in defense of american policies of rendition, torture, and the possibility of endless detention without due process (and so without any hope of determining actual guilt) was "we are doing this to save lives" in the context of a life-and-death struggle between the american imperial machine and its hallucinated negation----"terrorism"--this is the defense given by every regime that has usurped dictatorial prerogatives to itself---every last one of them has attempted to frame its actions in terms of a life-and-death struggle that overrides the niceties of law and ethics. the other interesting point in her defense is that the only lives that enter into consideration are those of people not directly affected by the bushpolicies at the heart of this controversy---apparently, if you are suspected of activities that the bushpeople do nto like and you get swept into their legal black hole, your life is of no consequence---regardless of your actual role, regardless of whether you were involved in "terrorist" activities, or look like someone who might be, regardless of guilt or innocence--you cease to exist and so you cease to matter. perhaps you cannot violate the rights of people whose existence you erase. maybe questions of guilt or innocence are irrelevant in some basic way in any event---maybe ultimate justice lies with some god and so what temporal powers do to human beings is ultimately of no real consequence. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite