America’s Tortuous Path

I’ve taken a bit of an emotional break from politics since the election. Have consciously tried to keep a lid on it. I’ve continued to read the political blogs and the energy level has been pretty low. However, beginning with the new year the heat is picking up again. It’s really impossible to entertain accepting the status quo. And, if one is looking for a symbolic issue that is at the heart of the evilness of our current administration you might focus on TORTURE.  This article by Tom Engelhardt on Motherjones.com is worth fifteen minutes of your time. Mr. Engelhardt really got me fired up. He brilliantly pulls together the seemingly disparate elements of tsunami, torture, militarism and presidential power into a comprehensive and well-documented piece (Many links to illustrate and support his points). America is on a torturous path and will take the attention of decent but unrelenting citizens to get us right again. Back in the seventies the Air Force sent me to the Army Interrogation School at Ft. Holibird, Maryland. I was taught a number of techniques used by our intelligence forces. Torture was not one of the methods we were taught. Torture was considered to be “not productive.” In fact, it was considered to be counterproductive. Information gained using torture was deemed to be unreliable. It’s amazing to me that we’ve fallen so far so fast to the point where the use of the word “terrorist” justifies any base action eroding long established principles.