Every Man A Giant: The Banality Of Torture

TALES OF THE WEIRD

Over the last couple of years, the honey bee population has been steadily declining due to causes largely unknown. Scientists theorize that it could be some new disease or a parasite or the cumulative effects of habitat change. No one knows for sure. It really is a bit of a mystery, one that badly needs solving. A lot of the food we eat depends upon bees for pollination. No pollination, no plants. No plants, no food. No good.

In other news, a former astronaut has accused the United States government of a 60-year cover-up of the existence of extraterrestrial beings. He says that old-timers who lived through the events in Roswell NM, afraid that their story might go to their graves with them, told him the truth about what happened back in 1947, partly because he was an astronaut and partly because he was a local boy. Mitchell's attempts to confront the government about its cover-up have so far been fruitless.

Now do you want hear something really strange? Today I came across an opinion piece that just astounded me. Marc Thiessen, a former Bush administration speechwriter, wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post asserting that torture worked. What amazed me was this link in his chain of reasoning. I will quote Mr. Thiessen directly:

But the memos note that, "as Abu Zubaydah himself explained with respect to enhanced techniques, brothers who are captured and interrogated are permitted by Allah to provide information when they believe they have reached the limit of their ability to withhold it in the face of psychological and physical hardship." In other words, the terrorists are called by their faith to resist as far as they can -- and once they have done so, they are free to tell everything they know. This is because of their belief that "Islam will ultimately dominate the world and that this victory is inevitable." The job of the interrogator is to safely help the terrorist do his duty to Allah, so he then feels liberated to speak freely. This is the secret to the program's success.

Oh my God! Who knew? We were actually doing the terrorists a favor by torturing them. Once honor and the Koran had been satisfied, they could spill their guts and not feel guilty about it. What's the problem?