Our main hope against the Islamo-fascists is that their evil will alienate the people on whose behalf they claim to speak. That may no longer be merely a hope. There’s also growing support for democracy. That’s why, for all the legitimate criticisms, I still favor the Iraq war and the attempt to replace a brutal dictatorship with a democratic space in the Muslim world. And that’s also why I’m still prepared to praise and support Bush and Blair for pioneering the policy.
THE MORAL CURVE: A sobering point from a reader:
“At the beginning of WWII, Roosevelt and Churchill were outraged and disgusted at the way the Nazis bombed civilian populations. Bomber Command made a few attempts at low-level daytime raids but the cost in men and planes was horrific, and so they too soon switched to “area bombing,” at night and from high altitude. By 1943 we were launching “Operation Gomorrah” which killed perhaps 50,000 in Hamburg, almost entirely civilians. Nearly 100,000 would die similarly in Tokyo, and then of course there were Fat Man and Little Boy, which were in a practical sense “terror” weapons designed to frighten the Japanese out of fighting to the bitter end.
The use of these weapons did not turn us into the Soviet Union which would in coming years use tanks to crush democratic revolutions, or for that matter the Russia which in the last decade used a WWI-style artillery barrage to suppress the Chechens in Grozny. Indeed, our bombs are now the most discriminating in the world. There is no morality or ethics within the casing of an artillery shell, but only within the hand that directs its course.”
I hope I have not given the impression that I do not understand the predicament the administration is in. I just find their secret drift toward the endorsement of torture-in-all-but-name to be worrying, unnecessary, immoral and counter-productive. We need new laws that clearly delineate clear guidelines for humane, effective interrogation of terror suspects. The Congress needs to step in. Soon.
THE ‘DETERRENCE’ OF TORTURE: Another emailer makes a pertinent point:
Is your correspondent suggesting that “aggressive interrogation techniques” deter terrorism? Has he missed reports of the dramatic increase in the number of incidents of terrorism since Abu Ghraib went public? Or, does he believe that the insurgents in Iraq, the suicide bombers in Great Britain and the regrouping Taliban in Afghanistan are all so ignorant or so disconnected from the world that they have no idea how we have behaved, in Guantanamo, in Iraq and elsewhere? Does any criminal ever think he’s going to be caught? Do suicide bombers consider deterrence when strapping on explosives? Hey, if I were a suicide bomber, I might just think that the only thing better than dying for my beliefs would be getting caught and interrogated by the US government. Unpleasant, sure – but damned fine publicity for the cause!
I’m not sure these fanatics are deterrable in any sense. But I do know that evidence of detainee abuse has severely undermined support for the war among our allies, and undoubtedly alienates the middle ground of Muslim opinion where we need support.
The Dish 