Year: 2005

More details on the musicians behind “Bush Was Right.”

THE VATICAN BAN: I don’t want to comment at any length until the actual document is released and I’m feeling well enough to tackle it properly. Please be patient. Here’s an interesting take, however, from an influential Catholic leader, Timothy Radcliffe. My own view is that Radcliffe is too sanguine. I’ll explain why soon.

AIDS MORTALITY IN AMERICA: The good news continues.

ISLAM VERSUS GAYS: Another horrific story from the Middle East.

BOOK NEWS: The only silver lining from Michael Oakeshott’s death is that interest in his thought is cresting again, and much formerly buried writing and lecturing is being published. Here’s the latest. Here’s also a new review of “Father Joe,” a book I gave a rave review for in the NYT. It’s by one of the sharpest young Catholic critics out there, Grant Gallicho. I’m relieved Grant sees the enduring merits of the book. I am and was appalled at the subsequent accusations of incest and child abuse made against Tony Hendra by his daughter. I cannot help but feel to some extent conned by the book, if the daughter’s account is correct. At the same time, I wonder if the Holy Spirit doesn’t work in strange ways. That this astonishing account of grace came from a soul still deeply compromised by sin should not surprise Christians. God chooses often very flawed vessels for his message of love and redemption. That, at least, is my hope. My heart goes out to the obvious pain felt by Hendra’s daughter. I hope my review did not in any way intensify it. It was obviously not my intention.

A neocon hard-rock anthem for dispirited Republicans. I’m not sure if it’s a parody, but I suspect not. Whatever it is, it’s a beaut.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY I: “People need to be clear what the stakes are here. If we were to do a premature withdrawal, there could be a Shia-Sunni war here that could spread beyond Iraq. And you could have Iran backing the Shias and Sunni Arab states backing the Sunnis. You could have a regional war that could go on for a very long time, and affect the security of oil supplies. Terrorists could take over part of this country and expand from here. And given the resources of Iraq, given the technical expertise of its people, it will make Afghanistan look like child’s play.” – Zalmay Khalilzad, telling it like it is. As I have been writing for a while now, the paradox is that, as domestic support plummets, we seem to be making some progress in key areas: training Iraqi troops, peeling off Sunni elites, rebooting the economy. A sudden collapse of support for the war effort and peremptory withdrawal would be the worst of all worlds: the Bush-bots will simply revert to a Weimar-style “stab-in-the-back” narrative, with the mainstream media being the villains; al Qaeda will rejoice; the sectarian militias that are already a problem would strengthen and start preparing for the coming power vacuum. Patience, please. Which does not mean, of course, no criticism.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY II: Money quote from a helpful piece in yesterday’s WaPo:

“‘We don’t torture’ means that we don’t use worse tactics than [‘cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment’] — except when we do. Waterboarding (in which a prisoner is made to believe he is drowning) and withholding pain medication for bullet wounds cross the line into torture – and both have allegedly been used. So does “Palestinian hanging,” where a prisoner’s arms are twisted behind his back and his wrists are chained five feet above the floor.
A Nov. 18 ABC News report quoted former and current intelligence officers and supervisors as saying that the CIA has a list of acceptable interrogation methods, including soaking naked prisoners with water in 50-degree rooms and making them stand for 40 hours handcuffed and shackled to an eyebolt in the floor. ABC reported that these methods had been used on at least a dozen captured al Qaeda members. All these techniques undoubtedly inflict the “severe suffering” that our law defines as torture.

It seems to me that the press has not been specific enough. Why hasn’t somebody asked McClellan if the president believes that “waterboarding” is “torture.”

A poem for my current predicament:

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.

– Ogden Nash.

I’ll be blogging at a more normal pace once my own germ decides to surrender.

Some brief Instapundit-style links before I come back on Monday:

Marty Lederman discusses the legality of the CIA techniques outlined in the Dana Priest article in the Washington Post.

There’s a big jump in the number of same-sex married couples in Holland, as the reform begins to change gay culture and social expectations.

Norm Geras reviews the Iraq-exit debate here.

Former POWs add to the groundswell behind the McCain Amendment, as well they might.

Bush administration documents, dated September 21, 2001, reveal that the CIA refuted any past or present connection between al Qaeda and Saddam in the wake of 9/11. The administration did not and will not release these documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Why not?

Does “compassionate conservatism” mean an embrace of torture? Marvin Olasky gives the impression that his answer is yes.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: “The problem the Bush administration has – and it is a problem that dates back to the beginning of the war – is its inability to articulate the reality. The United States is not staying the course. It has not been on course – if by “course” you mean what was planned in February 2003 – for two years. The course the United States has been on has been winding, shifting and surprising. The fact is that the administration has done a fairly good job of riding the whirlwind. But the course has shifted so many times that no one can stay it, because it disappeared long ago.

Having committed the fundamental error – and that wasn’t WMD [it was not forseeing and then misreading the insurgency] – the Administration has done a sufficiently good job that some sort of working government might well be created in Iraq in 2006, and U.S. forces will certainly be withdrawn. What threatens this outcome is the administration’s singular inability to simply state the obvious. As a result, the Democrats – doing what opposition parties do – has made it appear that the Bush administration is the most stupid, inept and incompetent administration in history. And the administration has been reduced to calling its critics cowards.” – George Friedman, Stratfor.com.

So much to write about, not least the implications of the Padilla case and what seems at first blush one of the darkest hours in the church’s recent history. I’ll deal with all this once I get better, but in the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving.

There years after being detained. I like this detail:

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

I have no brief for Padilla or any other al Qaeda mass-murderers. But he is an American citizen, presumed innocent, and it took the government three years even to charge him. Anyone who cares about liberty – which obviously does not include many members of the Bush administration, should be appalled by what has occurred and what it means for the future of freedom in this country.

THE POPE AND PRADA: Have you seen those fabulous Prada red shoes? He looks like Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz. And his ditching of the historical tailors that have historically dressed popes? The pontiff has even taken to wearing Gucci sunglasses, and padded quilt jackets. And his personal assistant looks like a GQ model. Absolutely fabulous.

Move over, Mr Rumsfeld. The people actually fighting this war just told something called the truth:

In contrast to the Pentagon’s stock answer that there are enough troops on the ground in Iraq, the commanders said [to a Senate committee] that they not only needed more manpower but also had repeatedly asked for it. Indeed, military sources told Time that as recently as August 2005, a senior military official requested more troops but got turned down flat. There are about 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq, a number U.S. commanders in the region plan to maintain at least through the Iraqi national assembly elections on Dec. 15. But the battalion commanders, according to sources close to last week’s meeting, said that because there are not enough troops, they have to “leapfrog” around Iraq to keep insurgents from returning to towns that have been cleared out. The officers also stressed that the lack of manpower-rather than of protective armor or signal jammers-posed one of the biggest obstacles in dealing with roadside bombs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The commanders, according to the meeting sources, said there are simply “never enough” explosives experts on the ground. So far, no officer has been willing to go on record to complain about the need for more troops. But there is one positive sign: the Army recently decided to double the number of explosives experts to 2,500 over the next few years.

I’m not sure whether more troops are now going to exacerbate or improve the problem. I do feel much more confident in believing that the failure to have enough troops to provide post-invasion security was catastrophic to the mission. We paid a high price for Rumsfeld’s ego and intransigence.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “At the end of the day when I’m standing at the golden gates, I’m sure God doesn’t give a shit how many records I’ve sold or how many number one hits I’ve had. All he gives a shit about is how I behaved, how I treated people. So understanding that, and still doing my best making records, is the conclusion I’ve come to. I think about that more now than I used to.” – Madonna, the Catholic girl she’s always been.

TORTURE AND SLAVERY: Some insights on how the two are connected.

PREGNANT IN THE HOV LANE: Hey, there are two people in the car, no? (Hat tip: Nick.)

EMAIL OF THE DAY: An emailer challenges me:

“Seriously, support another war. The war Bush is fighting (thanks to Rumsfeld) is not a war we can win. So we need to fight another one. I haven’t seen you give a good argument against the thinking that a timetable for US withdrawal would force the Iraqis to face the inevitable future in which the US is not the dominant military power in their country.
Bush is fighting god-only-knows who in Iraq. It surely isn’t the enemy we’re facing. He continues to profess a belief that we are combatting – and not fueling – terrorism. If these guys win, it’ll be by accident.
Support a war against the real enemy.”

Last time I checked, Zarqawi was the real enemy. He was before the invasion and he has taken advantage of the Rumsfeld-enabled chaos that succeeded it. I’d be happy to draw down troops if we also ensure a real and functioning national military to control the Baathist revanchists and the Jihadists. But peremptorily leaving another vacuum there right now seems madness to me.

Here’s an email that’s well worth reprinting:

I’m a straight male nurse. I guess once upon a time that was kind of an oxymoron; of course it no longer is, as nursing has become widely regarded as the desirable profession which it is.
Anyhow … I work in an ICU in Florida. Recently had an admission, a Canadian fellow about my age (I’m 59) who was vacationing with his partner. Very very sick. For some reason not known–his kidneys suddenly failed. Without the ability to make urine, fluid built up in him and eventually filled his lungs. He’d entered what we call MultiSystem Organ Failure (his kidneys, his lungs) and thinking that the origin of his problem was gangrene in his bowels, he’d had surgery on his belly.

Andrew, I’ve been in this business 25 years. I’ve seen families that do well and families that don’t. Believe me – this gentleman and his partner were a family that did well. The emotional connection that comforted and strengthened my Pt was as strong as any that I have seen in my career. The responsiblity that his partner took in dealing with ‘power of attorney’ tasks was wonderful.

With the strength of love behind him, he has made a wonderful recovery. Of course, dialysis and modern medical care worked their magic. But I know the difference that love makes, too. And he had it. These two gay men were so completely “married” that it was inspiring and beautiful to see. It made me want to pass on to you this story. It made me want to add my voice to yours, that “gay marriage” denied is a terrible injury done by our society to a significant group of our brothers and sisters. A decent society would not tolerate withholding recognition and blessings on these unions.

Yes: a decent society. It’s here, but buried beneath fear, prejudice and misguided faith. But it is emerging, and will triumph.

YOO INTERVIEWED: He says his legacy of legalized “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” in the war on terror was essentially ratified by the election of 2004. Money quote:

We had a national presidential election in the middle, right in the middle of all of the disclosures of this, in the middle of this war. And people could have elected Bush out of office if they thought this was improper and that the costs outweighed the benefits. They could have replaced –

Gillian Findlay: DO YOU THINK THAT ELECTION WAS A REFERENDUM ON THE TORTURE POLICY?

John Yoo: … it was certainly a referendum on the war on terrorism.

Gillian Findlay: SO YOU THINK HIS VICTORY VINDICATES EVERYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED?

John Yoo: No. I’ve used that – if people disagree with that policy, they certainly could have voted him out of office and voted the Republicans out of the House and the Senate. And there’s no doubt the war on terrorism was front and centre, the primary issue that was being debated in the presidential election. And I’d point out that Senator Kerry could have raised this issue if he’d wanted to and attacked President Bush about it, as some you know some other people did. He certainly chose not to. I think if the people didn’t approve of the policies – that’s what elections are for.

A vote for Bush was, in Yoo’s eyes, a democratic ratification of the end of America’s adherence to humane treatment of military detainees. And Kerry was complicit. That latter point is certainly indisputable.

I’ve been traveling on planes and dealing with a nasty bout of stomach flu. I’ll be back when I’m feeling better.

Amazingly, the dissidents within the CIA are leaking their interrogation techniques. We finally have detailed evidence that the U.S., under this president, practices “waterboarding.” Here’s the official CIA definition:

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. They said al Qaeda’s toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last between two and two-and-a-half minutes before begging to confess.

“The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law,” said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.

The Wall Street Journal believes that this isn’t “anything close” to “torture.” What do you think?

“WE DO NOT ‘TORTURE'” II: A reader emails some details from the past:

“I know that this comparison is automatically derided as stupid hyperbole, as we are the army of freedom, not tyranny, but just look at this:

The icy vat method proved to be the fastest way to drop the body temperature. The selections were made of young healthy Jews or Russians. They were usually stripped naked and prepared for the experiment. An insulated probe which measured the drop in the body temperature was inserted into the rectum … The victim was then placed in the vat of cold water and started to freeze. It was learned that most victims lost consciousness and died when the body temperature dropped to 25 C.

I know it’s a clear violation of Godwin’s law, but how can a mind not make the comparison when reading your discussion of the Navy Seals’ alleged use of freezing water as an interrogation technique? Money quote [from a left-wing radio station]:

‘When the Navy SEALS would interrogate people, they were using ice water to lower the body temperature of the prisoner and they would take his rectal temperature in order to make sure that he didn’t die. I didn’t see this, but that’s what many, many prisoners told me who came out of the SEAL Compound, and I also heard that from a guard who was working in our detention facility, who was present during an interrogation that the SEAL had done… [W]e used hypothermia a lot. It was very cold up in Mosul at that time, so we – it was also raining a lot, so we would keep the prisoner outside, and they would have a polyester jumpsuit on and they would be wet and cold, and freezing. But we weren’t inducing hypothermia with ice water like the SEALS were. But, you know, maybe the SEALS were doing it better than we were, because they were actually even controlling it with the thermometer, but we weren’t doing that.’

Makes me want to fucking cry.”

I can only hope that these serious allegations are untrue, but at this point, does the Pentagon really get the benefit of the doubt? And remember that, according to John Yoo in his famous White House memo, the Nazi technique – because it was designed to kill people (as a medical experiment for the war effort) – was indeed legally “torture,” illegal for the U.S., and even the vice-president draws the line at murder. The Navy Seals’ alleged technique, because it was carefully monitored not actually to kill people, and was aimed at extracting intelligence, is therefore not “torture.” So we’re fine. As the president reminds us in his always-careful locution, we’re “legal.” We do not “torture.” Repeat after me: “We do not ‘torture’.” Makes me want to fucking cry.