Category: Old Dish

Dan Drezner has the latest on the looming French referendum on the new EU constitution.

He has already scored a major victory for the perpetrators of minor-molestation. The proximate cause is that he has simply closed down the investigation into Father Maciel, very credibly accused of molestation in Mexico. The victory is that the press has barely noticed. The news was released on a Friday afternoon (yes, the Vatican has spin doctors too), and largely disappeared from view over the weekend. Even more remarkable, no reasons were given for the end of the inquiry, no judgments were made about the accusers or the accused. It was just an exercise of papal power in protecting the core leaders of the new ultra-orthodoxy. Money quote:

In Mexico, where the case against Maciel began, word about the end of the investigation made headlines in most daily newspapers over the weekend, and several victims many of them prominent professionals said they were incredulous that the Vatican would drop the case. Juan Vaca, one of men who accused Maciel, now an adjunct professor of psychology and sociology at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., said that the Vatican investigator, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, had told him and other victims he was convinced they were telling the truth.
“He even said, ‘The church owes you a public apology, because we failed to protect you,’ ” said Vaca, a former priest. “This will end the credibility of the Vatican, from the pope down. I don’t believe they are going to do such damage to the credibility of the Vatican.” In its news release, the Legionaries said that Maciel had “unambiguously affirmed his innocence.” Asked whether the Vatican’s decision not to bring legal proceedings amounted to an exoneration, Jay Dunlap, the communications director for the Legionaries North American region, said, “That’s what it sounds like to us.”

Maciel is a major voice in the burgeoning conservative nexus in Rome, the founder of the Legion of Christ, a Francoite body of far right views. That new power structure evidently matters more to this Pope than the victims of priestly abuse. This was always going to be a test-case. Benedict has failed – or succeeded – depending on your point of view. My point of view is that of the victims.

“Might it be that some conservatives are hesitant to say anything critical of the war-effort for fear that they will be perceived as ‘unconservative,’ as traitors to their cause and their philosophy? If this is so, the fact should give conservatives pause. It is possible for a movement to have too much esprit de corps; nor should conservatives fancy themselves immune from the intellectual stultification that has overwhelmed other orthodoxies during a spell of power. Success – political influence, well-connected donors, handsome endowments, elegantly provisioned awards dinners – is a mixed blessing for any movement that values intellectual suppleness, spontaneity of debate, and purity of spirit; and the vigorous iconoclasts, the prophets, and revolutionaries, of one phase of a group’s history may all too easily degenerate into the party-line hacks of another.” – Michael Knox Beran, in National Review online. Kudos to NRO for printing a vital essay. My concern is that in wielding our power, we may have become too impressed with our own rightness, too convinced of our own moral superiority. We may well have allowed practices and methods that, in effect, undermine our own moral position and thereby our ability to win this war. This war is both military and ideological. We cannot let prisoner abuse undermine the cause we are fighting for: democracy, secularism, freedom. We cannot become like the enemy. If we do, we will have denied ourselves victory. You can see the essence of the temptation in this passage from the Belmont Club blog:

Not only the treatment of the enemy combatants themselves, but their articles of religious worship have become the subject of such scrutiny that Korans must handled with actual gloves in a ceremonial fashion, a fact that must be triumph for the jihadi cause in and of itself.

No; no; no. It is insane to believe that maintaining America’s long-held respect for others’ religion, especially when those others are in the custody of the U.S., is somehow a victory for Jihadism. It is the opposite. It is a victory for our values that we do not stoop to their depraved understanding of what morality is. It is a victory for Jihadism to turn this battle into a fight between Islam and Christianity, or to watch our own military descend into the religious bigotry and intolerance we are fighting against. It is so sad to watch decent people like Glenn Reynolds or Wretchard descend into this moral abyss, even though their motives are doubtless good ones. They want to win the war. But if we win it the way they want us to, it will be a Pyrhhic victory. With great power comes great responsibility. Generations of American soldiers demand that we exercise it now, when the temptations of expediency are greatest.

Some fun with the amazing troops working in Iraq. It goes without saying, doesn’t it?, that criticisms of policies of abuse are designed not to undermine the war but to support the vast majority of ethical soldiers who do great work in incredibly tough circumstances. Well, in this case, they seem to be having a blast.

Rapist marries her former victim. And she has a constitutional right to do so that no government can take away. A faithful married lesbian couple in Maryland – together for decades? The Republicans won’t even let them visit each other in hospital.

From the Daily Telegraph, noticed by Sup Specie Aeternitatis blog. Money quote:

He enjoyed sexual innuendo, and teased the late Michael Wishart for describing Ali Khan as a great lover, pointing out that Khan’s idea of sex reminded him of Father Christmas: “He came but once a year,” and adding that any girl “not in a multi-orgasmic mood” would end up feeling “like Michelangelo after a hard day’s work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling”. Wishart was furious. Of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll’s memoirs, Forbes ventured: “Her father may have been able to give her some beautiful earrings, but nothing to put between them.”

More jolly fun about a dead guy here.

KEEPING UP THE PRESSURE: I’m glad to read this post decrying the abuses in Afghanistan. Joe Gandelman also makes the following points about his site:

# This writer has supported the war.
# This writer has been steadfast in condemning Newsweek’s report due to the poor confirmation.
# This writer doesn’t belong to either party and has to say in no uncertain terms that allegations of this kind of behavior must be investigated and if proven true prosecuted to the absolute fullest extent of the law – including up the chain of command if necessary. Those who try to defend it or dismiss it as soldiers blowing off steam or minimize the gravity of it deserve nothing but contempt from those from both parties who militantly believe in and cherish long-held American ideals.

Each of those statements also applies to me. The ACLU document dump on the latest abuses is one I’m spending the weekend poring over. The documents are previously classified appendices to the various military reports I reviewed here. I want to read them all before I comment, but after a mere hour, the picture is in line with much of the previous evidence. This really does go all the way up to the very top. Money quote from the ACLU’s summary:

This latest document supports detainees’ accounts that American soldiers routinely used religious symbols to degrade and humiliate them. In a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Human Rights First against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, one Iraqi detainee charged that soldiers taunted him by having a military dog pick up the Koran in its mouth. Another Iraqi detainee claimed that soldiers threw the Koran on the floor and stepped on it. In addition, in a set of documents released by the FBI in response to the ACLU’s FOIA in December, a Guantánamo detainee alleged that a guard told him he beat him because the guard was a Christian and the detainee was a Muslim.

It just gets better, doesn’t it? The damage all this has done to our cause among moderate Muslims and democratic allies is incalculable. I’m sorry but throwing Laura at the problem is a pathetic response.

THE PURGE CONTINUES: Another writer for a Jesuit newsletter is fired – for urging a dialogue with homosexuals in order to better understand their experience and thus inform theology. Dialogue with those on the margins of society? What on earth is this guy thinking of? This is Benedict’s church. There shall be no dialogue with the “objectively disordered.” Isn’t that the whole spirit of the Gospels?

It has gone chronologically something like this: “It’s not true. It’s not true. It may be true but it’s not torture. Okay, it’s torture, but isn’t official policy. It may be true and official policy, but we changed the policy and we uncovered the abuses ourselves. It may be true, it may have been widespread, but we’ve punished the culprits. It may be true, it may have been widespread, it may still be happening, but all these reports are old news.” Well, give these guys points for effort. How about: it is true; it should never have happened; the people responsible for the policy as well as the criminals should be punished. Ah, but that would mean taking responsibility, wouldn’t it? And we don’t do that in this administration, do we? Even at the expense of hurting the war effort and staining the reputation of countless great soldiers in a noble cause.

GIULIANI AND THE CARDINALS: One of the most interesting and revealing upcoming political events will be Rudy Giuliani’s attempt to run for president as a Republican. He’d be a great candidate in many ways – he has impeccable terror-fighting credentials, good executive skills, and so on. I have no idea whether he’d survive the scandals that might dog him, and the Bernie Kerik kerfuffle wasn’t too encouraging in that respect. But he probably won’t stand a chance because of his moderate positions on abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, etc. The Catholic hierarchy will also, i think, be far tougher on Catholic candidates than in the past, demanding adherence to all of Benedict XVI’s views on matters of public importance. With Giuliani, it’s just beginning. Cardinal Keeler has unleashed the first warning shot. It will be the first, I think, of many. The Catholic pillar of Karl Rove’s coalition, cemented in Rome last month, will be stronger in the U.S. than ever – and the politicization of Catholicism will become as intense as that of evangelical Protestantism. Welcome to the new popular front.

“Bush Promises Probe Into Saddam Underwear Pictures,” – from Yahoo, now amended.

What the hell? It’s Friday afternoon.

THE GOP VERSUS GAY COUPLES: Here’s a sad sign of the level of animosity toward gay couples now in the mainstream of the Republican party. Governor Ehrlich of Maryland will veto a very modest bill that would allow a few measures to help gay couples to have a modicum of protection in some circumstances:

Among the rights: to be treated as an immediate family member during hospital visits, to make health care decisions for incapacitated partners and to make private visits in nursing homes.

That’s too much for today’s GOP. We are beginning to see that their real issue has nothing to do with civil marriage. Their issue is the existence of gay people – and especially the existence of stable gay couples. They have to attack these relationships at all costs if they are to maintain the stigmatization of homosexuality. Even if they have to pass extreme amendments as in Nebraska and Michigan.

“I remember being so mad that I had trouble speaking,” – Sergeant Yonushonis, who witnessed the death-by-torture of an innocent man by U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. He had to provide details voluntarily because investigators never approached him. I hope those who have been led to believe that the abuse of detainees occurred only at Abu Ghraib, that they were merely “fraternity high jinx” or represented in some way legitimate ways to procure intelligence, will read this story. I do not believe that Sergeant Yonushonis is “naive” or “excitable.” Or that his “squeamishness” is somehow inappropriate in defending civilization. Recall: this investigation was triggered by two murders. What happened when the abuse didn’t reach the level of murder? And will we ever know?

THE RED CROSS REPORTS: We now know that the International Red Cross compiled records of allegations of mistreatment of the Koran at Gitmo:

Simon Schorno, a spokesman for the Red Cross committee, declined yesterday to discuss the details in the reports of how Koran was handled and would not say whether any reports involved a Koran’s being flushed down a toilet.
He said the committee received “multiple allegations” of abuse of the Koran from the detainees. He said workers for the committee, which monitors the treatment of prisoners of war and works in tandem with the military to ensure that the Geneva Conventions are followed, did not witness any of the reported incidents.
Mr. Schorno said the committee began receiving the accusations in 2002, when the detainees first arrived in Guantánamo, and they continued until mid-2003. The reports were “substantial enough for us to bring to the attention of authorities,” he said, and included information not only from detainees but also from military personnel.
After the Red Cross submitted its reports, he said, complaints from detainees stopped.

Soon, we will find out. Prediction: the smearing of the Red Cross, already underway in places like the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, will intensify.

A CONFEDERATE FLAG?? I just want to point out something in the NYT story:

One captain nicknamed members of the Third Platoon “the Testosterone Gang.” Several were devout bodybuilders. Upon arriving in Afghanistan, a group of the soldiers decorated their tent with a Confederate flag, one soldier said. Some of the same M.P.’s took a particular interest in an emotionally disturbed Afghan detainee who was known to eat his feces and mutilate himself with concertina wire. The soldiers kneed the man repeatedly in the legs and, at one point, chained him with his arms straight up in the air, Specialist Callaway told investigators. They also nicknamed him “Timmy,” after a disabled child in the animated television series “South Park.” One of the guards who beat the prisoner also taught him to screech like the cartoon character, Specialist Callaway said.

Were there any African-American soldiers there? What has happened to discipline and unit cohesion in the armed services?