--- "R.A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com> wrote:
<http://nytimes.com/2005/01/23/books/review/23KAPLAN.html?pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times
January 23, 2005
'The Interrogators' and 'Torture': Hard Questions By ROBERT D. KAPLAN
[snip] What a load of shit. The reality of today is such that the "defense establishment", or rather it's personnnel will use torture, fraud, and assassination to (a) advance their Total Police State Paradise, (b) to run their spook schools, (c) to steal whatever they want, and (d) to bury the evidence of their malfeasance. They will steamroller domestic and foreign civilians and combatants indiscriminately, held in check only by virtue of the lamentable practical necessity of appearing to have valid reasons for actions taken. Because the judicial branch of government is entirely tame, and because the media is in the habit of obeying, and because there is a secret history to the military and SpookWorld that is wrapped up in the mythology of religion and superstition, there is simply no process extant to address the inequities of the present time. The only action on the front, as it were, consists of political and ideological yes-men banging the drum of conformity and assimilation: "join us and prosper; obey and serve; destroy the reality that does not support our orthodoxy". Dissent is marginalised and criminalised, although provocations are important in order to provide the fearsome spectacles necessary to encouraging fear and cultivating obedience. Too bad there are so many dirty hands. The necessity of protecting so many actual establishment terrorists from sanction, legal or otherwise, may kill billions one day. Or worse, as death isn't the worst thing that can occur to an individual... as many of you are aware. Keep up with the bullshit, folks. Continue to justify all the repressive and regressive measures. Legitimise arbitrary human rights abuses. Keep training your terrorists. Pretend you must use slaves. Keep lying to yourselves about the rightness of your approach, and the necessity of the web of deceits necessary to keeping your veil of propriety afloat. It's been clear to me for a long time that your little club is morally bankrupt, although we know that such considerations are entirely obsolete to the modern ubermench. Arguing on your terms is a losing proposition. The game was lost a long time ago: when the taboos on certain kinds of speech became entrenched. Recapitulations of traditional religious speech and action into modern forms, such as "interrogation" simply aren't enough to undo the damage. By the way, I really enjoy the drugs used today in the service of official knowledge acquisition. I sincerely hope that many more people enjoy them too. And I would be remiss if I failed to remind everyone who is a player in this part of SpookWorld to tounge the peanuts from my shit. War criminals and cowards all. Regards, Steve ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca