Torturing the Truth

Because of bin Laden, we have to x-ray our babies and torture people.

There's a reason why most conservative activists/bloggers/politicians can't abide by simply acknowledging Obama made the right call on bin Laden.  Much of the GOP's claim to legitimacy is that they are the "Daddy" party, keeping America safe from the monsters under the bed.

Of course, they didn't keep us safe.  They didn't keep us safe on 9/11, or during the anthrax attacks or in Iraq.  They didn't get bin Laden dead or alive.  That Kenyan, Muslim Socialist did.

So, the desperate attempts to tear down this achievement can pretty much be dismissed as the knee-jerk political reactions of a group of people who simply can't allow Democrats to win.

Except for the torture thing.

Immediately after bin Laden got shot in the eye (update: still dead), we began hearing that if it wasn't for Gitmo and waterboarding, we never would have gotten bin Laden.

This is objectively false.  Khalid Sheik Mohammed specifically misled his torturers about the name of the courier that led Seal Six to bin Laden's boudoir.  They knew there was a courier and they set out to find him.  And they did so without torturing anyone.  

So, first off.  They're lying.  But lying is OK in politics if you're a Republican.  Deficits, the benefits of tax cuts, the existence of death panels, weapons of mass destruction, global warming denial, welfare queens in Cadillacs, Planned Parenthood's abortion factories ... I have to run soon, so I'll stop listing the mendacity of the GOP.

But even more disturbing is the deep seated NEED these sociopaths have to make torture part of American policy.  Why? What deep seated misanthropy necessitates the desire to justify waterboarding people?  Threatening to crush their kid's testicles?  Crushing their testicles?  Electrocuting people?  Sicking dogs in them?  Stacking them naked in piles?

Why do we have to justify this?  Are we that savage?  

As a civilized nation, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that we brought down our biggest enemy without torturing anyone?

Wasn't the rationale behind the "ticking time bomb" scenario was that torture wasn't a good thing, but it was sometimes a necessary evil so that Jack Bauer could save the world?

Apparently not.  Apparently, guys like John Yoo and Dick Cheney just want to torture people. Screw the reasons behind it.  They just get a tingling in the loins when they hear the sizzle of the electrodes and the screams of the damned.

They'll fit right into hell when they get there.