World, Forgive the Democratic Party

65-34. Democrats learned nothing from 2002. They let themselves be bullied again into supporting some hysterical "pro-national security" administration BS. Now what grounds do they have to criticize the Administration's enlargement of executive power? They handed it over to him!

World, Please Forgive Us

Jesus. We just passed this abomination.

I don't want to hear a single Republican bloviate further about democracy, human rights, freedom, blah blah blah. They have lost whatever shred of credibility they had on the issue.

Balkinization

I think I could write for many hours about the serious affront to American traditions of law, justice, and basic human decency that is the Republican "compromise" legislation on torture and military commissions released last week. But Jack Balkin has expressed my sentiments better than I ever could.

I hoped, but was not myself convinced, that Americans would reject overt acts of torture carried out in our names as a matter of policy; that Americans tolerated documented abuses such as those at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib as long as they could console themselves that such atrocities were aberrations, the result of bad apples. Now we'll find out how deep our bloodlust really goes, and how prepared we are to abandon values that have held sway in this country for at least the last fifty years and that have won acceptance and admiration around the world. I fear the answer will be most disappointing and frightening.

Balkinization: "I blame our leaders. But I also recognize that we Americans bear some measure of responsibility as well. We failed to speak out when the news first leaked out that our forces were engaged in torture and repeated acts of cruelty, and we failed to speak out when further revelations disclosed that our leaders had actually authorized some of it-- and turned a blind eye to the rest. We were told, again and again that this was happening, and we didn't protest. We didn't show our leaders that we cared about the corruption of American values. The reason why the President and his Administration are daring to offer this bill now is that they believe that we Americans will not punish them politically for doing it. Quite the contrary: they believe that we Americans will think them strong and courageous and forceful for doing so.

They think that we Americans will actually reward them at the polls for legalizing torture.

That is one of the most chilling things about this entire episode. Have we become so complacent as a country, so easily lied to, that our leaders now think that they can legalize torture before our very eyes and that we will actually thank them for doing so?

This bill surfaces just as Jews around the world are ready to begin the High Holy Days, celebrating a new year, and asking for God's forgiveness and atonement for our sins.

This year, I think we in America have a great deal to ask God to forgive us for."

Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says - washingtonpost.com

The United States Government owes Mahel Arar an explanation for what happened to him, an apology, and fair compensation. Instead he has received denial, obfuscation, and a rather shameless abuse of the state secrets privilege when he attempted to challenge the government in federal court. Apparently, in the land of the free the government can detain you without informing your home government, bar you from speaking with an attorney, pack you off to Syria on a private plane, and have you tortured for a year all on the faulty suspicion that you may have associated with terrorists -- and there is no remedy under the law.

One other thing about this case: I've seen numerous Admministration officials quoted as saying that Arar was deported in accordance with U.S. law. It should go without saying, but sending people off to foreign countries to be tortured is very much contrary to U.S. law, namely, Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture, which prohibits exactly that practice and is, according to our Constitution, the law of the land.

Bush Detainee Plan Adds to World Doubts Of U.S., Powell Says - washingtonpost.com

Good for Colin Powell. But, a little too tentative and much too late. "People are now starting to question whether we're following our own high standards?" I'd say that the questioning started as soon as we opened up our legal free zone in Guantanamo Bay and ended with the reports coming out of Abu Ghraib.

Much, much damage has been done already. We are now far down the road to public acceptance of torture, indefinite deteniton, and other practices that I thought I'd never see my country engage in, much less unabashedly endorse as a matter of policy. But the most damning step is the one we're about to take: if the President has his way with the torture bill and the detainee tribunal bill, we'll no longer be able to say that this was a President who slipped past legal restraints and abused his office.

One last comment: where the hell are the Democrats on this? I've seen some commentators remark on how brilliant the Democratic "strategy" is: let Senators McCain, Warner, and Graham take a stand against the Administration, weakening the GOP while Democrats avoid criticism of their own. On a moral level, that sort of stance is reprehensible: this is torture and kangaroo courts we're debating here, not corn subsidies. On a political level, the strategy has significant costs: it lets the public think the GOP is far less extreme than it is on these issues, and it makes the Democrats look directionless and timid on pressing issues of national security.

There is only one role for the Democratic Party vis a vis the Torture President: call him out on it, loudly, every day until the election. If Democrats can't take a stand against torture and kangaroo courts, they truly have no spine.