thoughts....
*In thinking about this rhetoric of national security, I can't help but think how MACHO it all is--based on the same insecurities as any other kind of chauvinism--it's political chauvinism, the refusal to be wrong at any cost, which is rooted in a power system that rewards popularity and palatability and abstract loyalty, and eschews actual policy in favor of perceived character. It's about muscle, like the U.S. is that age old tragedy in which the guy drinks the beer, beats up the pansies, and goes home at night and lives in the closet! Or something!
*It's interesting that Obama's arguments against torture revoled around
1. Cultivating anti-American sentiments, which Americans tend not to blame themselves for anyway
2. Increasing Arab and Muslim mistrust of the U.S., which Americans have little popular regard for as it affects diplomacy or reputation, only insofar as it deepens a mutual sense of hatred..
3. Claiming that our policies have increased the recruitment of "terrorists", a direct affront to Cheney's argument, and a claim that is the most alarmist out of Obama's statements...a concession to the rhetoric?
*I can't help but feel that many people, when pressed, would justify torture if the victim were a terrorist, which is not something the Bush administration is really going for, but it is enlightening anyway...might uncover a desire for retribution, avengement..also relates torture to guilt--who has the power to determine who is deserving of torture?
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